13 | I Get Money | Black Wall Street
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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Black History for Real early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Francesca, you're one of the few people I've met that got to attend one of the biggest parties in America, the Vanity Fair Oscars party. How was that? Uh...

Honestly, I'm still kind of reeling from it. It was weird. Celebrities are weird. I just, I don't know. I still don't know how to feel about it. It was incredible, but it was a lot. And anything you cared to unpackage or are you still processing?

I'm still processing. The funniest, weirdest thing, and I think I told you about this last week, is that Busta Rhymes mistook me for somebody else. He was like, hey, it's so good to see you. And I was like, and then we hugged.

We hugged and I was like, who does Busta Rhymes think I am? Certainly I'm not the person he thinks I am. But he said it like we'd been friends for ages. I'm sorry. That is hilarious. For the people in the back.

The Vanity Fair Oscars party is definitely a who's who's of the upper echelon of Hollywood. But when it comes to black elite, there's a different type of party that comes to mind. And that's the pre Grammy Rock Nation brunch. Francesca, have you ever been there? I have not. But Busta Rhymes, if you're listening, I will pretend that we know each other if you will let me be your plus one.

Hey, Busta. Hey, for the people listening right now to Black History for Real, if you know the people over there, Busta Rhymes team, hey, tell them, tell them, get with us, man. Well, it's hosted by one half of our favorite black capitalist couple, the entrepreneur, rapper, and Beyonce's husband, Jay-Z.

It's related to today's episode, actually, because you see, the Rock Nation brunch celebrates black entrepreneurship, black wealth, black autonomy, and all those things we put under the umbrella of black excellence. And the story we're telling today is one that is also celebrating those things. In the early 20th century, the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, emerged as a place of

as one of the leading centers for African American businesses in the United States, earning the nickname Black Wall Street. But in 1921, it was burned to the ground in a racially motivated act of violence. Over the next few episodes, we're gonna illuminate the lives of some of the folks that made Black Wall Street a bastion for Black folks. And we're gonna be talking about the racist acts that took it all away. Let's get into some Black history for real.

A tumbleweed bounces down a dusty trail north of the historic Frisco Railway in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's 1906. The tumbleweed comes to a stop against a pair of mean cowboy boots. Freshly polished, they belong to 38-year-old Ottawa W. Gurley. He's an ambitious black businessman from Alabama with a thick mustache and round frame glasses.

He kicks the tumbleweed away and turns to his business partner, JB Stratford. Ottawa frowns as he stares out into the distance. I don't know, JB. What are they looking at? Right now, it's just an empty plot of land, but JB is convinced that it's also a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity. This land is being sold exclusively to Black people as part of the government's effort to take back territory it forced Indigenous tribes onto decades ago.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Yikes, what? Yeah, it's pretty messed up. And the offer definitely doesn't come without strings. For one, it will take all of Ottawa's life savings to build up this place. And it's right in the backyard of some dangerous white folks who really, really don't want them there. Get the hell out of our town. Ah!

Ottawa calms his breathing. While both he and JB believe that Black success will come from pooling their resources and working together, Ottawa isn't so sure about JB's plan to carve out their own town center in a violently segregated city. Not that Ottawa isn't a risk taker. Born to parents who had been enslaved, Ottawa is largely self-educated.

After marrying his childhood sweetheart Emma, he became a teacher. He then took a well-paying job with the U.S. Postal Service. But when the discovery of oil led to the great Oklahoma land rush, they made their way from Alabama to Tulsa. By taking risks, he's become one of the most successful businessmen in the area. All he's ever wanted was to no longer answer to white people who look down on him. And he's almost there.

If Ottawa squints at the trail hard enough, you can see the end goal. Black businessmen and women running shops that cover all their basic needs. A place where their children and grandchildren can get an education and own land. A town fully self-sustained and insulated from Jim Crow. Black people thriving. Everyone making money. Lots and lots of money.

