Quick, does anyone reading this know who Otis G. Clark, Olivia J. Hooker, and Wess H. Young is? If you have never heard of them you are not alone. Quite a few people have never heard of these true field Negroes who survived the Tulsa riots. Mr. Clark is 104, Ms. Hooker is 92, and Mr. Young is 90. That's damn near three centuries of living between them.
All three of them were present for a symposium at the Temple University Law School this past Monday. They were there to discuss the 1921 riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
They were just children then, but they remembered.
In less than a week, over 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed, and over 300 people were killed. (Some accounts say that more than 1,200 people died) Most of the rioting happened in a prosperous black area of town known as Greenwood. Of course there was no wall to wall 24 cable news coverage at the time to chronicle the horror of this event and tragic time in our history. All this happened because a black man allegedly assaulted a white woman in an elevator. As was typical at the time, some 10,000 angry white folks descended on Tulsa's courthouse demanding noose style justice. As the story goes; about 80 field Negroes had the nerve to try to protect the accused. Well, a scuffle ensued, and all hell broke loose.
Can you imagine if some of our conservative brothers and sisters were around then? They would have blamed the riots on those unruly blacks who didn't know how to obey the law, or know their place in society.
Well three of those blacks are still alive today. I wonder if any of my right leaning black friends would have the guts to tell these three survivors some of their bullshit conservative rhetoric to their face?
I doubt it.
And just a note: Those charges against that man who allegedly assaulted the woman on the elevator (Dick Rowland) were eventually dropped.
48 comments:
It's amazing the shit our people have gone thru.Why do we never here about all the ignorant dirt these so called christians kick in our faces? And they call us animals & uncivilized.thanks for hippn'us to these true field negroes.
Thanks for this post Field. Temple University, holding it down, as usual. They got everything on video, right? I wish I had been there. If I were just a little smarter, I would be one of the few Black first-year Ivy League law students living in Philadelphia, PA. And I would have been there.
A concise, yet rigorous and readable, history of the Tulsa Riot of 1921 is University of Alabama Law Professor Alfred L. Brophy's, Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Riot of 1921: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation. I read this book after I read Brophy's Reparations: Pro and Con, which I believe is the best book on the subject to date.
Just listened to the NPR clip. Dissappointed in the first topic chosen or the way the questions were asked. It may be just me.
Amazing isn't it lux4?
e.c., thanks for the knowledge and the link. As usual I am learning from folks who read the blog.
Yeah Temple is pretty much up on their shit. I have always liked that about them.
Hathor, it wasn't just you. But I am going to leave this alone for now. Maybe this weekend I will post on it. I am trying to hold off a little.
Those crackers were using airplanes to bomb the black neighborhoods. Our army is now making extensive use of airstrikes to control the Baghdad slums. Think it's gonna be long before the crackers (re-)start doing the same thing back here? What with the end of posse comitatus and how ex-military flock to local police forces, I give it five years, tops.
Field, Dr. Charles Ogletree over at Harvard Law, is spearheading a lawsuit that would grant reparations to those who lost their everything during the Tulsa riots of 1921.
I'm hoping they live long enough to see justice served and for them to get fat paid.
Betwee kidnappings and beatings during slavery, being run off our farms during reconstructions, having whole towns destroyed in the early 1900s and being profiled and murdered in cities today by the police and our own people, nobody can talk to us about terror...Rose Brewer, the best teacher I ever had, Professor of African American Studies at the U of Minnesota and one of the authors of one of the best books i've ever read ("The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the US Racial Wealth Divide) hails from Tulsa. She once mentioned her hometown and the Tulsa riots, lowering her voice and her head a bit as she did so. I think we can understand why. I'll let her know where I came to hear about these three gentlemen.
Stay in the field. Mac
Wait, Field...
You mean to tell me that black folks caught hell over 100 years ago before rap, and thug culture was invented?
We were told by this person
(http://racialrealist.wordpress.com/2007/09/02/why-we-must-resist-assimilation/#comment-20687 )
that our coming genocide was from within and that external issues like the Tulsa Riots are non-existent, or old news.
Thx for posting this! We need moments of clarity frequently.
brotherkomrade - The racial realist has her head in the clouds & reveals herself to be a loser on most topics & this would be one of them!
Bygbaby
BTW, I love the N&N Roundtable the other day. It really jumped off!!!
Field, why don't you do a post on your take of the blogger's roundtable? The NOI reaction from the other two people were disappointing to say the least.
