Advertisement

Updated June 2nd, 2021 at 13:55 IST

Biden visits Tuls to honor race massacre victims

Biden visits Tuls to honor race massacre victims

| Image:self
Advertisement

President Joe Biden visits the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma as part of trip marking the 100th anniversary of the destruction of a thriving Black community.

To mark Biden’s arrival at the nearby Greenwood Cultural Center, some vendors lined up selling memorabilia, including Black Lives Matter hats, shirts and flags under a bridge of the interstate that cuts through the district.

Biden is helping commemorate the deaths of hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago, his visit coming amid a national reckoning on racial justice. It stands in stark contrast to then-President Donald Trump's trip a year ago, which was greeted by protests.

Biden will be the first president to participate in remembrances of the destruction of what was known as “Black Wall Street.” In 1921 - on May 31 and June 1 - a white mob looted and burned the Greenwood district.

He will also meet privately with the three remaining survivors of the massacre. Up to 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard.

Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.

Advertisement

Published June 2nd, 2021 at 13:55 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo