Viola Ford Fletcher, oldest survivor of Tulsa Race Massacre, dies at age 111

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, died Monday at 111 years old, US media reported.

Fletcher passed away while surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital in Oklahoma, her grandson Ike Howard said, according to reports.

She spoke at a 2021 congressional hearing, sharing her firsthand account of surviving the massacre.

The two-day massacre began on May 31, 1921 after a local newspaper published a report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman.

A white mob grew outside the courthouse where the man was being held. Black Tulsans with guns who hoped to prevent the man’s lynching began showing up. White residents responded with force.

Hundreds of people were killed and injured when a rampaging white mob attacked the predominantly Black affluent neighborhood of Greenwood, which was regarded as “Black Wall Street” for serving as an epicenter of Black-owned enterprise.

More than 1,200 homes were burned as well as numerous Black-owned businesses, leaving more than 30 city blocks decimated and effectively destroying years of progress.

The exact number of dead and injured remains unknown, with estimates varying wildly.