So, you know, we use the word Jim Crow to describe like an area and a time period. But it's so interesting when you actually unpack the specifics of it, because these rules were so racist and so ludicrous. It's almost like they were they were intentionally setting you up for failure. Right. It's like.

We're going to create all of these barriers like black folks were expected to refer to white males as boss or captain instead of master or massa. They could call white people that they knew by their first name, but they had to use Mr. or Miss. It's like it's like imposing all of these formalities like.

Yeah. But black men, on the other hand, could be called by their names or referred to as boy, uncle, old man, regardless of their age. And if a white person didn't know a black person personally, the N-word was just fully OK. These are just like, how do you even implement these ridiculous things? And just like.

The idea of like not being able to eat with white people in certain restaurants. I mean, conscious. Yeah, Jim Crow was ugly. I can't even imagine trying to navigate all of these things. No, and I definitely couldn't imagine trying to navigate Jim Crow in the wild, wild west where it's like really no rules, but the rules they try to impose on your body are these very irrational anti-black ones. And I guess the last thing I would say on this too is that on this specifically is the Jim Crow.

Jim Crow, I think, gives us a great way to understand how the prison industrial complex was set up from the jump to be able to, like, incarcerate black people and be able to make proper self black people. And that's the reason why so many of the rules were so ridiculous, because it was literally made for you to fail and be incarcerated. 13th Amendment says the United States federal government shall prohibit slavery except for punishment, conviction of a crime.

It's not ironic that the individuals that found themselves most likely to be convicted of a crime was those individuals that are descendants of enslaved Africans. Jim Crow is like a great way. If I was a teacher, I used to teach my high school students and a lot of my less seasoned college students about, you know what I'm saying, Jim Crow.

In the midst of dreaming what their investment could build, Ottawa suddenly imagines his wife with her hands on her hips. She's got that death stare. Ottawa goes, Emma might kill him. When she realizes the money he's putting down, she'll have to trust him. And if he's ever going to build the life his parents weren't allowed to, he has to trust himself. He pushes the fear away. Greenwood. He tells JB. Huh? Huh?

What are you talking about? Let's call it Greenwood. Ottawa's parents never had much, but when they were young, they once spent their hard-earned money to take him to a town with that name. Yeah, let's call it Greenwood, and let's make history.

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From Wondery, this is Black History For Real, where we chronicle the stories of movers and shakers from Black history and all over.

The stories will inspire you, educate you, and more often than not, leave you shaking your damn head unconsciously. And I'm Francesca Ramsey. This is our four-part series on Black Wall Street. Today, we're telling the story of the founding of Greenwood. Dubbed Negro Wall Street by Booker T. Washington, in the early 20th century, Greenwood was a district built around Greenwood Avenue that developed into a bastion of Black entrepreneurship.

Ottawa W. Gurley and his business partner J.B. Stratford helped thousands of Black residents establish a self-contained city center. It would eventually boast more than 41 groceries and meat markets, 30 restaurants, 15 physicians' offices, five hotels, lawyers, banks, dentists, theaters, nightclubs, clothing shops, employment agencies, boarding houses, everything the segregated city required to be self-reliant.

Even though a whole bunch of black folks came to Greenwood hoping to find land of opportunity, some were motivated by the same settler colonial ideology that is still fueling the genocide of Native Americans. It was a town built upon one racial tragedy that will ultimately end in another. This is episode one, Get Money. Black is built for money.

Before Oklahoma received statehood in 1907, the region was home to a group of Native communities white people referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes. The Cherokee, the Creek, the Cheta, the Chickasaw, and the Seminole Nations. I cannot get over this like totally backhanded. It's like it's supposed to be a compliment, like y'all are some of the good ones, but it's just...