What happened in Tulsa happened in so many American cities, not just in the South either. I grew up hearing about the "Red Summer of 1919". And that was Chicago.
But folks are too busy buying shawty a drink and gettin' paper to pay attention to history.
By the way, I am definitely looking forward to your comments about the round table. What was up? "Cookies in the mail for both of you!" I about fell off my chair!
I just love how we educated black folks are now the voice of "lower class black folks".
oooh, well said, Liz. Well said.
Thanks for posting about Lucky Dube. I first heard about this guy when he was telling Mbeki off about the post-Mandela ANC position on AIDS being, well, ill-informed. So of course, he was shot like a dog in the street, in front of his kids, for pocket money and a car. Sometimes it seems like good people have to be sacrificed before people wake up. Maybe South Africa will start moving on the crime problem now.
Jimbo
Nice to know that at least one Law School cares about black people. I have to do my research about this topic. This is the first time I have heard about this story. Thanks, Negro.
yobachi, I didn't write a post, but I did mention it (first one)on my side bar.
Thanks for the link.
christ prog. I heard about Dr. Ogeltree's lawsuit. Sadly, I don't think he has a shot of winning it. But I wish him all the best.
"Stay in the field. Mac"
Always.
"Field, why don't you do a post on your take of the blogger's roundtable?"
liz, bygbaby, and brotherkomrade, I am glad you all listened to the roundtable the other day. Was it me, or did it seem like one of the guests couldn't wait to jump on the kid? :)
But it's all good. I might have an entire post about that later.
Still thinking abut it. Not sure if I need more e-fights. I am trying to unify black folks not get into pissing matches.
I didn't notice the NPR blogroll until I was actually looking for the podcast. It's interesting....
racialrealist huh? Doesn't sound like they are too realistic about race. I swear some of our folks just don't get it.
Great post field,thanks for the education on this well hidden history.Seems we have been under attack since the chains came off.No matter what we do,we will always suffer from pure hatred of our people.when they figure out how to use race specific viruses to wipe us out we will be goners for sure.
"I didn't notice the NPR blogroll until I was actually looking for the podcast. It's interesting...."
Oh, you didn't know that NPR N&N has a "thing" for House Negroes and Conservatives?
I posted a complaint a while back asking why they don't widen the blogroll and I got no answer.
It was great to hear you on there though, but I'll be shocked if they ask you back again. You're one of the negroes that color outside the lines. I think Ferai and her bourgie audience doesn't like that sort of thing.
I am about to listen the roundtable again cuz it was off the hook!
For a minute I was getting confused with Wayne, Duane, Wayne, Duane, Wayne, Duane.
I was like shit whose who. maybe that was part of the excitement for me.
Bygbaby
PS, what kinda cookies are you sending? :)
Wait, Field...
You mean to tell me that black folks caught hell over 100 years ago before rap, and thug culture was invented?
We were told by this person
(http://racialrealist.wordpress.com/2007/09/02/why-we-must-resist-assimilation/#comment-20687 )
that our coming genocide was from within and that external issues like the Tulsa Riots are non-existent, or old news.
11:57 AM
I wonder why they hated us so much back then,we were & have been in an economic strangle hold since our realease from slavery.these acts from the past only show they hate us for breathing.Todays gangsta culture only gives them ammo.
FN,
I learn something new when I come to your site…that is why I love it. I had no idea there are survivors from the 1921 Oklahoma riot. Does anyone know if there are survivors from the 1917 riot in East St. Louis, IL?
BTW: I don't think it was all in your mind, it did emerge you were being jumped, that was my first time listening to NPR and it will not be my last. There is a positive benefit in the growing black blogosphere arena.
FN,
Thanks for this info. I first heard about the Tulsa Riots from Tony Brown years ago. See, that's why we need our own outlets. Without them, this sort of history would have died, because you know they weren't going to teach it.
Remember Rosewood and Tulsa, my friend.
The excuse about reparations is that you can't find distinguish who the 'direct' descendents are.
Well, here they were, and they STILL denied them.
Uh huh.
PS, what kinda cookies are you sending? :)
Oreos of course! ;)
Or maybe some Ginger Snaps :()
BTW bygbaby, congrats on your award!
Yu di man!
brotherkpmrade, I must be out of the loop because, I didn't know that about NPR.
They're talking about The Field in the big house (LA Times)! Seriously though, I stumbled on your blog a few months ago and have been telling EYERYONE I know about it! Field, you're getting mad love out here in Seattle!
Thank you baatin! I have mad love for Seatttle too. My sister lives there.
