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Today in Labor History August 1, 1921: Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Felts private cops. They did it in retaliation for Hatfield’s role in the Matewan labor battle in 1920, when two Felts family thugs were killed by Hatfield and his deputies. Sheriff Hatfield had sided with the coal miners during their strike. The private cops executed Hatfield and Chambers on the Welch County courthouse steps in front of their wives. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, where 20,000 coal miners marched to the anti-union stronghold Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. The Battle of Blair Mountain started in September 1921. The armed miners battled 3,000 police, private cops and vigilantes, who were backed by the coal bosses. It was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history, and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. The president of the U.S. eventually sent in 27,000 national guards. Over 1 million rounds were fired. Up to 100 miners were killed, along with 10-30 Baldwin-Felts detectives and 3 national guards. They even dropped bombs on the miners from planes, the second time in history that the U.S. bombed its own citizens (the first being the pogrom against black residents of Tulsa, earlier that same year).
Several novels portray the Battle of Blair Mountain, including Storming Heaven, by Denise Giardina, (1987), Blair Mountain, by Jonathan Lynn (2006), and Carla Rising, by Topper Sherwood (2015). And one of my favorite films of all time, “Matewan,” by John Sayles (1987), portrays the Matewan Massacre and the strike leading up to it. The film has a fantastic soundtrack of Appalachian music from the period. And the great West Virginia bluegrass singer, Hazel Dickens, sings the title track, "Fire in the Hole." She also appears in the film as a member of the Freewill Baptist Church.
You can read my complete article on the Battle of Blair Mountain, and Matewan, here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/14/the-battle-of-blair-mountain/
#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #westvirginia #strike #union #police #vigilantes #uprising #racism #riots #blackwallstreet #film #novel #books @bookstadon
https://www.essence.com/news/tulsa-announces-multimillion-reparations-plan/
#Tuksa's First Black mayor Annouces $105 Million Reparations Plan to Repair impact of 1921 Race Massacre
Mayor #MonroeNichols
Tulsa launches $105M reparations initiative for 1921 Race Massacre victims’ descendants. Critics praise the move—others ask if it’s enough. Read more: zurl.co/0o8KG
#Greenwood #Tulsa #Reparations #BlackWallStreet #ClearAngleNews
https://mastodon.social/@courtcan/112266942611633089
This year, Osborne is riding from #BlackWallStreet to Wall Street, the 1,645-mile #RideForEquity. A small group is joining him.
Yesterday, they rode in the #RideToRemember --and kept going. They hope to make it to Joplin, Missouri, by tonight. They'll reach NYC in about 7 wks.
"This isn’t just about getting to New York. This is a ride of remembrance, a ride to memorialize what was lost in Greenwood and to demand justice for what’s still owed.”
--Osborne Celestain
1/2
The destruction of #BlackWallStreet.
An organized mob of up to 10,000 white supremacists, deputized by local law enforcement, massacred the prosperous Black Greenwood community, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, all based on a lie 104 years ago on May 31, 1921.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1921, the #TulsaRaceMassacre began. Residents of #Greenwood gathered to prevent a #lynching and faced a deputized racist mob. 35 square blocks were burnt down and up to 300 murdered, wrecking #BlackWallStreet, the most prosperous black community in the US.
Today in Labor History May 31, 1921: The Tulsa Race Riot. From May 31 through June 1, deputized whites (i.e., racist vigilantes) killed more than 300 African Americans in the worst race riot in U.S. history. The violence began in response to a false report in the Tulsa Tribune accusing a black man of attacking a white girl in an elevator. The headline made the front page. However, there was an accompanying editorial that called for a lynching. White Tulsans went to the African American community of Greenwood (the Black Wall Street) and started shooting black people. They looted and burned 40 square blocks, destroying over 1,400 African American homes, hospitals, schools, and churches. Ten thousand became homeless and had to spend the winter of 1921 living in tents.
Many African American residents fought back, including veterans of World War One. This attempt at self-preservation prompted the deputized whites and National Guardsmen to arrest 6,000 black residents. Furthermore, they bombarded the community from the air in what was likely the first aerial bombardment of mainland U.S. residents. At least a dozen planes, some carrying police, circled the community and dropped burning balls of turpentine. They also shot at residents from the air. Many of the whites were members of the Klan, such as W. Tate Brady, who had also participated in the tarring and feathering of members of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1917.
Just a few months later, the government again bombarded civilians from the air, during the Battle of Blair Mountain, when 15,000 coal miners battled 3,000 cops, private cops and vigilantes, in the largest insurrection since the Civil War. Up to 100 miners died in the fighting, along with 10-30 Baldwin-Felts detectives and three national guards.
