The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. The Tulsa Massacre and Its Context

   • Chris M. Messer

   Pages 1-19

3. Greenwood: The Rise and Devastation of “Black Wall Street”

   • Chris M. Messer

   Pages 21-32

4. Causes of the Tulsa Race Massacre

   • Chris M. Messer

   Pages 33-53

5. Responding to a “Negro Uprising”

   • Chris M. Messer

   Pages 55-72

6. From Uprising to Massacre: The Fight for Reparations

   • Chris M. Messer

   Pages 73-91

7. The Legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre and Lingering Issues

   • Chris M. Messer

   Pages 93-100

8. Back Matter

   Pages 101-104

   PDF

This book examines the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, perhaps the most lethal and financially devastating instance of collective violence in early twentieth-century America. The Greenwood district, a comparably prosperous black community spanning thirty-five city blocks, was set afire and destroyed by white rioters. This work analyzes the massacre from a sociological perspective, extending an integrative approach to studying its causes, the organizational responses that followed, and the complicated legacy that remains.

• racial violence
• African-American history
• reparations
• 'racial frames'
• Tulsa Race Riot

• Colorado State University Pueblo, Pueblo, USA

  Chris M. Messer

Chris M. Messer is Professor in the Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology at Colorado State University-Pueblo, USA. His research has appeared in outlets such as American Journal of Sociology and Economics, Sociology of Race & Ethnicity, Rural Sociology, and Journal of Black Studies​. He is also a co-author of The Enduring Color Line in U.S. Athletics​ (2013).

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