Yo EC Hopkins,
The shit we go through? Read Deuteronomy, Chapter 28...It's all there...
Greg, aka Farrod
Yo Whatup, Field!!!!
HEARD THE NPR SHOW, FN:
to be honest, I could have given a crap about Britain....why was that brought up? waste of time.
The shit we go through? Read Deuteronomy, Chapter 28...It's all there...Thanks for the knowledge,im gonna peep it now. peace
The shit we go through? Read Deuteronomy, Chapter 28...It's all there...Thanks for the knowledge,im gonna peep it now. peace Damn,is that us or them? or is it all of us? I mean other people seem to be doing well,& they are straight up wicked. help a brother understand.
Greg aka Farrod:
Oh yes, I'm familiar with Deuteronomy ("Second Law"), the suzerain-vassal covenant is describes, and Deuteronomistic History.
The Covenant it describes is that God will reward good behavior (or good and civilized Christian people) and punish bad behavior (or bad and "uncivilized" nonChristian people). I suspect some Christians might have relied on Deuteronomy to draw the conclusion that God, not men, chooses who prospers in our world and who suffers and that the suzerain-vassal model is the best model for political economic organization.
The passage that always compels me to pause when I read good translations of Deuteronomy's Hebrew is 28:33; "The fruit of your ground, and all your labor, shall be eaten up by a nation which you do not know. And you shall always be oppressed and crushed." (translation by Jay P. Green, The Interlinear Bible, p 179).
I suspect Christians who used the King James translation of the Hebrew Biblical Canon quoted from Deuteronomy frequently as they persuaded their followers that Africans deserved to be ruled, enslaved, and transported around the world so they could labor in ways that would help Christians prosper through industrialization and mercantile capitalism.
What Deuteronomy Chapter 28 describes are both the blessings and, more succintly, the curses that would befall the Nation of Israel. Particularly eye-opening are verses 28:32,36,49,64,66 and, last but certainly not least, 68.
There's NO PEOPLE I know of on earth whose experiences line up with this.
Know what I'm saying?
Chapter 30 discusses the call to return to the Lord.
Greg aka Farrod
Field, I didn't know the name of these three warriors until reading your message. However, the Black Wall Street destruction in Tulsa OK is something that we have discussed in the past over on the Electronic Village.
Click here for our take on the Tulsa rampage that took place back in the 1920s.
I will continue reading this bible,i am one of those blacks that feel our people got to much white people jesus.I dont feel right bowing to a white jesus or any of the so called christian values.they used that bible to justify fucking over millions of non white peoples.i find it really hard believing in a so called loving god that would let one of his children rape,rob,& pillage the other.thats neglect,not to mention sadistic.i feel like god is our sadist,& he knows it.
I meant to hit you with this earlier, but it took a while to find.
http://www.archive.org/details/freedom_song_tulsa
It's from Freedom's Song, a DVD presenting Black American History from 1900 to about 2000. Nice. Free. Check the web site.
http://www.freedomssong.net/index.html
This post has been removed by the author
Hey field what was the crux of this post?
Field, you're wrong. Conservative blacks, did comment on the riots as well as lynching and no, they didn't blame it on their own people. That was difference between astrain of such folk (not all) today and the conservativethinkers of 1920-30s. Indeed, Marcus Garvey could be labelled a conservative under very apt circumstances, rather than a revolutionary. He took money from Klan-supported politicians such as Senator Ted Bilbo of Alabama...
Anon 2:51PM is another religous sceptic. Keep searching my friend, and when you find anything, please post here immediately. The field has been searching too, and I haven't found anyhting yet.
Prom 6, thanks for that link fam. I will check it out.
Anon.I couldn't even tell you what that poist was about, because the author removed it before I had a chance to see it. For the record; I never remove posts or ban IP adresses. When you post here, you can pretty much say whatever the heck you want. This is A-merry-ca.
Chris, I meant the modern day conservative. You are right about conservatives of the past. They were much more forward thinking and independent than this current crop of lackeys for the right.
Anonymous:
That was me that removed the post. Typos in a URL. I'd have left it there and just posted a correction had I thought it would be an issue.
Anon 2:51PM is another religous sceptic. Keep searching my friend, and when you find anything, please post here immediately
I really want to believe in some form of religion,but they all have shown me things i cant get on my knees for.My analytical mind wont let me.I guess faith is heart based blind worship,& church is not for the deep thinkers.The whole taking money thing from poor people bothers me deeply.not tomention the easter fashion show at every black church i ever attended,something stinks to high heaven with god inc.
