(emotional music)
- What you really want to see is Black Wall Street.
You want to see the Greenwood District
thriving with hundreds of Black-owned businesses
lining the streets of Greenwood.
However, much of the property today
does not belong to African Americans.
- It's a gift to be able to say
you come from such amazing people,
and that you're on the grounds of what used to be
something the world had never seen before.
I've always felt a connection to Black Wall Street
and to rebirth it.
- [Narrator] The Tulsa Massacre of 1921
destroyed nearly 200 businesses
in the area that came to be known as Black Wall Street.
Now, entrepreneurs and activists
are pushing to carry on its legacy.
They're advocating for more Black-owned businesses
and property ownership, amid gentrification
that's reshaping the historic Black neighborhood.
The Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma
was once a center of Black wealth
in the early 20th century.
Located north of railroad tracks
that divided Tulsa during segregation,
it was home to thousands
of Black Tulsans and their businesses.
But 1921, white mobs attacked the district
killing dozens of Black residents
and destroying about 35 square blocks
over the course of one night.
Researchers say the damages filed in court cases decades ago
total over 22 million in today's dollars.
But this likely underestimates the actual losses,
as not everyone had full insurance coverage,
or went to court.
After the massacre, Black entrepreneurs
worked to rebuild Greenwood.
But local historians say the district went through a decline
as desegregation led to outward migration,
and urban renewal programs
displaced Black-owned businesses and residents.
Today, Greenwood consists of about four city blocks.
There's not much housing stock in the neighborhood,
and just over two dozen Black-owned
or operated businesses remain registered
with the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce.
- The Historic Greenwood Chamber of Commerce
owns the last 10 buildings known as Black Wall Street.
We house 33 businesses.
31 of them are African American.
So we're still doing what our ancestors did.
It might not be Black Wall Street,
but it's definitely a Black Main Street.
And so we have to preserve this.
- [Narrator] While there's a growing number
of Black-owned businesses in this district,
some of the newer establishments are tenants
in buildings owned by white developers.
That's a reversal of fortune from 100 years ago
when many of the property owners were Black.
The massacre destroyed real estate assets
that could have been passed to future generations.
- Our oldest living survivor, Daddy Clark,
died at 109 years old.
He was a teenager.
His photograph is on exhibit in the gallery
- [Narrator] Tulsa residents like Mechelle Brown-Burdex,
say it's important to keep telling the story
of how prosperous Black residents of Greenwood were
before it's decline.
- We were never taught that African-Americans
were business owners,
that they were pilots,
and electricians, and doctors, and attorneys.
And I was shocked that we had never learned about this.
Being born in Tulsa, being raised in Tulsa,
attending Black history classes.
- [Narrator] Brown-Burdex coordinates educational programs
and tours for the Greenwood Cultural Center.
- We thought that this was the perfect time
in the spirit of Black Wall Street
to identify and promote Black-owned businesses
in our community.
- [Narrator] As the city commemorates
the centennial of the massacre,
Brown-Burdex has teamed up with a local co-working space
and incubator to create a guide
of Black-owned businesses in the area.
- When we first began this work,
many people were opposed to us
even acknowledging or recognizing the history
of Black Wall Street or of the massacre.
Now, as we approach the commemoration,
there is much more support.
- [Narrator] It's clear things are changing again
in the Greenwood neighborhood.
A different museum called Greenwood Rising
is among the construction projects
redefining the look of the area.
- It's a challenge because some of our work is quite similar
but we are finding ways that we can compliment one another
as opposed to competing with one another.
- [Narrator] Oklahoma State Senator Kevin Matthews,
who heads the commission overseeing Greenwood Rising,
says the museum is working with organizations
throughout the Historic District
to tell the neighborhood story in cooperative ways.
Still, Brown-Burdex says her vision for Greenwood
remains the same.
- Personally, I would love to see more
Black-owned businesses in the Greenwood district.
I would love to see home ownership increase in this area.
- [Narrator] After being displaced by urban renewal projects
decades ago, many Black Tulsans
now live in the city's north side.
- Mm-hm.
This is my home, this is neighborhood I grew up in.
- [Narrator] Tyrance Billingsley II, a tech entrepreneur,
recently learned about his family's ties
to the rebirth of Greenwood in the 1930s.
- What I know is little, but I do know that
my direct descendants were cousins of people
who helped donate to Vernon A.M.E. Church
and help rebuild it.
- [Narrator] Billingsley is now looking to carry on
the spirit of Greenwood in his own way.
- The actual district of Greenwood,
obviously it's being heavily gentrified.
I like to think of Greenwood as two different things.
The body is the land in and of itself.
And then there's the spirit, or the breath.
The breath of Greenwood is the spirit
that Black entrepreneurship,
the sense of community,
the breath of Greenwood is very much still alive.
- [Narrator] Billingsley is spearheading a project
he hopes will bring opportunities for today's Black Tulsans
to create the kind of generational wealth
seen decades ago on Black Wall Street.
- Block Tech Street is an initiative
to rebirth Black Wall Street as the premier Black tech hub
here in Tulsa.
- [Narrator] Currently in its beginning stages,
one aim of the project is to weave coding
and other applicable skills into afterschool programs
for Black children.
Billingsley says he has about $1 million
in verbal commitments,
and is working with partners to fundraise.
- We have a goal of facilitating $1 billion
worth of investment in this community
over the next 10 years,
you know, around six strategic pillars.
Entrepreneur support, narrative and communications,
capital, workforce, infrastructure, and policy.
- [Narrator] Other Black entrepreneurs are interested in
rebuilding wealth in this area,
but some Black Tulsans say the city must do a better job
in reconciling with its past
to protect the area's Black institutions and businesses.
- I want it to be so that an endowment is set up
so that these buildings are maintained,
and that economic development can be fostered.
- Hopefully, undoubtedly, we will have a conversation.
We will see some type of real reparations take place.
Black Wall Street as it was in 1921,
prior to the massacre and, as it was once it was rebuilt
in the 30s and 40s and 50s may never be again.
But Black Wall Street is an idea.
I appreciate the businesses that are here
in the Greenwood District.
And then we have the Greenwood Cultural Center.
We remain here telling the story.
We are actually looking forward to the next 100 years.
(emotional music)