The way that Native American folks have been treated throughout our nation's history, it's just so deplorable. And every single time I learn a new thing, I'm baffled, but it's somehow worse than I could have imagined. Oh, yeah. So worse that it's hard to imagine how a lot of indigenous peoples feel.

take on the American identity without you feel me all of this historical trauma to like process you know I'm saying especially thinking about like so we have good natives we have bad natives you know I'm saying like five civilized tribes so if you decide you define a particular tribes as being civilized you damn sure define some tribes as being uncivilized in and it's giving me the same binary it's like good nigga bad nigga

good Indian, bad Indian. And I would add to that, that being seen as good through that white supremacist lens, like it's not a good thing, right? Like even though these tribes were quote unquote civilized, we still, or our nation still co-opted the Seminole identity, the Cherokee identity, and like turned it into sports teams and turned it into a brand, right? It's like stripping the identity away from these people and commodifying it, despite saying, oh, you're one

of the good ones, but they're the good ones because they were able in their minds to say like, oh, we're going to be able to use them. We're going to be able to commodify them. We can tell them to do what we want. It's just, again, it's that respectability politics thing of like your oppressor is saying you're good. That's not a compliment. I said, shut the

I know that it's spelled like Choctaw, but for my time that I spent in Oklahoma, I learned that the white folks say Choctaw. But when you mess with real, you know what I'm saying? People, you know what I'm saying? It's like real Chathas. They're going to say they're going to teach you like it's pronounced Chatha. It's a mispronunciation amidst this, that and the other. So, you know what I'm saying? Being in Oklahoma for 13 years, I got to learn and make a lot of meaningful relationships with different people from Cherokee Creek,

Seminole, Choctaw, and a whole bunch of other tribes that, you know what I'm saying, it's not necessarily considered the five civilized. Right. But it's a lot to unpackage.

White people believed these tribes to be among those who had assimilated best to white society. But in demonstration of how assimilation does not save you from racism, notoriously genocidal President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. And the five civilized tribes were brutally herded into the American Southeast. People of all ages were made to walk on average a

of 5,000 miles through devastating conditions. Historians estimate that more than 15,000 people died of exposure, starvation, and exhaustion. This atrocious act of ethnic cleansing became known as the Trail of Tears. Yeah, I don't even know what to say. It's just, it's so frustrating that so much of this history has been watered down.

And it continues to confirm why the show is so important.

But it doesn't make it any less heartbreaking to know that there are going to be people listening to this that are contextualizing these events in a new way for the first time ever. Grown adults. Not to mention the fact that right now there is an attempt at dismantling the educational system in a way that completely removes the existence and the oppression of Black folks and Indigenous people. It's just like...

I'm so glad that we're doing this work, but it's it's like it's bittersweet, if that makes sense.

Yeah. In the name of intersectionality, shout out to all of the Afro-Indigenous, Black, Indian people. You feel me? I know that we tend to forget about the people that, you know what I'm saying, have the multiple identities, you know what I'm saying? And I think that is very important, especially in this episode, to acknowledge that there is a people that occupy both of these identities, being Native and being Black, being of African descent and being of Native American descent. You know what I'm saying? So shout out to them, definitely. A lot of y'all may have heard about the Trail of Tears, but...

Oh, OK. So that's what they meant when they said, oh, y'all have assimilated. Yeah, yeah. One prominent Cherokee, Joseph Vann, brought 200 enslaved people with him on the trail.

Hundreds of enslaved people also suffered and died along this in their treacherous forced migration. Actually, what I learned as well is that the Cherokee Nation, while I was in Oklahoma, they had a big, huge conflict with the Cherokee Nation and the Freedmen's Barrow. The Freedmen's Barrow were the part of the enslaved Africans. They were also on the Trail of Tears. They were also a part of Cherokee Nation. A part of the beef, you feel me, they had was

Should those black people that were a part of the Freedmen's Barrel also be able to benefit from the resources of the Cherokee Nation? So when we think about the line, you know what I'm saying? I repeat, I said earlier about how the city of Tulsa, you know what I'm saying, was created of one tragedy of people and built by another tragedy of people. I was like, that is like, to me, the entirety of the state of Oklahoma. Yeah. I mean, and unfortunately, we've seen that happen before.

time and time again throughout history, this idea of pitting marginalized people against each other so that we're fighting for scraps rather than realizing that we're both being held down by the same oppressive thumb. Oh yeah, because it's important to this, I feel like, to tease this out. We've pointed out that

There were black people that took a hold of the land run and literally went and perpetuated colonial ideology, instilling native land and pushing indigenous erasure. We're also acknowledging that on that Trail of Tears, there were different enslaved peoples that were part of property to these, you know what I'm saying, same Native Americans, you feel me, that were being forced, you know what I'm saying, to do the Trail of Tears.

