January 13, 2025 – The Justice Department issued a report on Friday, January 10, 2025, on the Tulsa Race Massacre. The report documents the department’s findings, made during its review and evaluation of the Tulsa Race Massacre, undertaken pursuant to the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act. The Civil Rights Division previously announced it was undertaking this review during a Cold Case Convening held on Sept. 30, 2024.
"The Tulsa Race Massacre stands out as a civil rights crime unique in its magnitude, barbarity, racist hostility and its utter annihilation of a thriving Black community," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "In 1921, white Tulsans murdered hundreds of residents of Greenwood, burned their homes and churches, looted their belongings, and locked the survivors in internment camps. Until this day, the Justice Department has not spoken publicly about this race massacre or officially accounted for the horrific events that transpired in Tulsa. This report breaks that silence by rigorous examination and a full accounting of one of the darkest episodes of our nation’s past. This report lays bare new information and shows that the massacre was the result not of uncontrolled mob violence, but of a coordinated, military-style attack on Greenwood. Now, more than 100 years later, there is no living perpetrator for the Justice Department to prosecute. But the historical reckoning for the massacre continues. This report reflects our commitment to the pursuit of justice and truth, even in the face of insurmountable obstacles. We issue this report with recognition of the courageous survivors who continue to share their testimonies, acknowledgement of those who tragically lost their lives and appreciation for other impacted individuals and advocates who collectively push for us to never forget this tragic chapter of America’s history."
The report documenting the department’s findings on the Tulsa Race Massacre, examines events that occurred between on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when white Tulsans mounted a concerted effort to destroy a vibrant Black community, remembered today as Black Wall Street. During the massacre, hundreds of Black residents were murdered, their businesses and homes burned to the ground and their money and personal property stolen. Survivors were left without resources or recourse. In the aftermath, the City of Tulsa resisted offers of meaningful help to the victims and utterly failed to provide necessary aid or assistance, and efforts to seek justice through the courts foundered.
Despite the gravity of the department’s findings, it is clear that no avenue of prosecution now exists for crimes that occurred during the massacre — the youngest potential defendants would today be more than 115 years old, and the relevant statutes of limitations expired decades ago. Nevertheless, as the federal government’s first thorough reckoning with this devastating event, our review officially acknowledges, illuminates and preserves for history the horrible ordeals of the massacre’s victims. As antilynching advocate Ida B. Wells said, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." This report aims to do just that.
The Nature of the Review
A team of career lawyers and investigators from the Emmett Till Cold Case Unit of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division conducted the review. Members of the unit spoke with survivors and with descendants of survivors, examined firsthand accounts of the massacre given by individuals who are now deceased, studied primary source materials, spoke to scholars of the massacre and reviewed legal pleadings, books, and scholarly articles relating to the massacre. The team produced a thorough, 123-page, sourced report.
Factual Findings
The review revealed that, on the night of May 31, 1921, a violent attack by as many as 10,000 white Tulsans destroyed Greenwood, a uniquely prosperous Black community. The attack was so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence. The review found that the trigger for the violence of the Tulsa Race Massacre was the kind of unfounded condemnation that, at the time, was commonly employed to justify unspeakable treatment of Black men; a white man alleged that a Black man, 19-year-old Dick Rowland, assaulted a white woman who operated an elevator he used. After Rowland’s arrest, a local newspaper then sensationalized the story and, soon, a mob of white Tulsans gathered outside the courthouse, demanding a lynching.
The local sheriff called on Black men from Greenwood, many recently returned from service during World War I, to come to the courthouse to prevent a lynching. The white mob saw this effort to protect Rowland as an unacceptable challenge to the social order. The mob grew. A confrontation broke out, and when someone fired a shot, horrific violence erupted. The Tulsa police deputized hundreds of white residents, many of whom — immediately before being awarded a badge — had been drinking and agitating for Rowland’s murder. Law enforcement officers helped organize these special deputies — as well as other white Tulsans — into the forces that would eventually ravage the Greenwood community.
Violence was initially unorganized and opportunistic. But at daybreak on June 1, a whistle blew, and the violence and arsons that had been chaotic became systematic. White Tulsans, many of whom had recently drilled together as the "Home Guard," formed to replace members of the National Guard who had gone overseas during the Great War, became organized and efficient in their destruction. They looted, burned and destroyed 35 city blocks while Greenwood’s residents tried desperately to defend their homes. As the fires consumed Greenwood, many Black families fled for their lives, leaving behind their homes and valuable items. White residents chased them across and beyond the city, taking into custody men, women, children, the elderly and the infirm, and looting the homes they left behind. The destruction of the district was total. The survivors were left with little to nothing.
