The Tulsa Riot of 1921: A Communist-inspired Insurrection?

[Smaland]

Photo of Charles Emil Ruthenberg (1882-1927), from the Wiki article about him. According to the same article, Ruthenberg was the "Executive Secretary of the Communist Party USA", from 1919-1927.

Four men have been arrested by Chief of Police Forbis of Gary (Indiana) for distributing literature on the Tulsa race riots, signed by the Communist (Party) of America. It calls on white men of the country to come to the assistance of their 'colored brothers who are the victims of the capitalist class, using the government to suppress its enemies.'

Source: a news story entitled " Held for Giving Out Race Riot Pamphlets ", that was published in the Chicago Tribune (as of the date of the edition cited, the newspaper was called the Chicago Daily Tribune). The article appeared on p.5 of the edition of July 9, 1921.

[Smaland]

Above is an image that was uploaded to the website hardcrackers.com, which published the article linked to below. The managing editor of Hard Crackers was Noel Ignatiev. Ignatiev is the person who said that "My concern is doing away with whiteness".

The Hard Crackers website also sells back issues "of the journal Race Traitor, which promoted the idea that 'treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity' " (the quote is from the Wikipedia article about Ignatiev, who was also a co-editor of this journal).

The Tulsa insurrection began at the Tulsa County Courthouse on the night of May 31. Taken from the Hard Crackers article about it, the quote below describes part of the insurrection that followed afterwards:

...
A prolonged (street battle) broke out as the blacks withdrew toward Greenwood (Ave.) and Archer (St.). Block by block the fighting continued into the wee hours of the morning. At one point the battle raged around the train station, which was held as a fortress by black defenders for an extended period of time. With the bodies of white attackers scattered through the streets, the blacks retreated into (Tulsa's) Greenwood (District). This overnight fighting is usually ignored or skimmed over in the stories of the Tulsa 'riot.' Far from being helpless victims, Tulsa’s black population fought with brutal efficiency against the white (forces). It is not hard to imagine (that) this defense was pre-planned, or at least theorized before the (battle) began ...
...

Full article at Hard Crackers

[Anglo-Celtic]

BLM is a communist domestic terrorist organization, and they want to abolish the nuclear family. Members burn Black homes, loot Black stores, and murder Black people while they shout "Black lives matter". The Democratic Party and their propaganda news outlets defend and support this anti-American group of traitors. They are the *real* insurrectionists.

[Smaland]

Above is a photo of Dick Rowland (c. 1902-?), who was 19 years old and a shoeshiner in Tulsa at the time of the riot. After being charged with the assault of a white female elevator operator, he was arrested on the morning of May 31, 1921. Afterward, there were concerns that he would be lynched, and so the insurrection connected with this incident began that same evening. One theory has it that the match was lit when a white man tried to disarm a black man next to the county courthouse. The black man's gun discharged, he was killed, and hostilities began. Rowland was taken from the county jail to an undisclosed location after the insurrection was already underway.

"The case against ... Rowland was dismissed at the end of September 1921. The dismissal followed the receipt of a letter by the County Attorney from Sarah Page (the elevator operator), in which she stated that she did not wish to prosecute the case. (quotation is from the Wiki article about Rowland)" The photo above was posted at alchetron.com.

TULSA, June 1 -- Dick Rowland, the negro charged with assault, was removed from the county jail during the night to a place of safety unrevealed.

He was spirited out of town at 2 o'clock (on the morning of June 1) by deputies from Sheriff McCullough's office. They refused to divulge his whereabouts. Officers said the black would be given a speedy trial just as soon as the situation quieted down to permit it and the case will be transferred to another jurisdiction if it is found impossible to try him here. They gave assurance he would be fully punished if found guilty of the charge.
...

Source: "Negro Held for Assault Is Spirited From City". Oklahoma City Times, June 1, 1921, front page.

[Smaland]

To the left is a logo of the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World, a labor union), from the Wiki article about it. Next to the logo is an image of The Nonpartisan Leader, a periodical of the Nonpartisan League, an American political organization; the image is from the web site chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.


" I. W. W. and Non-Partisan League Had Been Active Among Negroes "

TULSA, OK., June 2.--(Special.)
--Two distinct factors stand out above all others in the Tulsa race riot. The First is that I. W. W. and Non-Partisan League chieftains had been very active among the negroes of Tulsa and Oklahoma and had inspired the negroes to talk of a revolution, because the whites refused them equal rights.

Since the radical doctrines had been preached to the negroes in their local papers, the negroes had been forward and had aroused the resentment of the whites.
...

Source: a news story with the above title that appeared on p.2 of the June 2, 1921 edition of the St. Louis Star. Before it was sold to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1951, the Star had become the St. Louis Star and Times.

Above is a quotation of a post that I made previously in this thread, except that I've substituted another I.W.W. logo. The logo that was in the first post has disappeared, and so I've put in another one.

[Argentano]

Being a comunist should be a crime

[Smaland]

Above is a photo of Ottaway (O.W.) Gurley (1867-1935), who was a well-to-do property owner in Tulsa at the time of the insurrection. Some sources might state that his first name was "Ottowa", and others might say that he was born in 1868. "Ottaway" and "1867" are what is used in the Wiki article about him. The photo was posted at uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com.


Gurley had the following to say about the hours before the insurrection started:

"...
Negroes were organizing and arming as early as 5 o'clock Tuesday (afternoon) at the offices of a Tulsa negro newspaper, edited more or less clandestinely, according to a statement Saturday night by O. W. Gurley, a wealthy negro, who suffered heavy property loss in the burning of the black belt. He said (that) guns and ammunition were being distributed among the negroes at this center and that runners were being dispatched through the negro belt to arouse the blacks.
..."

Source: " Secret Society Fosters Race Hatred ". The Houston Post, June 5, 1921, front page.

[Smaland]

Today, the word "black" is used as a polite and proper reference to black people. A century ago, the same was true of the word "negro".

The changeover from "negro" to "black" began when I was a boy, back in the 1960's.

[Creoda]

Today, the word "black" is used as a polite and proper reference to black people. A century ago, the same was true of the word "negro".

The changeover from "negro" to "black" occurred when I was a boy, back in the 1960's.

The proper term is POC I believe - People of Cholera.

[Smaland]

Above is a map of the Midland Valley Railroad, which was incorporated in 1903 (the image is taken from the Wiki article about the Railroad). It was merged with the Texas & Pacific RR in 1967.

Considering the technology available at the time, logically a railroad would have offered the best combination of speed and reliability for moving a large group of men.

...
Further corroborative evidence of at least some degree of prior organization was adduced Saturday by a statement by a police officer that the police had been notified at 9 o'clock Tuesday night (May 31) by the Tulsa telephone exchange that they had intercepted a telephone message to Muskogee (Oklahoma, which is approximately 50 miles SE of Tulsa) asking that 500 armed negroes be rushed to Tulsa to supplement the black forces here. The exchange reported that the reply was to the effect that men would be rushed to the scene. The Tulsa police, it was stated, at once notified the Muskogee police, who placed guards at all roads and railroads leading toward Tulsa.
...

Source: " Secret Society Fosters Race Hatred ". The Houston Post, June 5, 1921, front page.