What Was Lost
In the early 20th century, the Tulsa Star, a weekly newspaper devoted to that Oklahoma boomtown’s Black population, adhered relentlessly to local journalism’s guiding principle; namely, that readers want to keep abreast of people and events. The Star made sure that news of the wedding of Annie Price and Eustice Jamerson in April 1913 spread quickly. Reverend H.G. Griffin, pastor of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) church, officiated, having the previous Thursday celebrated at home with his family the coming of age of youngest son G.W. Griffin. Recent prominent visitors to the city, the paper reported, had included Hon. A.S. McRea, in town on business from Muskogee. Another was Professor H.P. Johnson, state inspector for colored schools, an important occasion given local fears that lack of state funding would force Tulsa to close its colored schools.
Several African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) pastors such as W.O. Clark from Okmulgee came to witness a revival on Greenwood Avenue at Vernon A.M.E., during which fellow cleric James A. Johnson recruited 11 converts and reclaimed four backsliders, enhancing his quickly growing congregation and reputation.
Not all the news that was fit to print that week was uplifting. Roy Benson, convicted of having plotted to murder one James Cherry, was sent to the penitentiary. Benson’s alleged accomplice, Henry Randolph, was in the Tulsa county jail awaiting a trial that was set to begin April 16.
Throughout April, Kahn’s, “the Greater Tulsa Greatest Bargain House,” which billed itself as the most reliable department store in town, was hosting a grand sale, highlighted by 500 ladies’ skirts, all styles and colors, at a reduced price, and 750 corsets starting at 49 cents.
In stock were 750 men’s’s directory alerted readers to local businesses. Mrs. Williams Confectionery on 103 North Greenwood Avenue promised the best assortment of fruits, nuts, and candies, while across the street at 104 C.A. Hardy’s Barbershop guaranteed a nice clean shave. Those addresses were telling. Greenwood Avenue had lent its name to what eventually became a bustling Black district, home to several hundred Black-owned businesses and a coterie of Black professionals. Greenwood was a magnet for Black Tulsans.
