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News, events, updates, and tidbits from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Use tags to read related articles or sort by author for similar posts written by PHS staff members and volunteers.

The Tulsa Massacre

May 26, 2021

Overhead view of Tulsa, 1928. Watch Tulsa General Assembly film here.

On June 1, 1921 the Black section of Tulsa, Oklahoma--Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street, where Black migrants from the South had prospered in the city’s oil boom--was burned down by white rioters. The governor called in the National Guard and evacuated Tulsa’s Black population, some 6,000 people, to the city convention center and fairgrounds. Three hundred people are estimated to have...

Author:

David S

Tags:

Tulsa, Oklahoma, African American History, Lynchings

Tulsa 1928 General Assembly

April 21, 2017

In 1928, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. held its General Assembly at First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa, Oklahoma: The Magic City.

The Northern church began operating a mission day school in Tulsa in 1884; First Presbyterian Church was organized in 1885, holding services in a storefront. The city was incorporated in 1899, with a population of 1,100. Six years later, oil was discovered at Glenn Pool and the city grew prodigiously. By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907,...