National Guards - Taking Negros to Ball Park for Protection

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, mobs of white residents brutally attacked the African American community of Greenwood, colloquially known as "Black Wall Street," in the deadliest racial massacre in U.S. history. Amidst the violence, both white rioters and the Oklahoma National Guard rounded up black residents of Greenwood and forced them to detention centers. More than 6,000 African Americans were interned at the Convention Hall, the Tulsa County Fairgrounds, and the baseball stadium McNulty Park. Some were held for as long as eight days.

Photo postcards of the Tulsa Race Massacre were widely distributed following the massacre in 1921. Like postcards depicting lynchings, these souvenir cards were powerful declarations of white racial power and control. Decades later, the cards served as evidence for community members working to recover the forgotten history of the riot and secure justice for its victims and their descendants.

A sepia-toned photographic postcard depicting African Americans held by the National Guard being led through the streets of Tulsa. The image depicts a long column of black men and women walking down a street with National Guard soldiers positioned along either side. There are buildings and rail cars on the other side of the line of people. A sign on one of the structures reads [THE CONTINENTAL]. Along the bottom of the image, written into the negative and appearing as white text is [NATIONAL GUARDS - TAKING NEGROS TO BALL / PARK FOR PROTECTION - RACE RIOT OF TULSA / JUNE 1st 1921]. The verso is marked [POST CARD] at the top with spaces for [CORRESPONDENCE] and [ADDRESS] and an AZO stamp box in the top right corner.