OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Metro Library Downtown hosted a Tulsa Race Massacre presentation on Saturday afternoon.
“It was the best kept secret in America, for the most part,” said Bruce Fisher, Oklahoma Historical Society.
What many believe to be the worst incident of racial violence in American history has Oklahomans still striving to teach about it.
“People who experienced it did not want to talk about it,” Fisher said.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre resulted in the deaths of hundreds of African Americans, all stemming after a young black teenager was falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman.
OKC’s metro downtown library hosted an event Saturday afternoon, allowing anyone to listen to local historian Fisher as he taught the full story on the massacre.
Even with recorded, first-hand accounts from survivors.
“It was such a horrific, horrific thing that there was some degree of fear that it might happen again,” Fisher said.
The massacre in ways swept under the rug, bodies potentially buried in mass, unmarked graves.
With the 100-year anniversary fast approaching, last year the city of Tulsa began searching for these possible graves, in honor to bring peace and justice for the dead.
Fisher vowing to help make sure no one ever forgets.
“We have one history to tell. And it’s the human history of America. We’re all a part of the same dreams, so I think we have to do as Martin Luther King said and learn to love each other,” Fisher said.
Back in December a mass grave site was believed to have been found underneath one of Tulsa’s cemeteries but at this point an excavation effort hasn’t been established.
The 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre will be May 31- June 1st in 2021.
United Voice mission statement: A coalition of Oklahoma’s media outlets, brought together in a united voice to promote a healthy dialogue on race.
