Tulsa Oklahoma African American Newspaper Tulsa Star 1913-1921

Description

The Tulsa Star was a prominent African American newspaper published in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 1913 to 1921, documenting the lives, struggles, and achievements of the Black community during a pivotal era in history.

The African American newspaper Tulsa Star published 1,476 pages across 209 weekly editions between the years 1913 and 1921. The final edition released was just before the traumatic events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot and Massacre. Tragically, during this horrific incident, the newspaper’s building and its equipment were destroyed. The last known surviving copy of the Tulsa Star is from January 30, 1921. This collection encompasses issues from April 11, 1913, all the way to January 30, 1921.

While it does not provide coverage of the 1921 Race Riot and Massacre, this collection remains an essential resource. It captures the dynamics between Black and White residents of Tulsa, highlights incidents of lynching in Oklahoma, illustrates the realities of Jim Crow laws in early 20th-century America, showcases African American patriotism during World War I, and reveals that Black citizens in Tulsa enjoyed a higher level of material wealth compared to many African Americans elsewhere in the country.

At the time of the 1921 racial conflict, there were around 11,000 African Americans residing in Tulsa. Over 190 businesses were owned by Black individuals in a segregated area of north Tulsa referred to as “Black Wall Street.” In 1913, Andrew Jackson Smitherman relocated his newspaper, initially founded in the previous year as the Muskogee Star, to this flourishing district and rebranded it as the Tulsa Star.

What’s particularly noteworthy about the Tulsa Star, especially for an African American publication of its time, is its strong Democratic stance. Even though the Civil War had ended 47 years prior, Black voters largely remained loyal to the Republican Party, with a significant shift toward the Democratic Party not occurring until the early 1930s. In 1921, both the offices of the Star newspaper and Smitherman’s residence were completely destroyed by fire. As a result, Smitherman had no choice but to leave Tulsa since he faced blame from many white residents who accused him of provoking the riot that occurred that year. Adjutant General Charles Barrett, who led the Oklahoma National Guard during that period, attributed the riot to “an impudent Negro, a hysterical girl, and a yellow journal reporter,” with his last comment aimed specifically at Smitherman. Following the chaos of the riot, both Smitherman, who was the editor and publisher, and his brother, John Smitherman, who served as a deputy in the Tulsa Sheriff’s Department, were taken into custody.

1. After securing his release on bail, Smitherman escaped from Tulsa, facing an indictment and threats of being extradited back from Springfield, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Deputy J. Smitherman lost his position within the Tulsa Sheriff’s Department and was subsequently abducted by a group of white individuals suspected to be members of the Ku Klux Klan. He was brutally assaulted during this ordeal, which resulted in one of his ears being severed.

In December 2007, Tim Harris, the Tulsa County District Attorney, took action to dismiss the charges against Smitherman and 55 other Black men who had been accused of instigating the riot, over 56 years after Smitherman’s death. This motion was approved by Tulsa County District Judge Jesse Harris.

The collection includes a comprehensive text transcript of all computer-readable text integrated into the graphic images of each complete newspaper page, allowing for a searchable resource. Users can conduct text searches across the entirety of the collection’s pages.