We're acknowledging that there is ways that indigenous people play into anti-blackness and ways that black people play into coloniality and settler colonialism. And in this right here, we have a very messy, ugly, complex history to get into.

In Oklahoma, the five tribes joined reservation tribes from the West, who were also forced onto the designated land. After the Civil War, many freed men and women received tribal membership in the Indian territories. They were able to set the foundation for Greenwood, in large part through the Dawes Act, which granted plots of land to individual members of the tribes, including the New Black Ones. The communities that sprang up across Oklahoma were touted as the "promised land" for Black people.

During Reconstruction, Black sharecroppers from all over moved to the state, especially after the discovery of oil. All of this is why Ottawa Gurley moved Tulsa too. Hey, peep game. Though we know them folks was not going to let us get this oil, it's important to also really unfold the context. The reason why white America gave Oklahoma to Native Americans is because it was seen as being invaluable, infertile land that

That was like nobody could do anything with. Once they discovered the oil, I did a TikTok video about the Osage murder nation, about the Osage murders. The Osage murders took place at the same time. You feel me? During the Tulsa race massacre. And what's important is that, hey, they found the oil.

And when they found that oil, literally Osage Nation in this land that Ottawa is getting on to, it became literally based off of the oil deposits, the richest, like the richest area in America per capita at that time in the 1920s. You know what I'm saying? And literally I gave it to him because I thought it had no value. Now they have it. Now I see the land has value now. And you want it back. Negroes and natives will die.

I mean, the thing that is so chilling is that this story has taken place multiple times throughout our nation. And I feel like we're still learning the history of certain places because what's the old what's the saying? History is written by the victors. Oh, yeah. Whoever decides that they won, they just wipe the slate clean and they say, oh, it didn't actually happen.

While y'all listening to this episode. It's happening right now. I'm going to be petty and run some shit at y'all real fast while y'all think about it while you listen to this episode. Oh, my God. Why can't black people build for themselves? Oh, my God. Why don't black people have anything? Oh, my God. How come black people can't just start their own businesses? Oh, my God. How come black people are always being held back? Oh, my God. All of the pathology about why and how black people don't have X, Y, and Z.

Because when we try to have something, they come in and they take it from us. The system is not broken. It's functioning the way that it was built to. Hello. By 1900...

Black people compose 7% of the combined Oklahoma and Indian territories and 5% of Tulsa's population. Black farmers owned 1.5 million acres valued at $11 million. But keeping with the United States' longstanding history as a backstabbing bastard when it comes to indigenous and black people, the Dawes Act was a double-edged sword.

The act divided Indian reservations into privately owned plots of land that were given to tribal members appearing to incentivize land ownership. But once those plots were doled out to tribe members, the remaining land was put up for sale to white people. The tribe's collective land was ultimately reduced and the motivation was clear. It was a massive land grab for white settlers.

I'm a University of Oklahoma alumni. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma's mascot is the Boomer Sooner. You know what the Boomer Sooner stands for, Francesca? No, I don't know. I mean, I only know Boomer meaning like people born in the 50s, but I don't I don't know. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, OU, we known as the Sooners. The Sooners are the individuals, the white people that went to go claim native land before the sounding of the cannon. The Boomers are the white people that went to go claim native land after the sounding of the cannon.

