Imagine living in a community that was thriving and up-coming. You go to the market, and you see black people. You go to the bank, and see it is owned and ran by black people. Your local tailor shop and beauty salon? Black owned and black employed! The hotels and theaters are all black. All your neighbors look like you and reflect your culture. Everyone has a sense of belonging and pride. This is what Black Wall Street must have felt like.
Black Wall Street is mainly thought of as a place but ultimately, it is a state of mind. We’ve heard of Black Wall Street in regards to Tulsa, Oklahoma but I myself was unaware of there being Black Wall Streets in Virginia, North Carolina, and some I’m sure I haven’t even heard of yet.
The first and longest living Black Wall Street was created in a small town deemed the Jackson Ward Neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. In the early 20th century, it was home to over 100 Black-owned business. Including a genius of a woman named Maggie Lena Walker, born to enslaved parents, who became the first black woman to own a bank. Ultimately, the neighborhood eventually dwindled after the state decided to build a highway through the middle of the town, getting rid of businesses and forcing the residents to leave.
Today, the bank no longer exist and neither do all the former black-owned business. There is however a hub of three black women known as the Jackson Ward Collective who use their acumen as business owners to pool resources and money for the neighborhood. They offer business coaching to help black entrepreneurs open a business or expand their business. They strive to inspire more black business owners and to keep the dollar circulating amongst black communities.
The second known Black Wall Street comes from Durham, North Carolina! Four city blocks long on Parrish Street, it put Durham on the map as the capital of the Black middle class in America. There were two main businesses that helped this thriving community. John Merick’s NC Mutual Life Insurance Company and Mechanics and Farmer’s Bank both provided loans to Black-owned businesses which helped drive economic growth. Eventually affluent and advanced Blacks began to collaborate with wealthy white families to help build the community. Many claimed it was a trade off because while white wealthy families were willing to give the money, there was the expectation that their Black culture be left at the door. It’s believed that the sacrifice of culture for money gain has created a money-mindset and materialistic view for Blacks that still applies to today’s youth.
According to the Duke Chronicles, “Today, NC Mutual Life Insurance Company is the largest Black-owned insurance business in the world. M&F Bank is the second oldest minority-owned bank in the United States and was also the first Black-owned bank in Durham.” Due to “urban renewal” projects in the 1960s, a highway was built through the neighborhood known as Hayti (Durham’s central Black business district) which disrupted more than 100 Black-owned business and displaced several families. While segregation began to diminish in Durham, Black generational wealth diminished with it.
The most widely known Black Wall Street is in Tulsa Oklahoma. Coined “Black Wall Street” by Booker T. Washington, had an estimated $200 Million of Black wealth destroyed. Around 1905, 40 acres of land in Greenwood was purchased by former Alabaman O W. Gurley. Gurley established the first business there with a room and board and later a grocery store. He had a vision to create a thriving community just for Black people where they could live, shop, see entertainment, and own businesses without the stress of segregation. In fact, it was the segregation that fueled the success of Greenwood because Black people were then able to keep their money within their own community. Soon after Hurley, J B. Stradford and his wife Augusta moved in and became business partners to Gurley. Together they built rental homes in which they rented to black entrepreneurs. The Stradfords owned several properties including the famous Stradford Hotel. The town even had their own newspaper known as the Tulsa Star! It was a thriving community until May 31, 1921 when a riot broke out over an “assault” on a white woman. Dick Rowland was arrested and Blacks feared he’d be hung for the alleged assault so they went to the courthouse in order to spare his life but they were met with a mob of angry white men. The sheriff pleaded for everyone to go home but when a white man insisted that one of the black rioters hand over his pistol and the rioter refused, a shot went off and all Hell broke lose. The white mob went into Greenwood where they killed innocents, burned down their homes and businesses, and looted their properties. By June 1st, around 10,000 Greenwood residents had lost their homes, loved ones, and their hope. Insurance companies refused to pay the residents for re-builds and as a result, many residents left Greenwood. While some stayed, they were never compensated and had to rebuild on their own but they were never able to reestablish the wealth they had accumulated before the massacre. Many victims were buried in unmarked graves as if they never mattered. The extent of the massacre and loss of so much still weighs heavy on many people’s hearts. The fact that it was kept in silence for decades is even heavier.
Today, survivors and their families are still going through reparation lawsuits. President Joe Biden was the first president to ever visit the historical site and did so on the 100th Anniversary stating,
“Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be buried, no matter how hard people try”
The Tulsa Historical Society and Museum now sits 9 minutes from the historical neighborhood Greenwood. The Historical Vernon AME Church is the only true building that remains. There are several memorials to remember and educate us on the tragedy. There are also still several unmarked graves and truths untold. There are only a few black businesses in the surrounding area and even though it is still a work in progress, we will never get back what we lost.
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