TULSA, Okla. — Descendants, advocates, and even survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre gathered at Standpipe Hill in Tulsa to collect soil and commemorate the violent event 102 years ago Wednesday.
Standpipe Hill was an affluent black neighborhood with homes, businesses, and churches. Even when the massacre was happening, people could see it clearly.
At 107 and 108 years young, Viola Fletcher and Leslie Randell - survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre - listened intently and remembered the horrific events of this massacre 102 years ago, and prayed for continued reparations.
"Let that be a lesson to us as we honor the victims of the massacre and the survivors of the massacre," speakers said.
Standpipe Hill symbolized the fight where World War 1 veterans took up arms at the top of the hill and fought off white mobs from moving forward during the massacre. It allowed residents to escape.
Like Greenwood Ave., Standpipe Hill is the next space advocates want to bring back to its glory days.
"It was one big hill before the street went through it, said Christi Williams, a descendant. "it was homes, a church. It was a school."
That work has started.
Archaeologists are currently studying the trees along the hill, which they say tell their own stories. Greenwood archaeologists say some trees were intentionally planted around homes while others burned in the massacre but grew back.
Archaeologists with Greenwood Archaeology say they will start digging up parts of Standpipe Hill immediately. They say bits of concrete are beginning to come up in some areas, and they want to see what's underneath it.
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