The Dawes Act we was talking about, there was also a land grant. You see what I'm saying? That land grant was trying to incentivize white folks to be able to spread from, you feel me, east to the west. And how the government was able to do that and incentivize that is by literally giving away land plots. What they did with the Dawes Act was allow for, you feel me, the government to now say, hey, well, we gave those pieces of land to those members over there, which means this land over here is unoccupied.

unoccupied. We're going to give and we're going to incentivize white families to come settle in this area by giving them literal grants and giving them land and giving them resources to settle the land. The Sooners is literally like colonizing. You know what I'm saying? Like, like when you go to an OU football game, we are boomer Sooner. Like this year at the games. And it's literally a, like a, a, a colonial cry for still in land.

That is so dark. And the fact that it's celebratory, like that's why it's being used, is just like blowing my mind. So while I can't imagine there were better deal offers on the table for Greenwood's founders, you wouldn't be wrong to consider if this deal would be made with the devil.

Which brings us to one of Greenwood's first inhabitants, Lula and John Williams, a black couple with a pipe dream and a baby on the way.

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It's 1905 and John Williams clenches his pregnant wife Lula's swollen hand as she grimaces beside him on the train, probably a kick from the baby. He hopes it's nothing worse. The Williamses were some of the first Black people to move to Tulsa during the land rush, and there are still no Black-serving hospitals in the city. So the couple was forced to take the 250-mile trek from Tulsa to Hot Springs, Arkansas when the baby's due date approached.

They had moved to the promised land because they were sick of this shit. Tulsa was supposed to be a place of new opportunity, but here they are dealing with the same old racism. It's true that they've been able to build a better life. They're the type who can take any opportunity and double the return, and Ottawa has offered Greenwood residents plenty of opportunities. But better is still not good enough. If white Tulsa won't provide basic services for Black people, then Black Tulsa is going to have to do more to provide for themselves.

Lula groans in discomfort and John squeezes her hand again. We're almost there, dear. We're almost there. Next stop, Tulsa. Once Greenwood was founded, it didn't take long for word to spread about the black mecca they were trying to build, even reaching teenagers like 17-year-old Mabel Bonham.

She stands on a Tulsa-bound train, restless. She holds a one-way ticket in her hand and a small trunk in the other. Mabel was born in Spring, Texas. Her biological father died when she was two. Like Ottawa, Mabel's mother was the child of emancipated slaves.

Mabel's maternal grandfather was conceived when his enslaver raped his mother. See, the word on the streets is that when the enslaver died, Mabel's grandfather received a calf from the estate.

Mabel's grandfather had been able to build upon that small inheritance to eventually buy a 500-acre farm. Operating a cotton gin and running both a grocery store and barbershop, he instilled in Mabel the importance of having multiple streams of income. His financial success allowed him to donate the building that eventually became Mabel's school. So as Mabel exits the train to a new home, she has no doubt about what she has to accomplish, regardless of her circumstances.

She just has to keep making smart choices like her grandfather. She loves Texas, but there was no future for her there. It would be much brighter in Greenwood. She read in the paper that money was basically growing on trees for Negroes.

She doesn't know what she'll do for work just yet. Shine shoes? Become a cook? She's always been skilled with hair. She isn't in a rush to decide because the jobs are plentiful in the Greenwood district. It would only be a matter of time anyway before Mabel ends up running her own business, following in her grandfather's footsteps. But first, she'll have to find housing and some food. The only contacts she has here are a pair of her mother's classmates who are now married to each other.

She hopes they'll be able to help her until she gets up on her feet. Anyone who knows Mabel and her ambition would understand it wouldn't take her long.

But from the moment they open the door, it's clear they are not interested in knowing Mabel or her ambitions. The wife will barely admit she even knows Mabel's mother and certainly not well enough to take in her beggar daughter. The husband looks down his nose at a discouraged Mabel, whose excitement is rapidly falling from her face. He and his wife do their best to avoid this kind of person.

To the couple, Mabel is the type who always asks for handouts and can't build anything for themselves. "This is why white folks hate us," he thinks before slamming the door in Mabel's face. A dejected Mabel fights the urge to hang her head. This might be harder than she thought, but it isn't impossible.

