Nine Real Photo Postcards Documenting Violence and Destruction

Tulsa, Oklahoma, May to June 1921

Group of nine contemporaneous real photo postcards, each approximately postcard size, documenting scenes associated with the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The photographs record the destruction of the Greenwood District, the militarized response, the mass detention of Black residents, and the presence of Black victims in the immediate aftermath of the violence. Several versos bear period pencil inscriptions identifying locations including Convention Hall, North Detroit, and Frisco Depot, all sites directly connected to documented events during and after the massacre.

Between May 31 and June 1, 1921, white mobs, supported by local authorities and deputized civilians, attacked Tulsa’s Greenwood District, a prosperous Black community often referred to as Black Wall Street. Over approximately thirty-six hours, more than thirty-five city blocks were destroyed by fire, hundreds of Black owned homes and businesses were burned, and an estimated seventy five to more than three hundred Black residents were killed. The true number remains unknown due to intentional suppression and incomplete recordkeeping. Thousands of Black Tulsans were detained at gunpoint, many held at Convention Hall and other civic buildings, and later required to carry identification passes to move within the city.

This group should be understood as primary visual evidence rather than later illustration or retrospective interpretation. The photographs were made contemporaneously and document events as they unfolded or in their immediate aftermath.

Individual images

One postcard shows an unidentified Black male victim lying supine on bare ground, clothing disarranged, surrounded by debris. The lower legs and shoes of nearby onlookers are visible within the frame. No medical personnel are present. The image documents a moment of death or its immediate aftermath in a public setting. No inscription appears on the verso.

Another image shows a Black man lying motionless on the bed of a flatbed truck outside a substantial brick building. White men stand nearby, one holding a long object consistent with a rifle or pole. Whether the man is deceased or critically injured cannot be determined from the photograph alone. Contemporary accounts confirm that bodies and wounded individuals were transported by truck during the violence.

A large crowd scene outside a civic building identified on the verso as Convention Hall shows armed men and civilians gathered together. Convention Hall is well documented as a primary detention site where Black residents were held under armed guard following the destruction of Greenwood.

A separate image shows a line of Black men moving through a city street under supervision. Clothing, posture, and crowd arrangement are consistent with forced relocation or detention procedures imposed after the massacre.

Several postcards document extensive neighborhood destruction. One view labeled North Detroit shows residential streets with collapsed structures, heavy fire damage, smoke, and debris, with individuals moving through the scene amid smoldering ruins. Another shows a burned residential block with wood frame houses destroyed by fire and smoke still rising as civilians move through the street.

A broader elevated view shows Tulsa’s commercial district under a dense pall of smoke drifting across rooftops, with warehouse buildings and advertising signs visible. The verso bears a period pencil note referencing the Frisco Depot, placing the vantage point near known rail and transportation corridors.

Additional street level views show automobiles, pedestrians, armed figures, and civilians navigating smoke filled streets marked by debris and damaged infrastructure, reinforcing the immediacy of the unrest and its aftermath.

Historical significance

Taken together, these photographs document the massacre as it unfolded and immediately afterward, including the presence of Black victims, the use of civic buildings for mass detention, the destruction of residential neighborhoods, and the absence of organized medical or humanitarian response. The lack of named individuals is consistent with the historical reality of the event and underscores the systematic erasure of Black lives and deaths during and after the violence.

Summary

A rare and historically significant nine image photographic archive documenting the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Anchored by images of Black victims, including one clearly deceased and another possibly dying, this group constitutes direct visual testimony to racial violence, state failure, and historical suppression. Material of this nature is seldom encountered intact and holds substantial importance for museums, researchers, and serious collectors of American history and documentary photography.