{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-74-74-8000.1","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 74, § 74-8000.1","heading":"Tulsa Race Riot – Legislative findings and intent","body":"The Oklahoma Legislature hereby finds, pursuant to the final\n\nreport of The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission regarding the 1921\n\nTulsa Race Riot of May 31-June 1, 1921, and the riot=s place in the\n\nhistory of race relations in Oklahoma:\n\n1. The root causes of the Tulsa Race Riot reside deep in the\n\nhistory of race relations in Oklahoma and Tulsa which included the\n\nenactment of Jim Crow laws, acts of racial violence (not the least\n\nof which was the 23 lynchings of African-Americans versus only one\n\nwhite from 1911) against African-Americans in Oklahoma, and other\n\nactions that had the effect of “putting African-Americans in\n\nOklahoma in their place” and to prove to African-Americans that the\n\nforces supportive of segregation possessed the power to “push down,\n\npush out, and push under” African-Americans in Oklahoma;\n\n2. Official reports and accounts of the time that viewed the\n\nTulsa Race Riot as a “Negro uprising” were incorrect. Given the\n\nhistory of racial violence against African-Americans in Oklahoma,\n\nincluding numerous lynchings by white mobs, and the breakdown of the\n\nrule of law in Tulsa on May 31-June 1, 1921, it is understandable\n\nthat African-Americans believe they needed to assist Tulsa police in\n\nprotecting Dick Rowland, an African-American accused of attempting\n\nto rape a white woman, against an assembled white mob. The\n\ndocumentation assembled by The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission\n\nprovides strong evidence that some local municipal and county\n\nofficials failed to take actions to calm or contain the situation\n\nonce violence erupted and, in some cases, became participants in the\n\nsubsequent violence which took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, and\n\neven deputized and armed many whites who were part of a mob that\n\nkilled, looted, and burned down the Greenwood area;\n\n3. The staggering cost of the Tulsa Race Riot included the\n\ndeaths of an estimated 100 to 300 persons, the vast majority of whom\n\nwere African-Americans, the destruction of 1,256 homes, virtually\n\nevery school, church and business, and a library and hospital in the\n\nGreenwood area, and the loss of personal property caused by rampant\n\nlooting by white rioters. The Tulsa Race Riot Commission estimates\n\nthat the property costs in the Greenwood district was approximately\n\n$2 million in 1921 dollars or $16,752,600 in 1999 dollars.\n\nNevertheless, there were no convictions for any of the violent acts\n\nagainst African-Americans or any insurance payments to African-\n\nAmerican property owners who lost their homes or personal property\n\nas a result of the Tulsa Race Riot. Moreover, local officials\n\nattempted to block the rebuilding of the Greenwood community by\n\namending the Tulsa building code to require the use of fire-proof\n\nmaterial in rebuilding the area thereby making the costs\n\nprohibitively expensive;\n\n4. Perhaps the most repugnant fact regarding the history of the\n\n1921 Tulsa Race Riot is that it was virtually forgotten, with the\n\nnotable exception of those who witnessed it on both sides, for\n\nseventy-five (75) years. This \"conspiracy of silence\" served the\n\ndominant interests of the state during that period which found the\n\nriot a “public relations nightmare” that was “best to be forgotten,\n\nsomething to be swept well beneath history=s carpet” for a community\n\nwhich attempted to attract new businesses and settlers;\n\n5. The work of many individual Oklahomans and now of The 1921\n\nTulsa Race Riot Commission has forever ended the “conspiracy of\n\nsilence” surrounding the events in Tulsa of May 31-June 1, 1921, and\n\ntheir aftermath. The Commission has subsequently turned the\n\nresponsibility for how the State of Oklahoma will respond to the\n\nhistorical record to the 48th Oklahoma Legislature; and\n\n6. The 48th Oklahoma Legislature in enacting the 1921 Tulsa\n\nRace Riot Reconciliation Act of 2001 concurs with the conclusion of\n\nThe 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission that the reason for responding\n-June 1, 1921, and\n\ntheir aftermath. The Commission has subsequently turned the\n\nresponsibility for how the State of Oklahoma will respond to the\n\nhistorical record to the 48th Oklahoma Legislature; and\n\n6. The 48th Oklahoma Legislature in enacting the 1921 Tulsa\n\nRace Riot Reconciliation Act of 2001 concurs with the conclusion of\n\nThe 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission that the reason for responding\n\nin the manner provided by this act is not primarily based on the\n\npresent strictly legal culpability of the State of Oklahoma or its\n\ncitizens. Instead, this response recognizes that there were moral\n\nresponsibilities at the time of the riot which were ignored and has\n\nbeen ignored ever since rather than confront the realities of an\n\nOklahoma history of race relations that allowed one race to “put\n\ndown” another race. Therefore, it is the intention of the Oklahoma\n\nLegislature in enacting the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconciliation Act\n\nof 2001 to freely acknowledge its moral responsibility on behalf of\n\nthe state of Oklahoma and its citizens that no race of citizens in\n\nOklahoma has the right or power to subordinate another race today or\n\never again.","path":["OK Code","Title 74"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os74.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"2baf7bf872b93d9f3e17bf9a4a1ec87f0c8c095fc6a7f1e64914b9f840be5177","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-74-74-80.1","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-74-74-8001"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}