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GREENWOOD / BLACK WALL STREET WILMINGTON 1898 LITTLE ROCK NINE TUSKEGEE STUDY ROSEWOOD 1923 THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN SENECA VILLAGE BLACK TOWNS GREENWOOD / BLACK WALL STREET WILMINGTON 1898 LITTLE ROCK NINE TUSKEGEE STUDY ROSEWOOD 1923 THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN SENECA VILLAGE BLACK TOWNS
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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

The Violence That Helped Spark the NAACP

In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 3 strongest Black History matches.
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NMAAHC

Funeral program of William Walker

Date
1963
Printed by
Unidentified
Subject of
William Walker, American, 1881 - 1963
Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church, American, founded 1905
Owned by
Eddie Faye Gates, American, 1934 - 2021
Description
Digital copy of a funeral program for William Walker, survivor of the Tulsa Race Riot. The funeral program consists of black ink printed on a single sheet of cream colored paper, folded once to produce four pages. The first page, or cover, has an illustration of Christ carrying the cross against a bright sun. Text at the top reads [FUNERAL SERVICES FOR / Mr. William Walker]. Text beneath the image has the date and location information. The service took place at Mason Memorial Methodist Church in Kansas City, Kansas, with interment at Quindaro Cemetery. The first interior page has an obituary, which details Walker's birth in Centerville, Mississippi, his life in Tulsa, Oklahoma and his relocation to Kansas City, Kansas after "a serious racial conflict in 1921 at Tulsa" when he "lost practically all his accumulations of many years." The obituary also details Walker's faith and church involvement over the years. The second interior page contains the program for the service, from processional to benediction. The last page, or back cover, lists the pallbearers.
The program is accompanied by a handout about the Vernon A.M.E. Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, printed on black ink on a single sheet of white paper, folded to produce four pages. The first page, or front cover, has a photocopied image of the 1921 Black Wall Street Memorial. At the top is printed the address for Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church, and beneath the image is the caption [Vernon A.M.E. Church is "indelibly" / woven into the historisity of the / Black Wall Street on North Greenwood / ... PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE ...]. The interior pages include a history of the Vernon A.M.E. Church in which William Walker is listed as a charter member when the church was founded in Tulsa in 1905. The history also includes that the Tulsa Race Riot destroyed all but the basement of the church in 1921, as well as lists of pastors and bishops and an image of the church building.
Place collected
Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States, North and Central America
Topic
African American
African Methodist Episcopal
American South
American West
Communities
Families
Funeral customs and rites
Methodist
Religion
Religious rituals and ceremonies
The Black Church
Tulsa Race Massacre
See more items in
National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Collection title
Eddie Faye Gates Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Classification
Memorabilia and Ephemera - Other
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Eddie Faye Gates, Tulsa OK, author, historian, community activist
Data Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2014.117.62
Type
digital images
programs
digital media - born analog
Restrictions & Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Medium
digital
Dimensions
File size (overall): 540.89 MB
Title
Object Name • Funeral program of William Walker
Record ID
nmaahc_2014.117.62
Museum
NMAAHC
Title Sort
FUNERAL PROGRAM OF WILLIAM WALKER
Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Metadata Usage
CC0
Date
1960s
Name
Walker, William • Gates, Eddie Faye • Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church
Place
United States • Oklahoma • North and Central America • Tulsa County • Tulsa
Topic
American South • Funeral rites and ceremonies • American West • Communities • Religious rituals and ceremonies • African Methodist Episcopal • Religion • Family • The Black Church • Tulsa Race Massacre
Culture
African Americans
Geo Location
City • Tulsa • County • Tulsa County • State • Oklahoma • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America
Type
digital media - born analog • Programs (documents) • Photographs
Online Media Type
Images
Online Media Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions

Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Rights and restrictions shown above are supplied by the Smithsonian record.

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Marriage Certificate of Luther Miller Pulce and Irene Jenkins

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Family temperance pledge for Luther Miller Pulce and Irene Jenkins

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No preview image
NMAAHC

Funeral program of William Walker

Date: Date

Description

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Who was the first African-American woman millionaire in the United States?

Madam C.J. Walker