The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, who were seeking financial restitution for one of the worst acts of violence against African Americans in U.S. history. This massacre left up to 300 people dead and devastated a once-thriving Black district.
The nine-member court upheld a lower court’s decision, ruling that the plaintiffs’ grievances over the destruction of the Greenwood district did not fall within the state’s public nuisance statute.
The court stated, “Plaintiffs do not point to any physical injury to property in Greenwood rendering it uninhabitable that could be resolved by way of injunction or other civil remedy. Today, we hold that relief is not possible under any set of facts that could be established to be consistent with the plaintiff’s allegations.”
In response to the ruling, the city issued a statement acknowledging the court’s decision and reaffirming its commitment to supporting the North Tulsa and Greenwood communities.
The lawsuit aimed to compel Tulsa and other entities to compensate for the destruction caused by a white mob in 1921. On May 31 and June 1 of that year, the mob, including some hastily deputized individuals, looted and burned the district known as Black Wall Street. Up to 300 Black residents were killed, and thousands were temporarily interned in camps overseen by the National Guard. Today, little remains of the historic 30-block district aside from burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement.
Two survivors of the massacre, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, both over 100 years old, filed the lawsuit in 2020 seeking what their attorney termed “justice in their lifetime.” A third plaintiff, Hughes Van Ellis, passed away last year at the age of 102.
The court also found that the plaintiffs’ allegations did not sufficiently support a claim for unjust enrichment, typically reserved for contractual disputes.
Other defendants included the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Tulsa County Commissioners, the Tulsa County Sheriff, and the Oklahoma Military Department.
The lawsuit argued under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law that the actions of the white mob continue to impact Tulsa today, contributing to persistent racial and economic disparities. It sought a detailed accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen during the massacre, the construction of a hospital in North Tulsa, and the creation of a victims’ compensation fund.
Public nuisance claims generally address local issues such as blighted homes, illegal drug activities, or dangerous animals. This legal approach was notably employed in the 1990s in lawsuits against tobacco companies and, more recently, against opioid manufacturers, often leading to settlements.
In 2019, Oklahoma’s attorney general used the public nuisance law to secure a $465 million judgment against opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, a decision the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned two years later.