During the early 1900s the Greenwood District located in Tulsa, Oklahoma became one the most prosperous Black communities in the U.S. The area was known as the “Negro Wall Street” by educator Booker T. Washington, this community had a population that included working class and a middle class of prosperous citizens.
Greenwood appealed to Black Americans who hoped of escaping the political, social and economic oppression in the deep south.
According to 1920 city directories, there were 108 black business establishments, including 2 newspapers, 41 groceries and meat markets, 30 cafes and restaurants. There were offices for 33 professionals, including 15 physicians and attorneys in Tulsa’s all-Black community serving the approx. 10,000 residents. Greenwood had clothing stores, funeral parlors, billiard halls, hotels, barbershops, hairdressers, shoemakers, tailors, nightclubs, and two movie theaters. Because most white establishments refused to serve African Americans, black entrepreneurs held a captive market rich in pent-up demand.
By 1920 the area had twenty-two churches and was a center for jazz and blues music. The schools in Greenwood were described as exceptional compared to those in the “white” areas of town.
Greenwood, as it was now often called, was further advanced economically than some of the white areas of Tulsa.
After the riot the city of Tulsa denied aid to the survivors of the riot. However, the African-American businessmen and residents of Greenwood used their own resources and help sent from across the United States to rebuild the town. By the summer of 1922, more than eighty businesses were again up and running.