I grew up near Tulsa in the suburb of Sand Springs, Oklahoma. I had only fleetingly heard of the Tulsa race "riot" (as it was called in those days), an unspeakable tragedy brought on by murderous white racists in Tulsa 100 years ago.
A fellow I grew up with became the Editor in Chief of the local paper in my home town, the Sand Springs Leader. Rodney Echohawk tells the story below about how our town's founder, Charles Page, was not the oil tycoon that would satisfy the stereotype of most people who owned that title in the 20th century. Here are Rodney's words:
Friends, if you've ever read anything I've posted, I hope you will read the following unpublished story I've written about a little known but shining chapter in the history of Sand Springs. Ever since my grandfather, a farmer in Inola, returned from Tulsa in 1921 with his account of seeing black bodies floating in the Arkansas River, I have been haunted by what was then known as the Tulsa Race Riot. I was also curious what happened at that time in Sand Springs in relation to those events. While working for the SS Leader I wrote a story about it in 1996. The following story updates and expands that information. The accompanying photos of philanthropist Charles Page and a Home truck loaded with provisions from the early 1920's illustrate how Sand Springs regularly helped those in need. Also shown is SS educator Nathaniel Washington, wearing glasses, whose writings are cited.
A century ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma death, flames and hatred fueled what is believed to be the largest outbreak of racial violence in American history.
Whether the events of May 31 to June 1, 1921 are called the Tulsa Race Riot, the Tulsa Disaster or the Tulsa Race Massacre, the numbers paint a grim picture of what transpired. As many as 300 black and white residents were killed, 763 injured and over 35 city blocks were incinerated.
Numerous books, articles, documentaries, observances and investigations have recounted the story in recent years. But one little known chapter in the series of events was the role played by the community nearest the violent eruption - Sand Springs.
Located just seven miles west of downtown Tulsa, Sand Springs was a thriving industrial town of 4000 on the north side of the Arkansas River. The city was founded by Charles Page, a Wisconsin native who came to Tulsa to pursue opportunities in oil and land.
Page succeeded in amassing a fortune and invested it in building Sand Springs, which incorporated in 1912. Unlike many of his fellow entrepreneurs, Page also invested his fortune in people less fortunate.
He established a residence for orphans called the Sand Springs Home and later started a village for women with children who had lost their husbands called the Widows' Colony. He also built a farm and other enterprises to provide goods and work opportunities for those in his care.
Page hired B.F. "Cap" Breeding to serve as superintent of the Sand Springs Home and also help administer his charities.
"They worked very closely together and were very loyal to one another," said Margaret Breeding Petrik, the daughter of Cap Breeding, in a 1996 interview.
In 1911 Page built an interurban trolley line between Tulsa and Sand Springs and by the early 1920's the "Line" was an indispensable transportation artery.
Not long after the first shots rang out in the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Ku Klux Klan cut telephone and telegraph lines and shut down roads according to Tulsa historian Ed Wheeler, who disclosed one route remained open - the trolley line.
"The sheriff sent a deputy to Sand Springs on the railway (trolley), the only thing the mob left working," Wheeler pointed out. "The Klan had put up roadblocks leading out of town, but the trolley was allowed to keep running. The deputy telegraphed Governor J.B.A. Robertson from Sand Springs asking for help."
Shooting began around 10 p.m. Tuesday evening and the plea for National Guard assistance was complete by 2 a.m. Wednesday. By 9:30 a.m. the Guardsmen arrived by train in Tulsa from Oklahoma City.
But by that time much of the black owned businesses and homes north of Archer street in the Greenwood district were being looted and set ablaze.
"I remember seeing the smoke of Greenwood burning," said Margaret Breeding Petrik. Her family lived in Medio located on the trolley line between Sand Springs and Tulsa.
The violence in downtown Tulsa almost spilled over into Sand Springs and threatened that town's black community.
A June 3, 1921 article in the Sand Springs Leader newspaper reported "On Wednesday morning shortly after 8 o'clock, an automobile load of armed young men appeared on the streets of Sand Springs."
