During 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma had the wealthiest black neighborhood in the country. On Sundays, women wore satin dresses and diamonds, while men wore silk shirts and gold chains. In Greenwood, writes historian James S. Hirsch,“Teachers lived in brick homes furnished with Louis XIV dining room sets, fine china, and Steinway pianos.”

They called it Black Wall Street.

Click Here

The 1921 destruction of Greenwood was one of the worst instances of racial violence in American history. (University of Tulsa)

Postcards commemorating the “Tulsa race riot” were printed shortly thereafter. (Tulsa Historical Society)

National Guardsmen collected the injured. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Ku Klux Klan’s presence in Tulsa was bolstered in the years following the massacre. But while the KKK remains active, the resistance of black Tulsans has survived too: a 1996 rally was interrupted when Tiffaeny Lanigan confronted Klan members with a lone raised fist. (AP Photo/David Crenshaw)