Full Text of HR0450 98th General Assembly
HR0450 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | HR0450 | | LRB098 12391 GRL 46762 r |
|
| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to acknowledge the Tulsa, Oklahoma race | 4 | | riot of May 31 and June 1, 1921; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, During the course of 18 hours on May 31 and June | 6 | | 1, 1921, more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Tulsa, | 7 | | Oklahoma were destroyed and estimates of 50 to 300 people were | 8 | | killed during the riot; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, By early 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma was a modern city | 10 | | with a population of more than 100,000; most of the city's | 11 | | 10,000 African-American residents lived in the Greenwood | 12 | | District, a vibrant neighborhood that was home to two | 13 | | newspapers, several churches, a library branch, and scores of | 14 | | black-owned businesses; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, On May 30, 1921, an incident involving Dick | 16 | | Rowland, an African-American shoe shiner, and Sarah Page, a | 17 | | white elevator operator, in the Drexel Building in Tulsa would | 18 | | rapidly escalate into one of the single worst incidents of | 19 | | racial violence in American history; the most common | 20 | | explanation is that Rowland stepped on Page's foot as he | 21 | | entered the elevator, causing her to scream, and Rowland was | 22 | | arrested by the police; and
|
| | | HR0450 | - 2 - | LRB098 12391 GRL 46762 r |
|
| 1 | | WHEREAS, On May 30, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune, the city's | 2 | | afternoon daily newspaper, reported that Rowland had attempted | 3 | | to rape Page; by 7:30 P.M., hundreds of whites had gathered | 4 | | outside the Tulsa County Courthouse, demanding that the | 5 | | authorities hand over Rowland, but the sheriff refused; at | 6 | | around 9 P.M., after reports of the dire conditions downtown | 7 | | reached Greenwood, a group of approximately 25 armed | 8 | | African-American men, many of them World War I veterans, went | 9 | | down to the courthouse and offered their services to the | 10 | | authorities to help protect Rowland, but were rebuffed by the | 11 | | sheriff; at around 10 P.M., a false rumor hit Greenwood that | 12 | | whites were storming the courthouse, prompting a second | 13 | | contingent of African-American men to go back to the courthouse | 14 | | and offer their services to the authorities, who were once | 15 | | again turned away; as the group was leaving, a white man tried | 16 | | to disarm a black veteran and a shot was fired, an incident | 17 | | that became the start of the riot; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Over the next 6 hours, Tulsa was plunged into | 19 | | chaos as angry whites, frustrated over the failed lynching, | 20 | | began to vent their rage at African-Americans in general; | 21 | | furious fighting erupted along the Frisco railroad tracks, | 22 | | where black defenders were able to hold off members of the | 23 | | white mob; an unarmed African-American man was murdered inside | 24 | | a downtown movie theater, while carloads of armed whites began |
| | | HR0450 | - 3 - | LRB098 12391 GRL 46762 r |
|
| 1 | | making "drive-by" shootings in black residential | 2 | | neighborhoods; by midnight, fires had been set along the edge | 3 | | of the African-American commercial district; in some of the | 4 | | city's all-night cafes, whites began to organize for a dawn | 5 | | invasion of Greenwood; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, During the early hours of the riot, local | 7 | | authorities did little to stem the growing crisis and Tulsa | 8 | | police officers had deputized former members of the lynch mob; | 9 | | local units of the National Guard were mobilized, but they | 10 | | spent most of the night protecting a white neighborhood from a | 11 | | nonexistent black counterattack; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Shortly before dawn on June 1, 1921, thousands of | 13 | | armed whites had gathered along the fringes of Greenwood; after | 14 | | daybreak, they poured into the African-American district, | 15 | | looting homes and businesses and setting them on fire; numerous | 16 | | atrocities occurred, including the murder of A. C. Jackson, a | 17 | | renowned black surgeon, who was shot after he surrendered to a | 18 | | group of whites; at least one machine gun was utilized by the | 19 | | invading whites and some have claimed that airplanes were used | 20 | | in the attack; black Tulsans fought hard to protect their homes | 21 | | and businesses, with particularly sharp fighting occurring off | 22 | | of Standpipe Hill, but were outgunned and outnumbered in the | 23 | | end; and |
| | | HR0450 | - 4 - | LRB098 12391 GRL 46762 r |
|
| 1 | | WHEREAS, Following the riot, a brief period of martial law | 2 | | was followed by various legal maneuvers; even though Dick | 3 | | Rowland was exonerated, an all-white grand jury blamed black | 4 | | Tulsans for the riot; despite overwhelming evidence, no whites | 5 | | were ever sent to prison for the murders and arson that | 6 | | occurred during the riot; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, The vast majority of Tulsa's African-American | 8 | | population had been made homeless by the riot; despite efforts | 9 | | by the white establishment to force the relocation of the black | 10 | | community, black Tulsans had already begun the long and arduous | 11 | | process of rebuilding Greenwood within days of the riot; | 12 | | thousands were forced to spend the winter of 1921-1922 living | 13 | | in tents; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The deep scars left by the riot remained visible | 15 | | for years and the riot became a taboo subject, particularly in | 16 | | Tulsa, for many years; in 1997, a state commission was formed | 17 | | to investigate the riot; the commission recommended that | 18 | | reparations be paid to the remaining riot survivors, while a | 19 | | team of scientists and historians uncovered evidence | 20 | | supporting long-held beliefs that unidentified riot victims | 21 | | had been buried in unmarked grave sites; and | 22 | | WHEREAS, It is important that the people of the State of | 23 | | Illinois and the nation do not forget this terrible tragedy; |
| | | HR0450 | - 5 - | LRB098 12391 GRL 46762 r |
|
| 1 | | therefore, be it
| 2 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 3 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 4 | | we acknowledge the Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot of May 31 and June | 5 | | 1, 1921 and express our regret at this terrible event in | 6 | | American history.
|
|