The article goes on to state Police Chief Wabble and a special police patrol of six men were on duty Tuesday night and Wednesday to insure what took place in Tulsa would not happen in Sand Springs.
But the killing and destruction in Tulsa sent refugees fleeing in all directions.
Charles Page biographer Opal Clark wrote "Blacks fled with nothing but what they had on their backs. Some were in their gowns and barefoot. Families were separated from each other as they headed for the woods of the Mohawk Park area."
Wheeler disclosed many white families in Tulsa sheltered black individuals and families, especially those who were employed by them. Many who remained in Tulsa were aided by the efforts of the American Red Cross.
He also reported many of the thousands of refugees headed north, adding that those fleeing often were told to turn around when they reached other towns. But Sand Springs was a different story, as Clark pointed out in her biography of Page "A Fool's Enterprise".
She said trolley conductor Edgar Stevens had photographed the destruction along Archer Street that Wednesday morning and showed the pictures to Page, who wasted no time taking action.
Two days after the National Guardsmen arrived and martial law had been declared in Tulsa, an emergency meeting was called at the Sand Springs municipal building by Mayor L.C. Heinz.
The Leader newspaper article of June 3 reported "The gathering was called together by Mayor Heinz who declared relief work urgently was needed and asked the citizens assembled to help..."
The article details how committees were formed to oversee the "collection and distribution of food and clothing for the refugees sent here." E.M. Monsell was selected as treasurer for the charitable efforts.
Page arrived after the meeting began and was quoted in the article saying "Tell 'em to start the floor mill running. I'll feed all of them that are here. They can get ice and beef and such things from Sand Springs Home and we've plenty of lumber to up sleeping and living quarters if necessary."
The article reported the Friday meeting was called at 1 p.m. and within an hour cars were crisscrossing town collecting provisions which were then taken to the Sand Springs railway building.
The Sand Springs School Board and local women's club were cited for providing additional help and contributions.
Sand Springs' black community on the "South Side" opened their homes to numerous refugees. Meals to feed the homeless were prepared at the Sand Springs Booker T. Washington school.
Clark pointed out in her book that Page wanted to do more for those fleeing the conflagration and death in Tulsa. "Cap, we've got to help those poor homeless people." she quoted Page telling Breeding.
She wrote Page knew helping the black victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre could put his children at the Home and the mothers and their families at the Widows' Colony in jeopardy, particularly from the Ku Klux Klan.
In order to avoid retaliation, Page had Breeding arrange for a former black employee of the Home to arrange emergency assistance on his behalf.
Bessie Zackery, a longtime educator and member of Sand Springs' black community since the 1920's, recalled in a 1996 interview what Page's efforts meant to those fleeing Tulsa.
"I heard that some of them caught the Sand Springs streetcar and got shelter at the Sand Springs Park. And Mr. Page gave them food and shelter," she said.
The consideration Page gave the refugees of the Tulsa Race Massacre was not out of character for him, as black Sand Springs historian Nathaniel Washington observed in his 1978 book "The Historical Development of Booker T. Washington School".
The author relates when carpenter Charles Madison came to Oklahoma from Texas looking for work, Page hired him and several of his older children. But Madison realized the nearest black school for his younger children was in Tulsa.
Madison went to Page and told him he would have to move from Sand Springs so his younger children could attend a black school. Page's solution was unexpected in the era of "separate but equal" education in America.
"Mr. Page advised him to remain in his employment, then arranged for his two children Frankie Lucille and Lester, to attend a private school which he has established for the white children of Widow's Row and the Sand Springs Orphaned Home."
So for the 1911-1912 school year, 44 years before the first public school in Oklahoma integrated, the Sand Springs Home school saw white and black students learning together.
Many years later Frankie Lucille Horn told Washington in an interview that things went very well for her and her brother, that they were treated fairly and taught just the same as the white students.
The brutality unleashed in what black Tulsa newspaper publisher A.J. Smiththerman called "The Tulsa Race Riot and Massacre" was a shame hidden for years. But with its centennial the full impact of those events can no longer be overlooked.
Also worthy of re-examination are the unselfish efforts by those who helped the victims of what is likely the worst racial upheaval in American history.