Her grandfather taught her that nothing is impossible and nothing will stop her. She'll prove her mother's terribly judgmental classmates wrong. She will show them who can build things. Just wait. Mabel curses to herself as she drags her trunk down from the porch of her mother's former classmates. Shit! She curses even louder as the trunk crashes down the stairs. All the contents spill out into the dirt.

just great. Now she has no housing, food, nor any clean clothes. Really? Could this day get any worse? Mabel angrily collects her things from the ground, still muttering all types of obscenities. As she tries to snap up the last dirty blouse, she realizes it's already in the hand of a beautiful young man with his kind eyes. They stand. He dusts off the blouse before handing it to her. Thank you.

No need to thank me. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. He nods toward the asshole's house. She's embarrassed that he witnessed her humiliation. They ain't about nothing. So everyone here ain't like that? I'd hope not. He smiles and holds out his hand. I'm Presley. Presley Little. I work at the cafe down the street. I was just headed down there actually. There's a boarding house in the way if you need a place to stay. I can get you a discount.

How you gonna do that? Freshly smiles. I'll run the place. Or at least I will. Some people put on an air of confidence to impress, but this doesn't seem like that. It makes Mabel's cheeks hot. How you gonna run the place if I'm running it? Freshly smiles wider. Cheeks getting hotter now too. Well, I guess we just gonna have to run together then, huh?

And just like that, he grabs her trunk and starts rolling it towards the board known, leaving her flustered at how quickly her fortune has changed. It's a thing she'll witness throughout Greenwood many more times. After a moment, Presley notices Mabel hasn't moved and turns back. You coming or not, beautiful? She hurries to catch up with him. Her heart is pounding and it isn't from hurrying. Yeah, she can do this place.

Not too far from Mabel, John Williams cooks dinner for his family. His wife, Lula, is sorting bills at the dining room table with their four-year-old child on the lap. John is beginning to question what it means to do Greenwood. Ever since that trip to Arkansas, John's wanted to quit his job at the ice cream company to start a business that would serve all people.

The neighborhood still needs a good corner store. Why can't the Williamses open one themselves? And an auto shop? John loves cars. He always told Lula that one day he'll buy them one. But Greenwood keeps growing around them, and it appears they're only getting further from being able to take apart their growth. They want to turn Tulsa into a place where no person is turned away because of their race.

Lula puts her head in her hands with a sigh, and John reluctantly accepts that he'll have to kick the conversation down the road again. Maybe if they didn't have a child, they could take a risk like quitting their jobs. But these are the choices they made, weren't they? Lula calls to him. John? John strolls to the kitchen door. Lula's eyes look towards the ground as she speaks. I don't think I can be a teacher anymore. This isn't my dream.

She looks almost afraid to tell him this, but John only smiles. He knows she also dreams of building the welcoming world they never had. That's one of the reasons he married her. I was thinking the same thing. But what about the baby? John walks into the dining room and takes his wife's hand in his. We're in this together, dear. And right then, they share vows for the second time. They will support each other.

Neither one of them will ever be the only one hustling. They will make this work and they'll never give up on their dreams again.

That same year, John quit his job at the Thompson Ice Cream Company and established an auto repair shop, the Williams East End Garage. The shop made a point of welcoming everyone regardless of their race and became known all over Tulsa for its services. Booming business at the shop allowed John to fulfill his dream of buying Greenwood's first car, a Comer's 30-point tonneau.

Known for its 30-horsepower and inclined four-cylinder engine, the Colmers could go up to 50 miles per hour. It included a three-speed manual transmission and leather seats. It would have cost around $1,600 back then or roughly $53,000 today. "Ballin'!" Take a look at this bad boy conscious. "Look what that is right there. Ooh. Nah, that's fancy though. It is fancy though."

Lula also established herself as an entrepreneur, opening up the Williams Confectionary, which sold sweets, drinks, ice cream, and other treats, and became a top hangout spot for teens. Both businesses were early Black Wall Street success stories, making even the richest white neighbors envious.

