A
See! Clara Kimbali Young in "EYES OF YOUTH", at Aldridge Thca. Sat. Evening and Night June 11'1921
The Largest C" dilated
Negro Journal4*****
homa. ^
An Advertisement in
this paper will go into
evef y State in the Union.
A Paper with a policy
and a purpose.
PRICE 5 CENTS
1541TH
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, JUNE 10, 1921
We Stand
For the right of the voice
of men to be heard in
their own Government.
For Democracy that is
an actuality—not ritu-
alistic.
VOL. VI, NO. 27
LOOT. ARSON. MURDER!
Four Million Dollars Lost
Sarah Page Not To Be Found
Tulsa Yanks Land Away From
Blacks With Fire Ordinance
Tulsa, Okla., June 5. (Special)—The
Negro district of Tulsa was confined
to a section of land, about a mile
square, in the northeastern portion of
the city. It, more directly speaking,
laid between the forks of the Midland
Valley, Frisco and M. K. & T. Rail-
roads. The business and industrial
section of Tulsa has in recent years
built up to the Negro belt, which
when it was first located was an in-
solated spot in the lowlands. With
the coming of the oil boom and the
rapid expansion of the business dis-
trict of Tulsa, it was soon discovered
that the only available trackage prop-
erty left in the city was completely
covered by the Negroes in this black
belt.
Some time ago the Railroads at-
tempted to purchase a large tract of
  SOUND LEADERSHIP NEED- *
* ED «
* (From Okmulgee Domocrat) *
*   *
* The greatest contribution the "
* people of Oklahoma can make "
* to the cause of law enforce- *
* ment and race peace is to dis- "
* courage the agitation and bitter *
* feeling that is stirred ^jp by the *
* irresponsible and Ignorant *
* among both the whites and the 4
* Negroes. What is needed is *
* sound leadership that will blot *
* out of the minds of the Ne- *
* groes ideas that lead to false 1
* expectations, .and to banish *
* from the heads of the whites *
* vain and useless assertions of *
* superiorty to the black race as *
* a whole. False premises lead *
* to false conclusions, which in *
* turn lead to trouble when ac- *
* tions follow. The Negro is. en- *
* titled to just the same consid- *
* eration as a race that any other *
* race is entitled to. He is entl- *
* tied to protection in the pursuit *
* of life, liberty and happiness in *
* the same sense the white man *
* is entitled to these rights. He *
* is entitled to the right of equal *
* opportunity before the law with *
* any other race. When that is *
* said all is said. Neither the *
< constitution of the United *
* States nor of any state guar- *
* antees to any race superiorty *
* over, or equality with, any other *
* race. The law recognizes no *
* race. It contemplates human *
* beings organized into society •
* with equal rights to protection *
* and opportunity for happiness. *
* Nothing more. Social equality *
* is an individual question. We *
* have known many Negroes that *
* were more desirable as asso- *
* ciates than many whites. On *
* the other hand, there are so- *
* cial distinctions in every race *
* which are natural and inpvit- *
* able. Even a Negro does not *
* choose his friends and asso- *
* ciates merely because they arc *
* Negroes, here is a line of so- *
* cial cleavage existing even in *
* the Negro race that is of the *
* same kind and character as that *
e which exists between the Negro *
* and the white race. There never *
* was and it is safe to say there *
* never will be passed or en- *
* forced any law that will compel *
* one man to associate with any *
* other particular man, or one *
* race to associate with any other *
* particular race. The selection *
* of social equals is a personal ♦
  matter in the very nature of  
* things. Social recognition de- *
* pends largely upon social and *
* intellectual qualities and at- *
* tainments. Character, intellect *
* and achievement will overcome *
* barriers that are impervious to *
* constitutions and statutes. In *
* any event, if these do not level *
* social barriers, there is nothing *
* in the world that will accom- *
* plish the task. *
* Getting the right viewpoint *
* and state of mind clears the *
* ground and affords an unob- *
* structed view of the relations *
* and fitness of things. Right *
* thinking, which follows clear *
* and correct ideas, is bound to *
* result in right acting. *
land, beginning at Archer and running
north and east for depot and terminal
purposes. The attempt failed. Indi-
vidual Negroes had been offered large
sums of money* to release their hold-
ings along the railway right-a-way,
but to no avail. In fact, the inha-
bitants of this most prosperous black
comunity each yeaj proceeded to get
a firmer hold upon this much coveted
section, by the erection of permanent
brick structures and the increase in
land holdings. To show that the nat
ural trend of the business district
was. in this direction is but for one to
go one blook east past the Negroes
and observe that the industrial sec-
tion had been continued from that
point.