Law enforcement officers (both from the Tulsa Police and the National Guard) disarmed Black residents, confiscated their weapons and detained many in makeshift camps under armed guard. In addition, there are credible reports that at least some law enforcement officers did more than arrest and detain Black men; some participated in murder, arson and looting. After the devastation, city officials promised to help Greenwood rebuild, but the government of Tulsa not only failed to do so, it put up obstacles to residential reconstruction. White local leaders rejected outside aid, claiming they could handle the recovery, but then provided little to no financial support. Instead, claiming the area was best suited for industrial use, they imposed harsh new fire codes that priced residents out of the area.
Legal Findings
The department’s report concludes that, had today’s more robust civil rights laws been in effect in 1921, federal prosecutors could have pursued hate crime charges against the massacre’s perpetrators, including both public officials and private citizens. In addition, if modern interpretations of civil rights laws were in effect in 1921, police officers, public officials and any who acted in concert with such persons could have been prosecuted for willfully violating the civil rights of massacre victims. Many of these legal avenues, however, were not available in 1921. The few avenues for federal prosecution that were available in 1921 were not pursued.
Now, the statute of limitations has expired for all federal civil rights offenses. Moreover, the team could find no living perpetrators, and prosecution under any law (federal or state) would almost certainly be foreclosed by the Constitution’s Confrontation Clause, which requires the government to provide live witnesses who can be cross examined by the accused. Such witnesses would need to have sufficient knowledge to prove a particular defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The report recognizes that some may find the department’s inability to prosecute a painful or dissatisfying outcome. However, the review recognizes and documents the horrible events that occurred as well as the trauma and loss suffered by the residents of Greenwood. While legal and practical limitations prevent the perpetrators of the crimes committed in 1921 from being held criminally accountable in a court of law, the historical reckoning continues. Legal limitations may have stymied the pursuit of justice, but work continues to ensure that future generations understand the scale and significance of this atrocity.
Following issuance of the report, Assistant Attorney General Clarke will convene with members of the Greenwood District, survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa civil rights community and other stakeholders.
For further information please contact the Office of Public Affairs. If you have information about a civil rights cold case, meaning a hate crime or other civil rights offense that resulted in death and that occurred on or before Dec. 31, 1980, please contact the Civil Rights Division’s Cold Case Unit at Coldcase.Civilrights@usdoj.gov.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks After Justice Department Publishes Tulsa Race Massacre Report
Location: Tulsa, OK
United States
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
It is an honor to be with you all here today (1/10/25) in Greenwood. This community has been strong and resilient despite the lingering effects of 
a civil rights crime that stands out in its magnitude, barbarity and ruthless brutality. As you know, on May 31, 1921, a group of white Tulsans, far too organized to be called a mob, invaded Greenwood and engaged in theft, arson, assault and murder. They killed hundreds of Black people in Greenwood and wounded hundreds more. They put houses to the torch and unleashed chaos and violence that separated families. It took days, sometimes weeks, before people knew whether their loved ones survived. After the pillaging was done, authorities confined the now-homeless Black residents to internment camps, allowing them to leave only if a white person vouched for them.
Black Tulsans suffered a further indignity when an all-white grand jury blamed the massacre not on the white people who ravaged Greenwood, but on the Black men who dared to try to prevent a lynching at the courthouse.
Promises of aid for rebuilding were broken. Attempts to seek redress through the courts failed, both in the 1920s and in this century.
The Work We Did
Despite the scale and impact of this crime, the Justice Department has never publicly addressed it. And so, on Sept. 30, the department launched a review and evaluation of the Tulsa Race Massacre. A team from the Criminal Section’s Cold Case Unit, including Barbara Bosserman, the unit’s deputy chief, and Walt Henry, a retired FBI agent who is one of two cold case investigators, began the review at once. They are here today.
The team immediately began reviewing books, articles and primary sources on the massacre. Two weeks after the launch, the team visited Tulsa to conduct interviews. They talked to survivors and descendants. Justice for Greenwood arranged many of these interviews and provided our team with relevant documents. Justice for Greenwood likewise arranged for a descendant of a massacre survivor to give the team a tour of Greenwood.
Other descendants, including those in the wider Greenwood diaspora, reached out to us or were referred by friends or family. We met with them either here in Tulsa, by phone or over virtual platforms. The team also viewed first-hand accounts of the massacre, available at the Helmerich Center in Tulsa. The late Eddie Faye Gates deserves credit for recording so many first-hand accounts of Black massacre survivors. In addition, the team reviewed documents in the special collection at Tulsa University’s McFarlin Library and material in the Ruth Sigler Avery Collection at the Oklahoma State University in Tulsa. Tulsa University’s College of Law provided us access to pleadings from some of the original lawsuits filed by noted attorney B.C. Franklin. And the team found and reviewed a previously undiscovered 1921 investigative report written by an agent of the Bureau of Investigation, a precursor to today’s FBI.
