US Senate approves Lankford bill establishing National Monument in North Tulsa

Senate Approves Lankford Bill Establishing National Monument in North Tulsa

WASHINGTON, DC (May 23rd) – Thursday, the United States Senate approved the Historic Greenwood District—Black Wall Street National Monument Establishment Act by unanimous consent. The legislation will designate as a national monument the Historic Greenwood District of North Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre took place.

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) was joined by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) in first introducing the legislation in 2023. During the last Congress, the bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources where Lankford testified on the importance of the national monument to North Tulsa. The legislation was then passed unanimously by the full Senate.

Lankford was the first Member of Congress to officially recognize the 1921 Race Massacre on the Senate floor. Lankford then held a community conversation event in North Tulsa’s Big 10 Ballroom and celebrated its grand reopening in 2022 when music returned to the famous jazz venue. Lankford also led the Oklahoma Delegation in a resolution in recognizing the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Click here to watch Lankford’s floor remarks. Transcript below: 

Mr. President, I wanted to thank you and several folks because we passed by unanimous consent today a national monuments piece for the Greenwood District in Oklahoma. May 31 of 1921, the largest race massacre in American history occurred in my great state of Oklahoma. This is North Tulsa. That community was burned to the ground and destroyed [in] a race massacre. It’s a scar on our nation’s history, my state’s history, but it’s an area that we remember for a reason because we know how far we’ve come. The community in North Tulsa, in Greenwood, they are turning tragedy into triumph, starting new businesses. It’s a beautiful area. It continues to be able to grow and advance, but still bears the scars of over 100 years ago [from] the incredible fire and the massacre that happened there. What we did today with unanimous consent didn’t change the property rights of any person in Tulsa or in Oklahoma. It didn’t add any eminent domain. It didn’t change codes. It didn’t give the federal government control of any square inch of my great state – it just gave a designation, a monument designation to that area very similar to some other places, that it’s just a designation so that we will always remember as a nation something significant happened here. And it’s not just about what happened that day May 31 into June 1 of 1921. It’s what it was like before when it was Black Wall Street, a thriving community. It’s what it was like afterwards when people stayed and rebuilt a community. It’s like what it is now as people with great pride continue to be able to thrive in that community and still call a Black Wall Street based on the entrepreneurship that’s there. So I appreciate my colleagues that have been involved – that’s Chairman Mike Lee, Ranking Member Martin Heinrich – for their leadership and allowing this to be able to move today. To Angus King and to Cory Booker, my partner in this now for years to be able to move this particular designation. I just want to tell you, Mr. President, that I appreciate all of the work of this body and what has actually occurred here and for allowing this to move because it may not be significant to a lot of people in the country, but it is to us in Oklahoma. It is to the good folks in Greenwood. It’s not a bad thing for us to remember during this time period how far we’ve come and the work that is still yet to go.