Greenwood, the principal street in
the Negro district, was paved and
was at night a seething mass of black
folks, equal to Chicago's State street
or Beale Street in Memphis. The
statement that the Negroes lost one
and one-half million dollars worth of
property in the collosal tragedy of
June 1st is an erroneous statement.
In the loss of over 700 homes and 200
business houses the Negroes of Tul-
sa have sustained a loss of over four
w ,°n J°!Ia!i8- Two the finest
hotels that the Negroes own in A-
merica went up in smoke. The Wel-
come Grocery Store carried as large
a stock of groceries as did any retail
white store in Tulsa. Mrs. Williams,
who owned the Dreamland Theatres
m Tulsa, Muskogee and Okmulgee,
was perhaps one of the foremost Ne-
gro business women in the United
Not Belgium, but Greenwood Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma
^as one three-story brick
oi^Jreenwood, which housed her big
confectionery and the other floors
were used for offices for the profes-
sional men of the race. Farther down
on the street was her theatre, the
pride of the Negroes of the city. The
street had located on it three drug
stores and two newspaper plants, The
JlUr: nnnnnar S3?, 3 Plant worth. fully
$15,000.00. Fully 150 business hous-
es lined this street alone, that re-
quired a Negro traffic officer to stand
in the streets all day long, directing
the busy activities.
Now, on Friday, June 7th, the city'
commissioners of Tulsa extended the
Are limits to include thirty-five blocks
of the devasted area, according to
the Tulsa Tribune. This action is ac-
cepted as meaning "THAT THE OLD
BLACK BELT HAS BEEN ABOLISH-
ED AND THAT THE CREATION OF
A NEW NEGRO DISTRICT, FAR
THER OUT AND REMOVED FROM
.BUSINESS DISTRICT WILL
BE MANDATORY!"
Anyone who believes in circumstan-
tial evidence might have a remote
idea from this latest move that the
vandals who looted the burning
homes of Tulsa's bleeding populace,
last Wednesday were net the only
culprits aloose and extant on that
frightful morning of hell and arson.
i T1^e pi?tVrefpb°o? is ruins and remains of what was once beautiful North Greenwood, in the business section. The
iiiw Tif . looking towards Stand Pipe Hill, where the murderous machine guns were placed and swept the
valley. The man in the street with the gun is one of the State Malitia.
In the judgment of the writer, if Tul-
sa was really repentant, if she was
sincere in her cry of "restitution,"
she would have covered her tracks at
least for the moment. The " tracks
which show in their drift that Tulsa
not only preying upon the lives of its
black citizens, not alone did she want
the furniture, the jewels and .the mon-
ey arid* draperies in black homes, but
this latest FIRE LIMIT ORDINANCE
SHOWS PLAINLY THAT TULSA
COVETED ALSO THE VERY LAND
UPON WHICH BLACK MEN
DWELT.
There are today in the jails of Tul-
sa over one hundred and seventy-five
white persons who are charged with
looting. All up and down North De-
troit the officers have gone into
white homes and taken out pianos,
jewelry, carpets, silver-ware. One
white woman said that sue saw a
white man go into one black man's
yard and drive away in his automo-
bile. As far east as est Tulsa, a-
cross the river, many loads of the
effects of black folks have been re-
covered from the vandals who, ac-
cording to the story Of the refugees,
took their loot in the presence of the
Home Guards of Tulsa.
For example, Dr. P. S. Thomson,
a Negro druggist, who before the con-
flagation, owned a beautiful home,
about a $10,000.00 stock of drugs, and
who in his establishment for the past
five years has employed at least six
members of the race, tells this story:
He says, "About seven o'clock in the
morning the Home Guards set fire to
the buildings on Boston Street. I
could see them in their uniform be-
fore they reached my place.. Finally
they came to my establishment and
broke open the door and ordered me
out. They put me in an automobile
which was at the front door. Before
we drove away the looters, in plain
view of THE HOME GUARDS AND
MYSELF. TORE OPEN MY CASH
REGISTER AND WERE PRIZING
OPEN MY SAFE."
The business of Dr. Thompson is
entirely destroyed. Men followed in
the wake of the looters and set fire,
for the obvious purpose of covering
up the vandalism of the cowardly
wretches who having now scattered,
will never be apprehended.
Dr. Arthur Jackson, expresident of
the State Medical Association, was
shot down by a white boy about six-
teen or seventeen years -old, accord-
ing to eye witnesses. He was rushing
up out of his basement of his home,
which was in flames, with his hands
in the air. Two loads from a shot
gun was his return for appearance on
the street. He was not killed instant-
ly. His body was thrown in a truck
and he was dumped at the Convention
hall, where after hours of suffering
without medical attention he died
from loss of blood.
