Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 1905–2022
At the corner of Greenwood Avenue and East Cameron Street stood the heart of Black Wall Street, a Black-owned business district begun by O. W. Gurley in 1906 and destroyed by a white mob over May 31 and June 1, 1921, then rebuilt by the people who remained.
The short answer
East Cameron Street North in Tulsa marks the corner of Greenwood Avenue, heart of the district known as Black Wall Street, where O. W. Gurley began building a Black-owned business community in 1906 and where a white mob burned 35 blocks to the ground over May 31 and June 1, 1921.
Taken in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. — 2012 · Marc Carlson from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA · CC BY 2.0
1906 to 1921
Black entrepreneurs built Black Wall Street before it burned
Greenwood District is a historic Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, now marked by a cultural center and a history museum. In 1906, O. W. Gurley bought land here open only to Black buyers, having come to Indian Territory years earlier during the Oklahoma land rush and by the time he settled in Tulsa he had money and a plan. He built a rooming house on a dusty road that became Greenwood Avenue, then added stores, a hotel, and a barber shop. He loaned money to newcomers so they could start businesses of their own.
J. B. Stradford, a lawyer from Kentucky, joined O. W. Gurley in building up the district, believing Black Americans would prosper faster if they pooled their money and supported each other's businesses. He built the Stradford Hotel on Greenwood Avenue, said to be the largest Black-owned hotel in the country. In 1905, Booker T. Washington visited and praised what he saw, and later gave the district its name: Black Wall Street.
By 1921, about 10,000 Black residents lived here. Greenwood Avenue held two newspapers, two movie theaters, doctors' offices, and churches, all Black-owned. Dr. A. C. Jackson, a well-known surgeon, treated patients of both races, and John and Loula Williams ran the Dreamland Theatre, one of the finest Black-owned theaters in America.
Then, on May 31, 1921, it ended in two days. A white mob gathered after a young Black shoe shiner named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a white elevator operator. The mob burned 35 blocks to the ground. They destroyed more than 1,250 homes and 190 businesses. Estimates of the dead range from 36, the official count at the time, to nearly 300. Outside the Vernon AME Church, a few steps from this corner, a marker now tells that story. The church was one of only two Greenwood buildings left standing.
June 1921 to 1925
Thousands were jailed while the city blocked rebuilding
Governor Robertson declared martial law as the fires still burned. National Guard troops helped firemen put them out, then rounded up more than 6,000 Black Tulsans and held them at the Convention Hall and the fairgrounds, some for over a week. The mob had attacked after a Tulsa Tribune story stirred up a crowd at the courthouse, demanding Rowland be handed over.
The city did not help rebuild. New fire codes, written just after the massacre, made cheap rebuilding illegal and pushed survivors toward costlier construction they could not afford. Residents ignored the codes anyway. They rebuilt by night to dodge the police, without city, state, or federal money.
1925 to 1960s
Residents rebuilt Greenwood larger than before the massacre
The Red Cross counted 764 homes, 51 buildings, seven churches, and two filling stations rebuilt within a few years. Greenwood Avenue filled back up with Black-owned doctors' offices, law practices, and shops. By 1942, the district held 250 businesses, more than the 191 it had before the massacre.
For decades Greenwood thrived again, known as "the little Africa of the Southwest." Then integration gave Black Tulsans the choice to shop and live elsewhere in the city, and many did. Business slowed through the 1960s as the neighborhood's founding generation aged and died.
1970s to 2022
A highway cut through Greenwood decades after the fires
In the 1970s, the city ran Interstate 244 straight through the district, using eminent domain to clear the ground. Hundreds of homes and dozens of businesses came down. People here call it Greenwood's second destruction, a second leveling of what residents had rebuilt with their own hands.
The massacre itself nearly vanished from memory. A state commission did not formally document it until the late 1990s, almost 80 years after the fires. In 2022, after decades of work by local advocates, the Greenwood Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places.
Greenwood today holds the Greenwood Cultural Center and the Greenwood Rising history museum, a few steps from the Vernon AME Church marker.
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In 1906 O.W. Gurley, a wealthy Black landowner, purchased 40 acres here and sold plots only to Black settlers, naming the new district after a town in Mississippi.
Gurley put up a rooming house, stores and a hotel, while J.B. Stradford built the Stradford Hotel, said to be the largest Black-owned hotel in the country.
On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked the Greenwood District at the corner of North Greenwood Avenue and East Cameron Street, destroying 35 blocks and killing an estimated 75 to 300 Black residents.
The massacre followed an accusation by 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a Black shoeshiner, against a white elevator operator named Sarah Page, inflamed by a Tulsa Tribune report that drew a crowd to the courthouse.
Governor Robertson declared martial law on June 1, 1921, and more than 6,000 African Americans were held at Convention Hall and the fairgrounds, some for over a week.
Despite city obstruction, Greenwood residents rebuilt hundreds of homes and businesses by the mid-1920s, and by 1942 the district had more businesses than before the massacre.
In the 1970s, Interstate 244 was built through the district using eminent domain, displacing homes and businesses in what locals call Greenwood's second destruction.
A blue plaque dedicated in 2020 outside Vernon A.M.E. Church, one of the only Greenwood buildings to survive the fires, summarizes the massacre at the very corner where the reader stands.
After decades of advocacy by figures including Reuben Gant and Julius Pegues, the Greenwood Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
What happened at Greenwood Avenue and East Cameron Street in 1921?
A white mob attacked the Greenwood District over May 31 and June 1, 1921, burning 35 blocks, destroying more than 1,250 homes and 190 businesses, and killing an estimated 36 to nearly 300 Black residents.
What was here before the 1921 massacre?
Before the massacre, Greenwood Avenue held about 10,000 Black residents, two newspapers, two movie theaters, doctors' offices, churches, the Stradford Hotel, and the Dreamland Theatre, all Black-owned, in a district Booker T. Washington named Black Wall Street.
Who started the Greenwood District?
O. W. Gurley bought the land in 1906 and sold plots only to Black buyers, building a rooming house, stores, a hotel, and a barber shop, and was later joined by lawyer J. B. Stradford, who built the Stradford Hotel.
What sparked the Tulsa Race Massacre?
The violence followed an accusation by a young Black shoeshiner, Dick Rowland, against a white elevator operator, inflamed by a Tulsa Tribune report that drew a crowd to the courthouse demanding he be handed over.
Did Greenwood rebuild after the massacre?
Residents rebuilt without city, state, or federal help, often at night to avoid new fire codes that made cheap construction illegal; by 1942 the district held 250 businesses, more than the 191 it had before the massacre.
What happened to Greenwood after it was rebuilt?
Integration let Black Tulsans shop and live elsewhere, slowing Greenwood's business through the 1960s, and in the 1970s Interstate 244 was built through the district using eminent domain, an event locals call Greenwood's second destruction.