You can read my full article on the Battle of Blair Mountain here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/14/the-battle-of-blair-mountain/
Loula Williams: Meet The Woman Who Built Greenwood’s Dreamland Theatre https://shinemycrown.com/loula-williams-meet-the-woman-who-built-greenwoods-dreamland-theatre/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #LoulaWilliams #BlackHistory #BlackWallStreet #Entrepreneurship #WomenInBusiness
Beyond Tulsa: Uncovering America’s forgotten Black Wall Streets and their legacies today
#BlackHistory #bhm #Tulsa #BlackWallStreet #history #race #racism
Rebuilding Black Wealth: Lessons From Black Wall Street via @forbes
#blackhistory #tulsa #raceriots #blackwallstreet #history https://www.forbes.com/sites/lenwoodvlongsr/2025/02/25/rebuilding-black-wealth-lessons-from-black-wall-street/
Black history is a superhero story.
From Reconstruction to Black Wall Street, HBCUs to DEI, medicine to space, Black people have always been heroes, leaders, and pioneers.
Read today’s #TonysSuperheroSaturdays feature: https://wix.to/hdbQEi6
#BlackHistory #BlackWallStreet #TakeAction Call on Congress to protect Black Wall Street as a national monument - #TrustforPublicLand
https://secure.tpl.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2013&autologin=true&s_src=AD2510&s_subsrc=em-202502-Monuments-advocacy-1-Prospects&utm_initiative=Monuments
In 1921, Tulsa’s Black Wall Street was thriving—until a white mob burned it to the ground. 300+ Black people killed. Generational wealth erased.
This is why DEI, reparations, & justice matter.
"Black History Month" teableau for 01Feb25
“Our fellow Tulsans were murdered, their homes & businesses torched, their bodies buried in unmarked graves so their loved ones couldn’t find them,” #Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum (R) said at a news conference Thurs. “And to this day, no one has ever been held to account for it. To call it an outrage does not do it #justice.”
The developments come after decades of debate over how — if at all — #reparations should be doled out to victims & their families for the #violence that has limited the economic advancement of generations of #Black Tulsans. During the 1921 massacre, a White mob destroyed #Greenwood, an all-Black community nicknamed #BlackWallStreet, leaving as many as 300 Black people dead & 10k homeless.
The announcement was followed by news that an #Oklahoma archaeology team had exhumed another set of human remains w/a gunshot wound—a haunting reminder of the mob #violence that ripped through 35 square blocks of what was once a wealthy #Black community. The remains were the 3rd set w/a gunshot wound discovered since scientists began excavating a cemetery in 2020 to identify the #TulsaRaceMassacre’s victims.
#justice #law #racism #WhiteSupremacy #GenerationalWealth #BlackWallStreet #reparations
Today in Labor History August 1, 1921: Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Felts private cops. They did it in retaliation for Hatfield’s role in the Matewan labor battle in 1920, when two Felts family thugs were killed by Hatfield and his deputies, who had sided with the coal miners during their strike. The private cops executed Hatfield and Chambers on the Welch County courthouse steps in front of their wives. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, where 20,000 coal miners marched to the anti-union stronghold Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. The Battle of Blair Mountain started in September 1921. The armed miners battled 3,000 cops, private cops and vigilantes, who were backed by the coal bosses. It was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history, and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. The president of the U.S. eventually sent in 27,000 national guards. Over 1 million rounds were fired. Up to 100 miners were killed, along with 10-30 Baldwin-Felts detectives and 3 national guards. They even dropped bombs on the miners from planes, the second time in history that the U.S. bombed its own citizens (the first being the pogrom against black residents of Tulsa, earlier that same year).
Several novels portray the Battle of Blair Mountain, including Storming Heaven, by Denise Giardina, (1987), Blair Mountain, by Jonathan Lynn (2006), and Carla Rising, by Topper Sherwood (2015). And one of my favorite films of all time, “Matewan,” by John Sayles (1987), portrays the Matewan Massacre and the strike leading up to it. The film has a fantastic soundtrack of Appalachian music from the period. And the great West Virginia bluegrass singer, Hazel Dickens, sings the title track, "Fire in the Hole." She also appears in the film as a member of the Freewill Baptist Church.
You can read my complete article on the Battle of Blair Mountain, and Matewan, here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/14/the-battle-of-blair-mountain/
The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the last #TulsaMassacre survivor’s lawsuit
I’m am beyond… outraged. The truth will NOT be buried.
I agree with EVERY. SINGLE. POINT. Thomas The Villain makes in this video.
Upheaval is coming to the U. S. I may live to see it.