Another shameful incident, which
shows that muderous intent of the
men in the airships, is told by Dr.
Payne and Robinson. These two men
with their wives succeeded in reach-
ing the open country. They were
finally spotted by the air murderers
who showered load after load of lead-
ened missels upoH them. They final
unquestioned honesty and integrity,
states that the newspaper statements'
about Sarah Page, the white girl, a-
bout whom all the trouble falls, are
untrue. He found,'upon investigation,
that she was a married woman who
had left her husband in Kansas City.
Sheriff McCullough is quoted as stat-
ing that two months ago he served di-
vorce papers on her, for her husband,
he sheriff is further qunted as stat-
ing that if half of the charges alleged
in the petition of her husband for
divorce, are true, that she is a no-
torious character. Our investigator
went far enough to interview the pro-
prietor of the building, where the al-
leged attack is supposed to have tak-
en place. He talked with the white
man who went to the girl when the
difficulty happened. "SHE WAS
NOT BRUISED OR HER CLOTHING
DISARRANGED IN ANY WAY" stat-
ed this honest man. The gentleman
who owned the building said that the
affair had happened two days prior
to the trouble of June 1, and that it
was considered of such little conse-
quence, so trifling, that he, himself,
had not heard about it until the riot
was on. The story of Dick Howland
as told by many Negroes who say
they know his story, is to the effect
that when he entered the elevator,
he stumbled and stepped-on her foot.
She immediately struck him, after
TO THE NEGROES OF OKLAHOMA AND TO THE NEGROES OF
UNITED STATES
ly reached the woods. Dr. Thomp- he asked her to excuse him. She
son and his wife, however, were sav- used, according to what Howland is
ed by leaping into a creek and re- alleged to have said, a stick or some-
maining there all day long, with no-1 thing that was laying in the elevator,
thing above the water but these nose! and he grabbed her arm to keep her
with which to breathe. Thompson and' from striking him aga:n before he
wife effectually eluded pursuit by the j left the elevator. Our investigator
hundreds of whites who swarmed the also attempted to locate Sarah Page
country-side, by hiding in the thick- j but she has gone and no one seems
ets- | to know her whereabouts.
W. I. Brown, a porter on the Katy: Adjutant General Barret, who ar-
Railroad, and who reached Tulsa i rived on the scene Wednesday morn-
Wednesday morning with the Nation-1 ing. and who had first hand informa-
al Guard, recites this story: "We tion as to what really happened
We sorrowfully present to you our greetings of distress. We In-
TuT/om^ °" th%1SV?.y °,f June' 1921' the colored citizens of
Tulsa, Oklahoma, suffered the loss of our homes from the results of a
r w. £ \un thCJ"?" 0f May 31' 1921' in the above "amed
city. We are here thousands in numbers, homeless, absolutely clothes-
less, and dependent upon charity. The fault is not wholly ours, we
have done our best under the circumstances, but we are unable to
vforid°Ur °r rePa'r °Ur '°SSeS wit^out he|P from ^e outside
u u Thepefore- we appeal to you to help us so we may be able to
hold our own in the struggle for our place among the citizens of this
The committee selected to take charge of the relief work un-
dertaken, respectfully request that you aid us and that you forward
your contributions as speedily as you can.
Said contributions to be sent to the undersigned committee
Respectfully,
THE COLORED CITIZENS' RELIEF COMMITTEE - • ♦ ,   
S. D Hooker, Chairman; Rev. R. A. Whitaker. Secretary Mrs * Pr0I1?inent >>egro in the city of Tulsa
A. Bankhead. Rev. H. T. S. Johnson, Dr. J. M. Key, J Tyler Smith G *'t0 w™ter states that from what
A. Gregg, Sec. Y. M. C. A.; E. I. Saddler, Legal Advisor to Committee-' * !?e ^ learn on the ground, about one
Rev. Jas. A. Johnson, S. G. Smith. Rev. J. R. McClain C B Wiekham' * hundred were killed .equally divided
P. S.—You are reminded that all of the relief committees will * I b®tw®en the two races- According to
assist us in getting places to work, but our committee is desirous of *' £e • u PaPers- Tuesday, the au-
restoring our independent status as business men. housekeepers and * thonties are beginning to find the
residents and we feel that our committee is in every way sufficiently
broad and sufficiently well acquainted with the entire situation to
grant the relief where most needed.
