http://www.ebony.com/black-history/the-destruction-of-black-wall-street-405
So a black co-worker of mine told me this weekend he and his family was celebrating something called "Juneteenth" -- I have never heard of this nor did I know this was something that was celebrated. He told me Juneteenth is just a holiday in honor of the African Americans (especially in the southern states), who were given emancipation from slavery in Texas on that day in 1865.
He then went on to tell me that they also use this as an opportunity to memorialize a tragedy that happened back in the 1920's called "Black Wallstreet" -- again, this is something else I never heard about. So I researched for myself -- in summary, Black Wallstreet was a predominately black district (about 40 square blocks) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was considered one of the wealthiest districts in the state, definitely among the wealthiest black districts in the country -- equipped with their own schools, hospitals, an airport and the biggest church in the city.
Ultimately the whole area was reduced to rubble during a riot where over 300 black folks were murdered, 1300 homes destroyed, 150 businesses burned down, that big church also was burned down -- 9000 other black folks were left homeless and lived in tents into the winter -- 6000 more black folks were arrested. I was told this was the first time that US planes were used to drop incendiary devices on their own citizens.
One eyewitness wrote: “I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top,” wrote Buck Colbert Franklin (1879-1960).
While reading all this I was puzzled as to why would black people even want to remember something like this? Why remember a riot in which you burned down your own neighborhood, killed your own people, and even attacked the white people who were there to help you? Why would they continue to celebrate Juneteenth? When most of them are still on the same plantations that Lincoln freed them from -- I then realized, blacks' propensity to always want to remember tragedies that they inflicted on themselves is something you can't make them stop doing. I definitely won't be celebrating Juneteenth.
So a black co-worker of mine told me this weekend he and his family was celebrating something called "Juneteenth" -- I have never heard of this nor did I know this was something that was celebrated. He told me Juneteenth is just a holiday in honor of the African Americans (especially in the southern states), who were given emancipation from slavery in Texas on that day in 1865.
He then went on to tell me that they also use this as an opportunity to memorialize a tragedy that happened back in the 1920's called "Black Wallstreet" -- again, this is something else I never heard about. So I researched for myself -- in summary, Black Wallstreet was a predominately black district (about 40 square blocks) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was considered one of the wealthiest districts in the state, definitely among the wealthiest black districts in the country -- equipped with their own schools, hospitals, an airport and the biggest church in the city.
Ultimately the whole area was reduced to rubble during a riot where over 300 black folks were murdered, 1300 homes destroyed, 150 businesses burned down, that big church also was burned down -- 9000 other black folks were left homeless and lived in tents into the winter -- 6000 more black folks were arrested. I was told this was the first time that US planes were used to drop incendiary devices on their own citizens.
One eyewitness wrote: “I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top,” wrote Buck Colbert Franklin (1879-1960).
While reading all this I was puzzled as to why would black people even want to remember something like this? Why remember a riot in which you burned down your own neighborhood, killed your own people, and even attacked the white people who were there to help you? Why would they continue to celebrate Juneteenth? When most of them are still on the same plantations that Lincoln freed them from -- I then realized, blacks' propensity to always want to remember tragedies that they inflicted on themselves is something you can't make them stop doing. I definitely won't be celebrating Juneteenth.