Great post! We gotta keep putting this stuff out there, nevermind what the rappers are putting out there. I go to clubs and get my dance on and I still put this stuff out there. It is amazing to me how many of my just-leaving-the-house friends have no idea of the terrorism of the reconstruction and post-reconstruction period. So when we get into the 'debate' you know the one I'm talking about and they ask me why don't we do 'this or that' I politely remind them that they might need to relearn their history and be empowered by all the examples of black self and collective determination. And I hope that stories like these finally give them the determination to get that last foot out the house and get in the damn field!
Oh and "The Color of Wealth" is a great read.
10 31 07
Field:
Interestingly enough, my husbands Grandma Bertha was a survivor of the riots. She passed onto glory about five years ago but she was a child and remembered the event as well. The Tulsa riots are a glaring example of the racism on which our country is built. I don't give a damn if someone is con or lib, they CANNOT deny the TRUTH, which is that those folk were assaulted simply because they were Black.
President Barack Obama has ignored the 2007 international human rights complaint by the super-elderly Black American survivors of the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma "race riot" since he became president in January 2009. The 1921 rampage of whites against the heart of Black Tulsa killed hundreds of Black Americans, destroyed their thriving community, and caused many to flee Tulsa, and Oklahoma, forever. The continuing complaint is against the U.S. Government, headed by Barack Obama, now in his second term. Why has he ignored this complaint and Dr. Olivia Hooker who is now, in 2015, the lone survivor?
"Petition Alleging Violations of the Human Rights of John Melvin Alexander et al. by the United States of America" (2005; 2007)- Case STILL UNDECIDED before the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (Organization of American States, Washington, DC). The case was argued by Black American attorneys GAY MCDOUGALL AND CHARLES OGLETREE, March 2007, before the IACHR. (I attended, with my Mother, then in her 80s.)
The president of the United States of America can settle this case for the (now only 1- ONE) remaining survivor, Dr. Olivia Hooker. Give her and heirs of the other complainants 1) financial compensation and 2) a formal apology from the United States Government.
Complaint text:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=993646
"Field negro," you say you're an attorney in Philadelphia, and you're from Jamaica, so, unlike Black Americans, you know what the OAS and its Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Please call, tweet, and write the U.S. President, his wife, and other Obama admin officials and ask if they intend to settle the Tulsa Survivors 2007 complaint. Now there is only Dr. Olivia Hooker still alive, and in February 2016, she will be 101 years old. Dr. Hooker and descendants of the other victims in the 2007 complaint deserve 1) an appropriate financial settlement, and 2) a formal letter of apology from Barack Obama, the president of the United States. Nothing less will suffice.
I am posting this on 4 October 2015. After ignoring this complaint since he took office in January 2009, Barack Obama, president of the United States, can and should settle this case for the now only one remaining survivor, Dr. Olivia Hooker. In February 2016, Dr. Hooker, the first Black woman in the U.S. Coast Guard, will be 101 years old. The U.S. government must award her and heirs of the other (now-deceased) complainants: 1) financial compensation and 2) a formal apology from the U.S. Government.
Complaint text:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=993646
Please call, tweet, and write the U.S. President, his wife, and other Obama admin officials and ask if they intend to settle the Tulsa Survivors 2007 complaint with an appropriate financial settlement, and a formal letter of apology from the president of the United States. Do not let Dr. Hooker pass, nor Barack Obama leave office, with this travesty hanging.
We are the 38 grandchildren of Wess H. Young Sr, we gave him 27 great-grandchildren and 24 great great grandchildren before he left in 2014 at 98. No matter what he was my greatest teacher....he covered my ignorance with light by sharing wisdom with me. Go to www.beforetheydie.org and www.survivorstock21.com for information.
Happy 102nd Birthday, Dr. Olivia Hooker
Veteran of the Coast Guard, Educator, Historian, one of few Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Attack and all around...Woman of Valor!
Queen, we salute you !!!!!
We Love you....Wess Young, Sr.'s (Veteran and Survivor) descendants
www.beforetheydie.org www.survivorstock21.com
You've taught us how to rise above ANYTHING!!!!
Thank you for your humility, huge heart, love of teaching and sharing....
God bless you and continue to protect you.
You are a Proverbs 31 woman....your children (all of us) DO indeed call you BLESSED
(Thank you Reggie Turner, Esq. & Dr. Charles Ogletree for never stop fighting for the survivors)
Just Sayin, did you just post the comment above? Asking because there are no dates that I see. Thank you!
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