Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Viola Fletcher, Lasting Voice of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 111

Her death refocuses attention on reparative efforts in Tulsa following failed court bids by survivors.

Overview

  • Tulsa officials announced the death of Viola Fletcher, who survived the 1921 destruction of Greenwood.
  • In 2021 testimony to Congress, she said she still saw bodies in the streets and smelled smoke, declaring she relives the massacre every day.
  • Fletcher joined a 2020 reparations lawsuit against the city of Tulsa that the Oklahoma Supreme Court later dismissed.
  • The city unveiled a $105 million trust fund in June intended to address ongoing impacts of the massacre.
  • With Fletcher's passing, Leslie Benningfield Randle is the last known living eyewitness to the violence in Greenwood.