The team met with members of Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center, Deep Greenwood, and with representatives of community organizations. The review also included meetings with historians, journalists and scholars who have written about the massacre. Further, the team met with Tulsa Police Department officials and others in city government. Historic Vernon AME Church, where we are now, allowed the team to view its basement, the only part of the church that survived the massacre. One expert provided a tour of the Tulsa exhibit in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The team told me that almost everyone they met was open, warm and eager to help. We thank the people of Greenwood for their generosity, for their endurance and for their remarkable kindness in the wake of such hateful acts.
Now, a little over three months since we started, we have produced a 123-page, meticulously sourced report.
Factual Findings
Let’s turn to what we found. On the night of May 31, 1921, a violent attack by some 10,000 white Tulsans destroyed the thriving Black community in Greenwood. The attack was systematic and coordinated, transcending mere mob violence. The trigger for the massacre — as for many lynchings and other acts of violence in that era — was an alleged assault by a Black man on a white woman, here, a supposed assault by a 19-year-old shoe shiner named Dick Rowland against a young white elevator operator. A local newspaper sensationalized the story and soon, a lynch mob of white Tulsans massed outside the courthouse.
Black men from Greenwood, including ex-soldiers who had returned from World War I, came to the courthouse to protect Rowland. But to the white mob, this was an unacceptable challenge to the social order. The mob grew. A confrontation broke out. Although there are conflicting accounts, the Bureau of Investigation report credits the statement of a white witness that a white man deliberately fired the first shots into a group of Black men because they were cursing at white people.
However it began, violence escalated quickly. Tulsa police deputized hundreds of white residents with virtually no screening. Many of them had just been drinking and agitating for a lynching. Law enforcement officers helped organize these special deputies — as well as other white Tulsans — into the forces that decimated Greenwood. A Tulsa police officer went to a nearby town to recruit more people for the attack.
Violence was initially disorganized. But at daybreak on June 1, 1921, a whistle blew, and the violence and arson became systematic. White Tulsans, many of whom had recently drilled together as the "Home Guard," formed to replace members of the National Guard who had gone overseas during the Great War, became coordinated and efficient in their destruction. They murdered, looted, burned and destroyed 35 city blocks while Greenwood’s residents tried desperately to defend their homes. As the fires consumed Greenwood, many Black families fled. White residents chased them across and beyond the city, taking men, women, children, the elderly and the infirm into custody. The destruction was total. The survivors were left with nothing.
Law enforcement officers from both the Tulsa Police and the National Guard disarmed Black residents, confiscated their weapons and detained many in makeshift camps under armed guard. In addition, credible reports asserted that at least some law enforcement officers participated in the murders, arson, and looting. At, the very least, they turned a blind eye to the mayhem.
City officials initially promised to help Greenwood rebuild. But the white-led government of Tulsa not only broke that promise; it obstructed efforts to rebuild. White local leaders rejected outside aid, claiming they could handle the recovery, but then didn’t. Instead, claiming the area was best suited for industrial use, they imposed harsh new fire codes that priced residents out of the area.
Legal Findings
Our report concludes that, had today’s more robust civil rights laws been in effect in 1921, federal prosecutors could have pursued federal hate crime charges against the perpetrators of the massacre, including both public officials and private citizens. In addition, if modern interpretations of federal civil rights laws had applied in 1921, police officers, public officials and anyone acting in concert with them could have faced prosecution for willfully violating the civil rights of massacre victims. But few of these legal avenues were available in 1921, and any that existed were not pursued. Now, the statute of limitations has expired for all federal civil rights offenses that the government could have pursued. Moreover, as best we can determine, no perpetrator is still alive, and federal prosecution would almost certainly be foreclosed by the Constitution’s Confrontation Clause, which requires the government to provide live witnesses who can be cross examined by the accused. Such witnesses would need sufficient knowledge to prove a particular defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Moving Forward
We recognize that some may find it painful or dissatisfying that the department cannot now prosecute anyone for these heinous crimes. I certainly feel that way. But I believe that this review is nonetheless important. It corrects the historical narrative; it recognizes and documents the traumatic loss suffered by the residents of Greenwood; and it puts the Justice Department on record. While legal and practical limitations prevent us from prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes in 1921, the historical reckoning is far from over. If legal limits have stymied the pursuit of justice, work in the community continues so that future generations understand the scale and significance of this atrocity.
For the descendants of that lost Greenwood community, the fight for justice, while hindered by time and legal constraints, continues to seek truth and recognition.
Source: DOJ Release