Most of the city's ten thousand African American residents lived in the Greenwood District, a vibrant neighborhood that was home to two newspapers, several churches, a library branch, and scores of black-owned businesses.However, Tulsa was also a deeply troubled town. The rest of the United States must know that the real citizenship of Tulsa weeps at this unspeakable crime and will make good the damage, so far as it can be done, to the last penny.Despite this promise of funding, many blacks spent the winter of 1921–1922 in tents as they worked to rebuild. It occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Accounts of an incident circulated among the city’s white community during the day and became more exaggerated with each telling.Tulsa police arrested Rowland the following day and began an investigation. It was a smaller group but more organized and determined. Official proceedings began on June 6, 1921.

'Franklin stated that every time he saw a white man shot, he "felt happy"Franklin reported seeing multiple machine guns firing at night and hearing 'thousands and thousands of guns' being fired simultaneously from all directions.Adjutant General Charles Barrett of the Oklahoma National Guard arrived with 109 troops from Oklahoma City by special train about 9:15 a.m.. "According to the Tulsa Historical Society, 1,500 homes were burned to the ground and over 600 Black-owned businesses were bombed. His previous partner in his detective agency, Phil Kirk, had been convicted of blackmail.Three days after the massacre Republican President There were no convictions for any of the charges related to violence.A number of people tried to document the events, gather photographs, and record the names of the dead and injured. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned in large facilities, many of them for several days.Many survivors left Tulsa, while black and white residents who stayed in the city kept silent about the terror, violence, and resulting losses for decades. A team of scientists and historians uncovered evidence supporting long-held beliefs that unidentified victims had been buried in unmarked grave sites.One of the great tragedies of Oklahoma history, this eruption of bloodshed and destruction in Tulsa has lived on as a potent symbol of the ongoing struggle of black and white Oklahomans to forge a common destiny out of an often troubled past. Yet, both Rowland and Page were apparently working that day. Authorization of the study "enjoyed strong support from members of both political parties and all political persuasions". Small groups of armed black men ventured toward the courthouse in automobiles, partly for reconnaissance, and to demonstrate they were prepared to take necessary action to protect Rowland.Many white men interpreted these actions as a "Negro uprising" and became concerned. Why? Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top. An unarmed African American man was murdered inside a downtown movie theater, while carloads of armed whites began making "drive-by" shootings in black residential neighborhoods. Moreover, for many years the violence became something of a taboo subject, particularly in Tulsa.

Crime rates were extremely high, and the city had been plagued by vigilantism, including the August 1920 lynching, by a white mob, of a white teenager accused of murder. Others headed for the National Guard At the courthouse, the crowd had swollen to nearly 2,000, many of them now armed.

Twice, a group of armed African American men, mostly veterans of World War I, arrived on the scene fearing a lynching and offered their assistance to the police to protect Rowland. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died.In 2001, an official Race Riot Commission was organized to review the details of the event.