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Question: What caused the Tulsa Oklahoma riot!?
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The Tulsa race riot, also known as the 1921 race riot, The night that Tulsa died, the Tulsa Race War, or the Greenwood riot, was a massacre during a large-scale civil disorder confined mainly to the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA on May 31, 1921!. During the 16 hours of rioting, over 800 people were admitted to local hospitals with injuries, an estimated 10,000 were left homeless, 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire, and $1!.8 million (nearly $21 million in 2007 dollars) in property damage!. Officially, thirty-nine people were reported killed in the riot, of whom ten were white!. The actual number of black citizens killed by white local militiamen and volunteers as a result of the riot was estimated in the Red Cross report at around 300; making the Tulsa race riot the worst in US history!. Other estimates range as high as 3,000, based on the number of grave diggers and other circumstances, although the archaeological and forensic work needed to confirm the number of dead has not been performed!.

The Tulsa race riot occurred in the racially and politically tense atmosphere of northeastern Oklahoma, some of which was a growing hotbed of anti-black sentiment at that time!. The Ku Klux Klan made its first major appearance in Oklahoma on August 12, 1921!. This, of course, occured after the riot and, therefore, could not have been a catalyst!.

As in several other states and territories during the early years of the twentieth century, lynchings were not uncommon in Oklahoma!. Between the declaration of statehood on November 16, 1907, and the Tulsa race riot some thirteen years later, thirty-two individuals — twenty-six of whom were black — were lynched in Oklahoma!. During the twenty years following the riot, the number of lynchings statewide fell to two!.

The Greenwood section of Tulsa was home to a commercial district so prosperous it was known as "the ***** Wall Street" (now commonly referred to as "the Black Wall Street")!. Ironically, the economic enclaves here and elsewhere — bounded and supported by racial discrimination — supported prosperity and capital formation within the community!. In the surrounding areas of northeastern Oklahoma, blacks also enjoyed relative prosperity and participated in the oil boom!.Www@QuestionHome@Com