Push underway to designate Greenwood, Black Wall Street as national monuments

By Abigail Ogle

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    TULSA, Oklahoma (KOCO) — Tulsa City Council members, residents and organizations are one step closer to getting Greenwood designated as a national monument.

The Greenwood District was the home to Black Wall Street and was the site of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1919. The group is pushing for the national monument and plans to send a delegation to Washington, D.C., to fight for it in person.

Ultimately, it would be up to President Joe Biden to give the green light.

This week, Tulsa city councilors voted in favor of designating Greenwood and Black Wall Street as new monuments. There were some concerns from the community, but the majority said they’re doing it to protect Greenwood’s future while preserving its past.

“It would become an economic engine to revitalize what was destroyed almost 102 years ago,” Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, with the Terrance Crutcher Foundation, told Tulsa-area television station Fox 23.

The goal is to have the area designated as a monument before the next anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre in May.

“Learning what was taken from African Americans, I think it would be suitable to make this a historical district,” Greenwood visitor Courtney Steele said.

It would be the first national monument in Oklahoma.

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