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

On Memorial Day 1921, the shoe shine parlor in which 19-year-old Black man Dick Rowland worked was open. Dick Rowland was born Jimmie Jones and lived his early life in poverty with his older sisters. They were orphaned and often struggled to find food to survive. A divorced Black woman named Damie Ford operated a small grocery store and took Jimmie in. They moved to Tulsa to live with the Rowlands, Ford’s family, in the bustling Greenwood District. Jim Crow was in effect, and Greenwood was established as an all-Black residential and business community by Black businessman O. W. Gurley. The community boasted Black physicians, lawyers, business owners, educators, and newspaper publishers. This area became known as Black Wall Street. Jimmie changed his name to Dick Rowland and dropped out of high school early to begin working.

At his shoe shining job, Rowland had to use the segregated bathroom in the Drexel Building. Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white woman who had purportedly already been married and divorced and had moved to Tulsa from Kansas to start a new life, was the elevator operator in the building. Page and Rowland likely knew each other, and Rowland’s Aunt Damie alleged they had a romantic relationship, which was taboo.