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That's BlueNile.com. In 1913, Ottawa Gurley feels the heat of that envy as he powers down the street of the white part of Tulsa. He's coming up on the Brady Hotel, a segregated establishment whose owner is a known promoter of Confederates. Ottawa hates being around here.

Even though it's only blocks away from Greenwood, it has a way of reminding him that everything he's done and all that money he's made means jack shit if he crosses the wrong white person. It's a reality that's far too easily forgotten when he's holed up in the little black paradise he's building.

With the help of the visionary entrepreneur like the Williamses, even though these racists had been coming to harass the people of Greenwood more frequently as the word spreads of Ottawa's accomplishments, just recently, a string of Greenwood residents came to him with threatening letters they received, warning of dangerous consequences if the town continued to expand.

Unfortunately, this idea that if you have money, you're going to be protected from racism is one that prevails to this very day. And it's it's one of those things where it's like the wake up call is going to come at some point. You can you can deny it. You might be in a little bubble for a minute, but eventually you have that moment where you're like, oh, right. The money is green, but my ass is still black. Doesn't change anything. Right.

In the famous words of old crazy ass Kanye, even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coupe. This is what Ottawa was learning very, very quickly in the 1920s, 1919. You know what I'm saying? Ottawa only comes his way when his business forces him to. He hates it even more when those businesses means are unfruitful like the one he had today. Some of these businessmen hoping to stake a claim in Greenwood.

Just ain't serious people. But he's good at weeding them out. I'm sorry. A young black woman with perfect hair accidentally bumps into Ottawa as she exits the brain. Ottawa sees her maid's outfit and frowns. He hates losing bright young Negroes to these white establishments that slowly steal their soul and dignity. The woman looks miserable. Until recognition flashes across her face. Then she grins.

You're Ottawa girly! Ottawa smiles back. He's used to being recognized around town, but it never gets old. He apologizes for bumping into and moves to leave, but she stops him. You inspire me. To work for the Brady? For now. Every job doesn't have to last forever. You of all people should know this.

Ottawa laughs. Smart girl. She tells him how she just moved to Greenwood a few months ago, met her husband on the first night, snatched him right up. The husband works at the cafe and has picked up another job shining shoes, a hard worker. But now he's talking about adopting kids so they have to be smart if they want to meet all of their goals. Which are? To build a business empire in your town, Mr. Gurley. Isn't that the kind of thing you're looking for?

It is, actually. And he didn't find it in his unserious business meeting earlier either. But he might just have discovered it now. What's your name, young lady? I'm Mabel. Mabel Little. By 1917, Mabel and Presley had finally saved up enough to buy a three-room shotgun house in Greenwood.

Although it isn't required, Mabel, being an overachiever she was, decides to get a state cosmetology certification and begins operating Little Rose Beauty Salon out of one of the rooms. Presley moves his shoe shine operation into another and the couple lives in the remaining room.

Mabel takes her expertise a step further and helps to find a professional organization to create new guidelines and standards for beauticians. Eventually, she receives a certification from a beauty course ran by Madam C.J. Walker and becomes known as one of the best hairdressers in town. Little Rose becomes a community meetup spot, especially for young women. Business thrives along with the growing town.

Eventually, Mabel has enough money to move the Little Rose to a bigger place, hire a staff of three beauticians, and build a clientele of over 600. Presley helps secure the bag when he opens his own restaurant, known for its smothered steak with rice and brown gravy, The Little Cafe. Their businesses provide for a brand new five-bedroom home, a Model T Ford, and two rental houses, solidifying their status as some of the most prosperous people in town.

They claim this title alongside the Williamses. After the success of Lula's Confectionary and John's Auto Shop, Lula made their most significant investment yet in a lot that would become Dreamland movie theater. The Dreamland is a community fixture by the end of the decade, leading to a Tulsa Star profile referencing Lula as "unquestionably the foremost businesswoman of the state among Negro women."

