Bill Text: IL HR0296 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the loss of life and the loss of the Black economy of Tulsa, Oklahoma that took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921. Expresses support for the efforts in Tulsa to have the Historic Greenwood District Main Street added to the historic registry.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-05-19 - Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Carol Ammons [HR0296 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HR0296-Introduced.html

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HR0296 LRB103 32500 MST 62040 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, "Black Wall Street" was a prospering African
American neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that went up in
flames 98 years ago; incredibly, most Americans have never
heard of the shameful events of June 1, 1921, when whites
firebombed the neighborhood and an estimated 300 African
Americans were murdered; and
WHEREAS, During the course of 18 hours on May 31 and June
1, 1921, more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Tulsa,
Oklahoma were destroyed, and an estimated number of between 50
to 300 people were killed during the race bombing; and
WHEREAS, By early 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma was a modern city
with a population of more than 100,000; most of the city's
10,000 African American residents lived in the Greenwood
District, a vibrant neighborhood that was home to two
newspapers, several churches, a library branch, and scores of
Black-owned businesses; and
WHEREAS, On May 30, 1921, an incident involving Dick
Rowland, an African American shoe shiner, and Sarah Page, a
white elevator operator, in the Drexel Building in Tulsa would
rapidly escalate into one of the single worst incidents of
racial violence in American history; the most common

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explanation is that Rowland stepped on Page's foot as he
entered the elevator, causing her to scream, and Rowland was
arrested by the police; and
WHEREAS, On May 30, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune, the city's
afternoon daily newspaper, reported that Rowland had attempted
to rape Page; by 7:30 P.M., hundreds of whites had gathered
outside the Tulsa County Courthouse demanding that the
authorities hand over Rowland, but the sheriff refused; at
around 9 P.M., after reports of the dire conditions downtown
reached Greenwood, a group of approximately 25 armed African
American men, many of them World War I veterans, went to the
courthouse and offered their services to the authorities to
help protect Rowland but were rebuffed by the sheriff; at
around 10 P.M., a false rumor circulated through Greenwood
that whites were storming the courthouse, prompting a second
contingent of African American men to go back to the
courthouse and offer their services to the authorities, who
were once again turned away; as the group was leaving, a white
man tried to disarm a Black veteran, and a shot was fired, an
incident that became the start of the race bombing; and
WHEREAS, Over the next 6 hours, Tulsa was plunged into
chaos as angry whites, frustrated over the failed lynching,
began to vent their rage at African Americans in general;
furious fighting erupted along the Frisco railroad tracks,

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where Black defenders were able to hold off members of the
white mob; an unarmed African American man was murdered inside
a downtown movie theater, while carloads of armed whites began
making "drive-by" shootings in Black residential
neighborhoods; by midnight, fires had been set along the edge
of the African American commercial district; in some of the
city's all-night cafes, whites began to organize for a dawn
invasion of Greenwood; and
WHEREAS, During the early hours of the race bombing, local
authorities did little to stem the growing crisis, and Tulsa
police officers had deputized former members of the lynch mob;
local units of the National Guard were mobilized, but they
spent most of the night protecting a white neighborhood from a
nonexistent Black counterattack; and
WHEREAS, Shortly before dawn on June 1, 1921, thousands of
armed whites had gathered along the fringes of Greenwood;
after daybreak, they poured into the African American
district, looting homes and businesses and setting them on
fire; numerous atrocities occurred, including the murder of A.
C. Jackson, a renowned Black surgeon, who was shot after he
surrendered to a group of whites; at least one machine gun was
utilized by the invading whites, and some have claimed that
airplanes were used in the attack; Black Tulsans fought hard
to protect their homes and businesses, with particularly sharp

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fighting occurring off of Standpipe Hill, but they were
outgunned and outnumbered in the end; and
WHEREAS, Following the race bombing, a brief period of
martial law was followed by various legal maneuvers; even
though Dick Rowland was exonerated, an all-white grand jury
blamed Black Tulsans for the events that transpired; despite
overwhelming evidence, no whites were ever sent to prison for
the murders and arson that had occurred; and
WHEREAS, The vast majority of Tulsa's African American
population had been made homeless by the race bombing; despite
efforts by the white establishment to force the relocation of
the Black community, Black Tulsans had already begun the long
and arduous process of rebuilding Greenwood within days;
thousands were forced to spend the winter of 1921-1922 living
in tents; and
WHEREAS, The deep scars left by the race bombing remained
visible for years, and it became a taboo subject, particularly
in Tulsa, for many years; in 1997, a state commission was
formed to investigate the race bombing; the commission
recommended that reparations be paid to the remaining
survivors, while a team of scientists and historians uncovered
evidence supporting long-held beliefs that unidentified
victims had been buried in unmarked grave sites; and

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WHEREAS, In support of the Black Wall Street efforts, Soul
City Chicago is hosting a trip to Tulsa to tour the site of one
of the greatest Black business corridors to ever exist on May
26-28, 2023; and
WHEREAS, It is important that the people of the State of
Illinois and the nation do not forget this terrible tragedy;
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we mourn the loss of life and the loss of the Black economy of
Tulsa, Oklahoma that took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921; and
be it further
RESOLVED, That we support the efforts in Tulsa to have the
Historic Greenwood District Main Street added to the historic
registry and are currently working with Executive Director
Bill White; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to the people of Tulsa as an expression of our
respect and esteem and our desire to support Black businesses
and communities throughout the nation.