Sullivan to offer Park Service bill for race riot study
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
1/20/13 at 8:29 AM
U.S. Rep. John Sullivan said
Tuesday that he will introduce a
bill authorizing a National Park
Service study of the 1921 Tulsa
Race Riot.
Sullivan, R-Okla., and members
of his staff met Tuesday morning at the Greenwood Cultural
Center with the Park Service's
Greg Kendrick, members of the
Tulsa Race Riot Memorial design
committee, representatives of
Land Legacy and mayoral aide
Clay Bird.
The study will evaluate the
historical significance of the riot
and would be the first step toward a designation within the
Park Service system.
"I'm 100 percent behind it,"
Sullivan said.
The study is expected to cost
about $125,000 and take as
much as a year to complete.
Design committee chairman Julius Pegues said he will recommend that the
committee pay for the study if necessary
to expedite it.
Kendrick suggested that Tulsa pursue
the idea of a site commemorating not only the Tulsa riot but the two dozen or so
other major racial conflicts that ravaged
the country during the early decades of
the 20th century.
Kendrick said Tulsa probably would be
best suited for a national historic site, national memorial or national historic park.
The Oklahoma Legislature authorized a
memorial and museum in 2001 following
a four-year study by a state commission.
Since then, the state has appropriated
more than $1.5 million for the project,
most of which remained unspent while
the memorial design committee worked
out plans for a $20 million facility.
In recent months, however, the committee has been warned that its money
will be used for other purposes if not put
to work soon.
To that end, the committee decided to
construct a memorial park on 3 acres of
land it purchased between Detroit and
Elgin avenues near Mount Zion Baptist
Church.
The Tulsa riot began on the evening of
May 31, 1921, with the first shots fired at
the Tulsa County Courthouse, then located at Sixth Street and Boulder Avenue. It
continued through midday June 1, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of
injuries.
Much of the black neighborhood centered on North Greenwood Avenue was
burned, and most of the remainder was
looted and vandalized, leaving thousands
of black Tulsans homeless.
Randy Krehbiel 581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
U.S. Rep.John Sullivan
“I’m 100 percentbehind,” thestudy, whichcould cost$125,000 andtake as long asa year tocomplete.
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