Press Release
Mayor Gavin Buckley
Public Information Office
160 Duke of Gloucester Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact: Mitchelle Stephenson, 410-972-7724 or mwstephenson@annapolis.gov
Annapolis and Anne Arundel Memorialize “Black Wall Street Day”
in Remembrance of 1921 Tulsa Race Riot on June 12 [New Date]
Annapolis, MD (June 4, 2021) – From 12 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, 2021 at People’s Park in Annapolis, the City of Annapolis, Office of Mayor Gavin Buckley, in partnership with the office of Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, will host an event to acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre, which took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma between May 31 and June 1 in 1921. The event will commemorate May 30, 2021 as Black Wall Street Day in the City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. This outdoor event was rescheduled due to inclement weather (from an earlier date of May 30).
In the early 1900s, Tulsa’s Greenwood District was known as “Black Wall Street,” one of the most successful, established, and wealthiest Black business districts and residential areas in the nation. The massacre, carried out by mobs of white residents as an attack by ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district. As many as 6,000 Black residents were interned for several days while some reports put the death toll as high as 300.
Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley and Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman will speak at the event, as well as local community leaders about the importance of community healing and restorative justice. The event will feature several local Black-owned businesses in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, as well as local artists and musicians.
“The 100th anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre is a moment for all of us to recognize the collective trauma caused by our nation’s history of racial violence,” County Executive Steuart Pittman said. “We must use this moment as a way to uplift the work of community healing and restorative justice, to address past trauma and build a more equitable future.”
“I look forward to working with community leaders and groups to create a path forward to address the local and national history of racial violence and institutional racism,” said Mayor Gavin Buckley. “It is crucial that we show how restorative justice practices, like this event, not only raise awareness to national tragedies like the Tulsa Race Riot, but also provide a pathway forward.”
For more information, contact Adetola Ajayi, African American Community Service Specialist Mayor’s Office (410) 972-6257 aoajayi@annapolis.gov or Vincent Moulden Assistant Director of Strategic Engagement, in the office of the County Executive, (443) 699-0977 exmoul00@aacounty.org.
For more information about Black Wall Street: http://blackwallstreet.org/ourhistory.
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