Make all checks payable to S. D. Hooker, Chairman Colored Citi-
zens' Relief Committee, Cor. Frankfort and Easton streets, Tulsa, Ok-
lahoma.
reached Tulsa about two o'clock. Air
planes were circling all over Green-
wood. We stopped our cars north of
the Katy depot, going towards Sand
Springs. The heavens were lighten
up as- plain as day from the many
fires over the Negro section. I could
see from my car window that two
air planes were doing most of the
work. They would every few seconds
drop something and every time they
did there was a loud explosion and the
sky would be filled with flving de-
I bris."
j There seems to be no accurate
(statement as to the actual death list
on either side. Gordon Grady, who
reported the affair in a statement in
the McAlester News-Capital, says: "I
saw dead bodies hauled away on
trucks until I was sick and scores of
Negroes lay in the streets until late
in the afternoon. A letter from a
prominent Negro in the city ot Tulsa
beginning
dead bouies of Negroes out in the
rural districts, which bear out the
charge that black men .were ruthless-
ly shot down who were not engaged
in the conflict.
Our investigator, a white man of
states in terse terms the situation
ONE HYSTERICAL WOMAN, AN
IMPUDENT NEGRO AND A YEL-
LOW JOURNAL IS THE CAUSE OF
IT ALL.
NAB GIRL WHO MADE FAKE
CRY OF NEGRO HOLD-UP
Plice Say Gag. Blind Yarn Was
Bid Fr Ma's Favor
(Jolumbus, June 10.—Miss
Irene Simms, a young wtman
living in the University residen-
tial district, was held in the
city prison, last night on a
charge of having made a false
report to the police.
Two weeks ago she reported
two Negro thugs entered her
home, bound and gagged her
and struck her over the h«ad.
Admitting the report to be
false. Miss Simms confessed to
detectives she had told the
story because she wanted her
mother to make a fuss over her
and give her more attention
than a sister was receiving.
Miss Simms had pulled out bu-
reau and side-board drawers, lit-
tered the house with papers and
articles, put her rings in her
mouth, tied a cloth around her
face and planned the entire
episode, police said.
TO HELP TULSA DISTRESSED
HOMELESS COLORED PEOPLE
The N. A. A. C. P. meeting in this
city was largely attended last Sun-
day evening. The president, Dr. Whit
by and Rev. Perry made excellent ad-
dresses calling upon our people to do
all they can to help our distressed,
homeless people in Tuisa.
The president being also the head
of the State organization, had sent
out this appeal also to all the branch-
es. They are responding nobly.
As much aid will be needed for
those people in many ways, the funds
collected will be spent by direction
from the National office to be put
where it may do the most good. Other
organizations ate also rendering val-
ient services especially the Welfare
League.
All are urged to give as liberally as
possible.
Next Sunday we will hold a meet-
ing at the Calvary Baptist Church
and expect not only everybody who
can to attend but look for large dele-
gations from all the churches.
Come prepared also to help in this
distress and to join the Association.
S. C. Snelson, M. D., Sec'y.
N. A. A. C. P. SENDS INVESTIGA-
TOR TO TULSA, OKLAHOMA, RIOT
SCEtyE
James W eldon Johnson, secretary
of the National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People, 70 Fifth
Avenue, New York, today announced
that the Association had sent a spec-
iail investigator to the scene of the
riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and that
the Association would send to the col-
ored press, as soon as they arrive, the
facts as the investigator found them.
"The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, im-
mediately upon receipt of the news of
riot in Tulsa sent a representative
there." says Mr. Johnson's statement,
"for we we have learned that white
press reports are not to be depended
on for exact and detailed information
as^to how the trouble came about.
"Our investigator, whose name will
not be made public until investigation
is complete, is a man experienced in
work of this kind and can be depend-
ed upon to bring back to us the story
of what really occured.
"From the early reports it appears
that colored men in Tulsa massed a-
bout^ the jail to prevent tne lynching
of a "colored man who had been arrest-
ed charged with assault. Fighting
began and soon became general, the
colored section of the town Deing set
on fire and the white mob shooting at
firemen to prevent their checking the
I flames.
! GIVES $500 WORTH OF STOCK TO
| ARDMORE LUBRICATING OIL
! COMPANY STOCKHOLDERS
; WHO LOST AT TULSA.
, j has arranged to distribute $500
* j worth of stock to his stockholders
*; who, lost all of their property in the
city of Tulsa. This is a splendid po-
sition to take on the part of Mr. Ba-
ker. This stock is the personal hold-
ings of Mr. Baker. _