Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 Article
Tulsa Daily World, Wednesday, 6-1-1921
Third Extra
Page 1
STATE TROOPS IN CHARGE
Race War Start Came in Arrest of Young Negro
[The same article appeared in the Final edition of the 6-1-1921 Tulsa Daily World under the headline "Arrest of Young Negro on Statutory Charge Caused Battle Between the Races".]
The race rioting that broke out here late Tuesday night grew out of the arrest Tuesday afternoon of Dick Rowland, a negro bootblack, on a charge of assaulting a white elevator girl in the Drexel building on Monday.
There was a movement afoot it was reported among white people to go to the county courthouse Tuesday night and lynch the bootblack. This report spread over "Little Africa" and early in the evening crowds of negroes began forming.
Rowland was taken from the city to the county jail Tuesday afternoon and his preliminary trial set for June 7 in municipal court.
Rowland was arrested on South Greenwood avenue early Tuesday morning by Officers Henry Carmichael and H. C. Pach. He was identified by the girl after his capture. The boy did not deny the attack and said he stepped on her foot but did not scratch her in any way.
The girl alleged that the negro entered the elevator and without any provocation attacked her. She screamed for help and a clerk in the Renberg store ran to her assistance. Upon his approach the negro fled and had been in hiding until captured by the police officers yesterday morning.
The girl is an orphan and is attending a local business college and running an elevator on off hours.
Reprinted with permission from the Tulsa World.
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