Viola Ford Fletcher, survivor of 1921 Tulsa Massacre, dies age 111

One of the last survivors of Oklahoma’s 1921 Tulsa Massacre, Viola Ford Fletcher, has passed away at the age of 111.

Despite her advanced age, Fletcher’s activism helped her win justice for the victims of one of the worst racial violence in American history.

Our city is currently grieving the loss of Mother Viola Fletcher. She survived one of the city’s darkest years, more than anyone should, according to Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols in a Facebook post. Mother Fletcher “showed us how far we’ve come and how far we must still go” and “he carried 111 years of truth, resilience, and grace.”

Fletcher was seven years old when the Oklahoma state’s Tulsa Massacre, a state where the US South was segregated from the end of the 1800s until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, occurred.

According to a report released by the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the massacre started on May 31, 1921, when police detained 19-year-old Black shoeshiner Dick Rowland over accusations that he had assaulted a white woman.

Viola Ford Fletcher bravely shared her story to ensure that we never forget this agonizing aspect of our history as a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre. We express our gratitude to Michelle for her tireless efforts to advance civil rights and her family. https://t.co/km7RXnDKcW

A group of Black men from a nearby community intervened and tried to protect Rowland before “all hell broke out,” according to the report. A group of white men from a nearby community gathered at the courthouse and gathered there to demand that Rowland be lynched.

In Tulsa’s Greenwood District, one of the richest Black communities in the US, vigilante organizations and law enforcement looted and burned 35 blocks over the course of two days. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the damage’s total, after inflation, was estimated to be around $32.2 million in 2024.

According to the report, 700 Tulsa residents were killed and 700 others were injured, but the final number is unknown because many were buried in unmarked graves.

Forbidden by the region’s survivors, like Fletcher and her family. Her family, who was left behind, converted to sharecroppers, a form of subsistence farming in which farmers give their landlords almost all of their income.

After Sarah Page, the lift operator he was accused of assaulting, said she didn’t want to pursue the case, Rowland was never charged.

Prior to the Oklahoma State’s 1997 launch of an investigative commission, the Tulsa Massacre lacked national attention despite the extent of the destruction. Due to the statute of limitations, however, attempts to recover victims’ compensation in 2001 failed.

Fletcher testified about her experiences in front of the US Congress in 2021 and co-authored Don’t Let Them Bury My Story with her grandson in 2023.

US politicians, including former president Barack Obama, mourned Fletcher.