7:35 but anyway this girl had seen a copy.   Have you met Ms. Avery? Have you seen her works?  Interviewer: I don't think they's been able to the original that the Tribune had .. on Micofilm is not there  Nooo you can look all you... that's what everybody who's ___?? Oklahoma City the historical society.  Diana Kimes (sp??)  And you think she may have one?  I know she had seen it.. I don't think she lives in it I don't know

William Danforth Williams:  That was the headline.  That's why I always.... what have I done... oh a water-bill... oh that's my wife's writing check number 4459 I never would go to that detail  7:24 (he's walked away from the mic sounds like comments about his wife)

5:08 Interviewer:  Where had she been?  William Danforth Williams:  Oh she had been to ahh, one of her …  As I told you she bought a lot of things in the confectionery and one of the salesmen had taken her home.. to stay.  Hmm but nobody knew where... none of us knew where the other was.  Interviewer:  Were you in that group that went down to the jail that night..  William Danforth Williams:  No, I was just 16, I was a junior in high school.. 15 I was.. yeah16 and my mother wouldn't let me go after _____?? (heard about?) people coming on down the theater some guy got up on the stage and made an announcement “all of you get you.. go on and get your gun”. They closed down the theater.  The operator was white and so he took off and got home. Cause he came by the municipal theater that evening and got me bailed, bailed me out and took me out to his house to spend the night. But.. it's something you never forget. I'll never forget.

4:03 But what I do know is they caught me about a block away.. about four blocks away from my home, lined me up, took me down to convention hall down to municipal theater. They never did catch my dad. He got out as far as Pine Street and one of his business associates.. white,  picked him up, took him home to his house. That afternoon, the operator in the theater came down took a... convention hall where they had me and bailed me out but didn't know ma'ma was till the next morning.  I ran into her downtown, they say it was safe to be on the streets and I saw her and I said ma'ma ran for ___??__  (3rd and main??) boy was some some greeting. But...

3:10 Now the cause of it, they claim was that this girl said they boy tried to rape her on the elevator, they both worked at the same building downtown.  Now that's what everybody says.  But you can as 'em about different... right now you can get 20 people.. they'd all have 20 versions of what happened. Depending on where they was.  If they were up on the ___ (stand pot? Sand pot) hill, an saw peg-leg Taylor shooting a lot of, at whites and hitting them or be down at __(green wishes horse??) the way I was it seeing my own men with that rifle. We all had different visions of what actually happened that morning.

2:36 Next morning they were trying to come in on Greenwood down there and surrounded the place.. and the militia came in. They rounding up blacks figuring that they'd get there... get them rounded up it would stop the ___ (pain???) But you see what happened they would allow those fellows to come in behind after they'd taken them ___?? blacks had surrounded… they let them come in but loot and burn that's where all the damage is done.

1:50 He was there too Sheriff of the time county building And all this crowd was around, black and white. So there were talking wouldn't be any rioting today, wont be any lynching And Uncle Barney said “I want all of you to go back home” said “I'm going stay here to see that you wont be”. So they all started away and I guess about a block away, somebody fired a shot... don't know whether were black or white.. and then right down there, all hell cut loose and __(he??) fought all night.

William Danforth Williams:  Yes Lord, The riot was..don't know how to start down that there was so many... it depends on where you was, your version of the riot but all of us agree that it started because of the threat through The Tribute paper that were gonna lynch a Negro tonight. That was.. I remember it like I was sitting there tonight, right now reading that article. Yes lord, about that wide, and this long, about two inches long.  So, the blacks, by the time everyone read that thing they mad .. naw not going to be a lynching. They went down with... to see about it. Barney Cleaver (sp), that's the character, I forgot. He was a.. Mr. Gunsmoke, he just like Marshall Dillon back then, I thought he was the most wonderful man in the world because he had no fear.  He... I saw a fellow have a gun on him, and he says 'now _??_ take that gun down, you talk'n to Uncle Barney now, put it down now”. And got the mans gun, he had it on him. So that impressed me being down there ya know.

For the purposes of this captioning encouraging vocalizations not included 1st portion of interview Interviewer: Tell me about the riot what you remember about it. They been over here talking to you about that riot?

Audio recording of interview with Chloe Marie Twidwell about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.

Chloe Marie Twidwell Interview

Audio recording of interview with Elsie Gubser about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.

Elsie Gubser Interview

Audio recording of interview with Fannie Misch about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.

Born in Nodaway, Iowa on January 6, 1886, Fannie Brownlee was a notable Tulsa historian. 

Fannie Brownlee came to Tulsa in 1913 and married Julius Misch. Together they opened Tulsa Printing Company in 1916, which was located at 1011 N. Main. Mrs. Misch began researching local history and writing everything from book-length histories to articles for newspapers.

Mrs. Misch served as president of the Tulsa History & Literature Club from 1939-1941, a precursor of the Tulsa Historical Society.

Oral Histories

Fannie Misch Interview

Audio recording of interview with Mayor L.C. Clark about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.

L.C. Clark was the 27th Mayor of Tulsa from 1954- to 1956. He was a long-time businessman and civic leader. Mayor Clark understood downtown business and was a leader in the Chamber of Commerce. He helped the installation of the city Civil Service program and Personnel Department. He completed much-needed improvements to Tulsa's water system and created a long range plan. He established a city sewer tax, which brought much needed revenue.  

During his administration, he purchased land for the Riverside airport. He acquired Gilcrease Museum with city bonds and acquired the Tulsa Garden Center. 

Source: City of Tulsa.

Mayor L.C. Clark Interview

Audio recording of interview with Mozella Franklin Jones, about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. Recorded January 16, 1980.

Wife of Waldo Jones, Sr., sister of John Hope Franklin, daughter of B.C. Franklin.

Mozella Franklin Jones Interview

Audio recording of interview with Virginia Waters Poulton.

Virginia Waters Poulton Interview

Audio Recording of interview with W.R. Holway about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. 

William Rea Holway (April 29, 1893 – April 23, 1981), commonly known as W. R. Holway, was an American civil engineer who became prominent in Oklahoma. He is best known for his work on major water supply projects for the city of Tulsa, and on the Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake o' the Cherokees.

Holway came to Tulsa in 1918, where he became the city waterworks engineer. In 1920, he was hired as a consulting engineer to plan a pipeline to carry water from Lake Spavinaw to Tulsa. He founded the firm W. R. Holway and Associates in 1922.

He and his family also contributed to other aspects of Tulsa's development. In 1922, he was a co-founder of All Souls Unitarian Church, with Richard Lloyd Jones, owner of the Tulsa Tribune, In 1922, his wife founded the Tulsa Little Theater, which was later renamed Theatre Tulsa.

Unknown Album (12/24/2009 9:13:29 AM)

W.R. Holway Interview

Audio recording of interview with William Danforth Williams about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Race Massacre Survivor, and son of John and Loula Williams. The Williamses were a prominent Greenwood family - they owned a confectionery, the Dreamland Theater, the East End Garage, and the Williams Building.

William Danforth Williams Interview

Tulsa Historical Society & Museum

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