TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa County commissioners will meet Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s city council vote asking for a new national monument in Tulsa’s Greenwood District.
The monument would commemorate the historic district and Black Wall Street. A resolution asks President Joe Biden to use his authority, granted under the Antiquities Act, to place a permanent marker there.
Tulsa city councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper introduced the resolution at a city council meeting on Feb. 8.
It would designate the square mile of Greenwood from East Pine Street in the north, to North Lansing Avenue in the east, to the railroad in the south and MLK Jr. Boulevard to the west. In that area one or more monuments could be placed.
In 1921, a white mob attacked Black Wall Street and burned down businesses and homes in the Greenwood District. An estimated 300 people were killed, many of which still haven’t been found.
Hall-Harper said making Greenwood and Black Wall Street a national monument would make sure what happened there is never forgotten.
“I think it’s going to cement the history and the legacy of Greenwood. What it was, what happens to it and what it is today,” said Hall-Harper. “This is just one tool to ensure that legacy is not erased from society.”
City of Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum has already written a letter to the president, asking him to support the measure.
Commissioners will vote Tuesday at 9:30 on the marker. Tulsa city councilors will vote Wednesday.
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