It's a Thursday night in Greenwood, 1921, which means Greenwood's other foremost businesswoman is managing a packed salon of women gussying up for the weekend. Mabel remembers what it's like to work for white people in Tulsa and created Maid's Night Out, especially for the women in the community who are still in that position. The shop is filled with girls who can finally let their hair down and have it masterfully done back up.

As Mabel snips, perms, and braids, the ladies share stories about how the bosses are increasingly hard on them. Usually, Mabel would dismiss this as the typical work complaints of women about to hit the weekend. White bosses have always been hard on them. But Mabel can't deny that white people have been more hostile lately. It's almost like the more they succeed, the worse it gets. The woman in the chair in front of her says...

I overheard Miss Becky talk about how the Klan membership here is booming. She should know all her brothers in it. They see all this you got here, Mabel. They see you doing ten times better than them and they don't like it. Another responds, Mm-hmm. They want to bring the Red Summer here. For those of you that don't know, the Red Summer refers to the spring and summer of 1919 when a wave of white supremacist terrorism and racial unrest

swept through over 30 cities in the United States. The violence was precipitated by a few things, but historians point to the Great Migration, the Red Scare, and the end of World War I as the main catalysts.

When World War II kicked off, white men were deployed to fight. Industries in the Northeast and Midwest faced labor shortages and began recruiting workers from the South, including Black workers. By 1919, more than 500,000 Blacks had made their way North. This was a major part of the phenomenon called the Great Migration.

This sowed the seeds of resentment among many working class whites, immigrants, and first generation Americans, especially once GIs started coming home. The war boom was followed by a war bust. An economic downturn led to increased competition for jobs and housing. But white folks were also afraid that Black soldiers had seen a little too much freedom overseas and may have gotten a little taste for communism.

President Woodrow Wilson said that the American Negro returning from abroad would be our greatest medium in conveying Bolshevism to America. Fear, anger and racism gave rise to racist assaults against Black people across America, including in major cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C.

But the greatest loss of life took place in the countryside surrounding Elaine, Arkansas, where it is estimated that between 100 and 240 Black people and five white people were killed in what is referred to as the Elaine Massacre. Mabel is overwhelmed with what she's hearing. She throws her scissors down in frustration. They don't like us when we broke. They don't like us when we rich. Which one is it?

Mabel and the patrons of Greenwood would soon find out which situation the white folks preferred. If you like Black History for Real, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

This is episode one of our three-part series, Black Wall Street. We use multiple sources when researching our stories, but the Oklahoma Historical Society and the African American Intellectual History Society and blackpast.org were extremely helpful. A note, our scenes contain reenactments and dramatized details for narrative cohesiveness. Black History for Real is hosted by me, Consciously. And me,

Francesca Ramsey. Black History for Real is a production of Wondery and DCP Entertainment. This episode was written by Hari Ziad. Sound design by Greg Schweitzer. The theme song is by Terrace Martin. For DCP Entertainment, associate producers are Quentin Hill, Brittany Temple, and Chris Colbert. The senior producer is Ryan Woodhull. Executive producers for DCP Entertainment are Adele Coleman and DG Treacy Treese. For Wondery, Lindsay Gomez is the development producer.

The production coordinator is Desi Blaylock. Sophia Martins is our managing producer. Our producer is Matt Gant. Our senior story editor is Phyllis Fletcher. The executive producers for Wondery are Marshall Louie, Erin O'Flaherty, and Candice Manriquez-Wren.

Hey, I'm Mike Corey, the host of Wondery's podcast, Against the Odds. In each episode, we share thrilling true stories of survival, putting you in the shoes of the people who live to tell the tale. In our next season, it's July 6th, 1988, and workers are settling into the night shift aboard Piper Alpha, the world's largest offshore oil rig.

Home to 226 men, the rig is stationed in the stormy North Sea off the coast of Scotland. At around 10 p.m., workers accidentally trigger a gas leak that leads to an explosion and a fire. As they wait to be rescued, the workers soon realize that Piper Alpha has transformed into a death trap. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or the Wondery app.