On this day, 31 May 1921, one of the worst single incidents of racial violence in US history took place: the Tulsa massacre, which left 300 dead after a false allegation of a Black man attacking a white woman.
The Tulsa Tribune newspaper included a front-page article titled “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator” and a back-page editorial titled “To Lynch Negro Tonight.”
Local whites were inflamed, and they attacked the Black community of Greenwood, at the time the most prosperous African American community in the US, commonly known as the Black Wall Street. Mobs were backed up by private planes that reportedly dropped incendiary devices and fired on Black residents. Hundreds were killed and the entire thirty-five-block area was razed to the ground, leaving up to ten thousand people homeless. At the time of writing (early 2020) there are still a few survivors awaiting justice and reparations. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1439535499564929/?type=3