BWSTimes Publishers note* To see the original documents from the 1921 Tulsa Regional Chamber meeting minutes click here.

Annotation by Hannibal Johnson

1. June 2, 1921

President Alva J. Niles blamed the victims (“Under bad advice and led by a group of Negroes exhibiting a spirit of lawlessness…”) and sympathized with the perpetrators (“A bad psychological condition, occasioned by a spirit of unrest, and some unemployment, dove-tailed….”)

He made empty promises, including one vowing to “formulate a plan of reparation in order that homes may be rebuilt and families as nearly as possible rehabilitated”; the City “can be depended upon to make proper restitution…”

The white supremacist dynamic at play in these remarks was emblematic of the national scene in 1921. Indeed, sociologists and historians refer to this period in our history as “the nadir of race relations in America.” This was the era of a proliferation of “race riots” – more than 25 in 1919 alone – and lynchings – domestic terrorism – perpetrated primarily against African Americans.