Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

“It is a privilege to continue telling the stories like those from my hometown and Tulsa so that they cannot be forgotten.”

Colbert positions herself as both historian and storyteller. Her desire to tell these stories also connects to the theme of The Erasure and Recovery of Black Historical Narratives, as she works to ensure these stories are not forgotten or erased again.

“In some cases, white elected officials and church leaders actively pursued policies that would have the citizens of Native Nations abandon their own languages and spiritual beliefs, and even encouraged them to purchase enslaved Africans for labor.”

Colbert’s analysis on the United States’ measures to force assimilation onto Native tribes demonstrates the complexity of oppression in the US. As the Indigenous people were oppressed by the United States government, the government in turn encouraged them to oppress Black Americans via enslavement.

“Luck, along with white supremacy, was on the side of the colonizers. They’d acquired land that was never meant to be theirs—and it would prove even more valuable than they could have imagined.”

Colbert frequently utilizes foreshadowing to build tension in her historical narrative. Here, she hints at the oil lurking under the Oklahoma land that the government essentially handed to white colonizers.

“Originating in the South after the Civil War, Jim Crow laws, and the ‘Black codes’ that preceded them, were a collection of various state and local legislation that enforced segregation in nearly all aspects of American life. They were used to subjugate Black Americans, who had recently gained their freedom from slavery, and forced them to live as second-class citizens.”

Colbert defines the Jim Crow laws that inform segregation during the period of the Tulsa Race Massacre. She also provides historical insight into why white society put them in place, as an attempt to further their racist, white supremacist agenda.

“Several of the tribes, though they themselves were oppressed by white colonizers, also enslaved Black people and brought them to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears.”

Colbert again adds complexity to her historical analysis of racial oppression in the United States. While Indigenous tribes themselves were oppressed and consistently forced off the land that rightfully belonged to them by the government, they in turn took the freedom that rightfully belonged to Black Americans. Colbert also describes how Black Americans suffered on the Trail of Tears, too.

“This enraged proslavery white Southerners, who were furious that the source of their labor and wealth had been set free and were now enfranchised. They believed the racist notions that had allowed slavery to thrive for centuries: that Africans and African Americans were unintelligent, wild, incapable of leadership, and fit only for hard manual labor and domestic work. Or, if they didn’t truly believe this in their hearts, they behaved as if they did, perpetuating the system of white supremacy the United States had been built upon.”

Colbert circles back to the assertion that the foundations of the United States are built on white supremacy. She also connects these foundations to the actions of each and every pro-slavery white Southerner and the hateful actions they took against the newly freed Black Americans.

“They feared free, educated Black people; perhaps they were convinced that if Black Americans gained equality and political power, they would treat white people the same way they themselves had treated African Americans.”

Colbert’s evaluation of white fear is salient. By noting that white people feared receiving the treatment they gave Black Americans, she implies a hidden self-awareness in white people of the wrongness of their actions and further motivation for continuing oppression of Black Americans.

“Not only did white people believe that Black veterans would start an unwelcome trend by demanding equal treatment once they were back home, they feared specifically that they would use their guns to rebel against the injustices faced each day in the United States.”

The idea of WWI veterans returning and asking for equal treatment is a concern O. W. Gurley echoes as he rejects the idea of defending Rowland from the lynch mob (when Gurley thought the veteran leading the charge brought back ideas of equality from Europe). This quote also further demonstrates the divide between white and Black societies: Even when Black Americans risked their lives for their country, white Americans refused to treat them equally.

“Afraid of change, afraid of loss, and, perhaps most of all, afraid of equality. It was this same fear that soon spread to Tulsa, Oklahoma, planting the seeds for the Greenwood massacre.”

Colbert again uses foreshadowing to build tension, hinting at the violence that will come as a result of fear. This connection of fear of change, loss, and equality also neatly ties together the ideas she explores in Chapter 3.

“Greenwood Avenue extended north for more than a mile, and it was unique: while other streets in Tulsa ran through both the Black and white neighborhoods, the titular avenue started just north of the Frisco railroad tracks and did not spill into the white areas of town.”

The image of Greenwood Avenue as the only street that does not touch the white area of Tulsa is significant. It offers a visual representation of Greenwood’s separation from the white parts of Tulsa and its independence from white society.

“While Black people were still being disenfranchised in the Southern states from which many Greenwood residents had migrated, Greenwood was absolutely thriving.”

The contrast of Greenwood to other communities in the South illustrates the unique nature of Greenwood’s success. Black Americans in other areas of the US were suffering, but the citizens of Greenwood were able to find social and economic success within their community.

