Viola Ford Fletcher, Eldest Survivor of Tulsa Race Massacre, Releases Her Memoir

Despite being a centenarian, Viola Ford Fletcher remains undeterred in her quest for justice.

In recent years, Fletcher has undertaken international travels, given testimonies before Congress, and lent support to a reparations lawsuit – all part of her campaign for accountability regarding the massacre that obliterated the original “Black Wall Street” of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, an event she experienced as a child.

At the age of 109, Fletcher now unveils her memoir, an exploration of her life shaped by the massacre, when a white mob destroyed the once-prosperous Black district of Greenwood. Mocha Media Inc. will publish the book on Tuesday, and it will become broadly available for purchase on Aug. 15.

In an interview with The Big Big News, she confessed that the fear of retaliation contributed to her years of near-silence about the massacre.

“Now that I’m an elderly woman, there’s nothing else to speak about,” Fletcher said. “We decided to put it into a book and maybe that would help.”

Her memoir, titled “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story,” implores readers to continue seeking truth, justice, and reconciliation, no matter how long it takes. Her recounting of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which she witnessed at the age of seven, is a graphic depiction she hopes will preserve the history nearly forgotten due to lack of recognition by mainstream historians and political figures.

Fletcher questions in her book, “How could a violent, crazed, racist mob be armed with deadly weapons and be allowed – even encouraged – to slaughter innocent Black individuals and obliterate a whole community?”

Her memoir also covers the tension escalation between Black and white citizens of Tulsa that began on May 31, 1921, following a sensationalized report of an alleged assault by a 19-year-old Black man on a 17-year-old white girl, published in the white-owned Tulsa Tribune.

Over an 18-hour period, between May 31 and June 1, an inflamed mob implemented a scorched-earth campaign against Greenwood. The massacre led to an estimated death toll of up to 300, with more than 35 city blocks and 191 businesses destroyed, leaving approximately 10,000 Black residents displaced.

In her book, Fletcher gives a chilling account of her family’s hasty departure from the town via horse-drawn carriage, passing piles of corpses in the streets as they escaped the mayhem.

Although the descendants of the victims expected justice and reparations to follow once the conspiracy of silence around the event was broken decades later, this hasn’t happened yet. Fletcher and two other survivors are currently involved in a lawsuit against the city of Tulsa.

Ike Howard, Fletcher’s grandson and co-author of the memoir, attributed the lack of full recovery from the massacre by Tulsa’s Black community to systemic racism. He said, “We speak for all those who faced a similar situation and are no longer here to share their stories.”

Fletcher’s memoir traverses a vast span of history that she has lived through, including virus outbreaks, economic crises, international conflicts, and significant moments in the Civil Rights Movement.

The horrific images from the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol in January, following the historic election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, rekindled her painful memories of the 1921 Greenwood massacre.

In an AP interview, Fletcher credited her active lifestyle at an advanced age to faith and family. She recently visited New York to promote her book and saw the cover of her memoir displayed on the giant screens in Times Square.

Hughes Van Ellis, Fletcher’s 102-year-old brother, also a massacre survivor and World War II veteran, voiced his hope for justice in his lifetime. “We’re getting pretty close, but we aren’t close enough,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more work to do. I’m fighting for myself and my people.”

This piece was penned by Aaron Morrison, a member of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. You can follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

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More about Viola Ford Fletcher’s memoir

• Tulsa Race Massacre
• Viola Ford Fletcher’s Congressional Testimony
• Mocha Media Inc.
• Tulsa Race Massacre Reparations Lawsuit