“The phrase ‘jealousy is the root of all evil’ has perhaps never been truer than in the case of white Americans who have viewed successful Black Americans as a threat. And the depths of that evil would soon be exposed in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

This is another example of Colbert’s use of foreshadowing and tension building. Colbert concludes her chapter about the rise and success of Greenwood with an ominous hint at the violence to come.

“The World interviewed Tulsa Police Department chief of detectives J. W. Patton, who said the Tribune’s ‘colored and untrue account…incited such a racial spirit upon the part of the whites, and under the impression there would be a lynching the armed blacks invaded the business district. If the facts as told the police had only been printed I do not think there would have been any riot whatever.’”

The quotation from Patton offers an outside, expert opinion that supports Colbert’s argument. She, like Patton, argues that the Tribune incited the riot, though she does not argue it was the only cause.

“One thing is certain: words matter. With newspapers serving as the primary source of information back in the 1920s, journalists had a great responsibility to report the truth, just as journalists do today. And while many underlying issues led to the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa Tribune’s reckless, sensational, and factually dubious reporting on May 31, 1921, had a tragic effect on the city it represented.”

Colbert further critiques the actions of the Tribune, while also making a connection to contemporary journalism. This contemporary connection returns in the Afterword, where she discusses the impacts of racism in the current social sphere.

“He, like many others, was killed by white people before their journey could begin.”

This line succinctly demonstrates the tragedy of the massacre. The word journey also hints at a double meaning: The Black Americans were killed before their journeys away from Tulsa could begin, but also before their lives could begin or continue.

“The white rioters had set up a machine gun across the way, and the bullets tore through the building, which was set on fire not long afterward. But the Greenwood residents had fought to save it, for as long as they could.”

The image of the Mount Zion Baptist Church being tore through with bullets is a visual metaphor for the way the entire Greenwood community was tore through with bullets by the violence of the white mob. The second sentence about the residents trying to save it imbues the image with poignancy.

“My grandparents tried and tried to locate them after the riot, and when I grew older, I tried to locate them, but they were never heard of again. I wonder if they were buried in some secret place.”

The reference to a secret burial in this quotation from a massacre survivor foreshadows the discussion of mass graves in Chapters 6 and 7. It also places a dramatic emphasis on the sheer loss of life from the massacre.

“With the judicial system and public officials unwilling to take responsibility for the violence, murder, and destruction of property that had ravaged Black Wall Street, the residents of Greenwood had no choice but to look forward for hope and healing.”

Colbert demonstrates how the justice system failed the people of Greenwood. “Looking forward” also connotes looking to the future, which is when the massacre’s truth was uncovered and reparations started to begin.

“Oklahomans were split on the national reaction to the event. Some white Tulsans seemed proud of what had happened. They bragged about their involvement and passed around postcards that displayed graphic photos of massacre victims, similar to the postcards and photographs that were distributed around the United States after lynchings of Black Americans.”

Colbert’s connection from lynchings to the massacre is clear. The mob initially gathered to lynch Dick Rowland, but instead essentially lynched the entire community of Greenwood through mob violence.

“Educational institutions in particular didn’t seem to want their faculty to speak out about the massacre, even as trying to hide what had occurred was denying their students the Tulsa history and education they were paying for, and deserved.”

Colbert reflects on the erasure of the massacre from history curricula in schools ranging from the elementary level to the collegiate level in Oklahoma, but especially Tulsa. This relates to the theme of The Erasure and Recovery of Black Historical Narratives, as faculty were trying to recover the truth but were being pushed into erasing it from their syllabi.

“The federal district court dismissed the case, claiming the victims had waited too long to file the lawsuit—in spite of the fact that public officials worked to cover up the case for decades, and information definitively stating police officers and other officials were directly involved in the massacre wasn’t available until the commission delivered its report in 2001.”

Colbert highlights the ongoing injustices of the massacre through this court decision. She clearly outlines the facts of the case that are hypocritical, illustrating how the government continues to fail the survivors and their descendants.

“During the 1918 pandemic, President Woodrow Wilson—the same guy who screened The Birth of a Nation in the White House and was reported to have wholeheartedly agreed with the portrayal of the KKK as heroes—severely mishandled the governmental response to the new strain of flu, which ended up killing an estimated 675,000 Americans in fifteen months and at least 50 million people worldwide.”

Through this historical allusion, Colbert connects Wilson to Trump and the 1918 pandemic to the 2020 pandemic. This also gives her the space to connect Wilson’s racism (made evident through his screening of a KKK film) to Trump’s racism and rally on Juneteenth.

“But pretending so-called unspeakable things simply didn’t happen is not the way to grow, to become better people or make a better world.”

This line sums up Colbert’s historical mission. She wants to dig into history to remember the stories of the Black community that are often forgotten or erased and also use these lessons to make the world a more welcoming, safe place for Black Americans.