‘He died waiting on justice,’ grandnephew says of Ellis, who was an outspoken activist for reparations over the 1921 massacre

One of the last known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 has died, his family has confirmed in a statement.

Hughes Van Ellis died from cancer Monday night at the age of 102, his family said.

He was one of the most outspoken activists for reparations over the massacre and fought for them on behalf of Tulsa’s Black community for decades. But, his grandnephew Ike Howard told CNN: “He died waiting on justice.”

The family’s statement added: “Two days ago, Mr Ellis urged us to keep fighting for justice. In the midst of his death, there remains an undying sense of right and wrong. Mr Ellis was assured we would remain steadfast and we repeated to him, his own words, ‘We are one,’ and we lastly expressed our love.”

The Tulsa race massacre was one of the deadliest cases of racist violence in US history. It began when a white mob stormed an area of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, referred to as “Black Wall Street” because it was one of the wealthiest Black communities in the US at the time.

      • eric@lemmy.world
        24·
        11 months ago

        I grew up in Oklahoma less than an hour from Tulsa and didn’t learn about it until years after I graduated from high school.

        • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          142·
          11 months ago

          I’m from Tulsa and didn’t know until I walked that land in '89. Commented already, can’t say more.

        • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          11 months ago

          Yeah I didn’t learn about this shit until college, it’s definitely something that needs to be more widely recognized.

      • thefartographer@lemm.eeEnglish
        81·
        11 months ago

        Where’s my Land Before Time-esque 1980s children’s movie about the happy black neighbors who get fucking massacred by the end of the movie? I’m not saying we need to emotionally scar future generations, I’m just saying that you’d think there’d be some actually valuable lessons in all the childhood trauma movies my generation consumed. Somehow my generation instead ended up with far more Nazis and white nationalists than I expected.

        • Drusas@kbin.social
          9·
          11 months ago

          No, they didn’t. It’s definitely as important for white children to know about this as it is for black children to know about it.

          • TechyDad@lemmy.world
            4·
            11 months ago

            As the white parent of white children, I agree. If anything, I’d argue that it’s MORE important. Black children will, unfortunately, see plenty of examples of racism in their lives. Meanwhile, it’s easy for white children to not see racism because it doesn’t affect them personally.

            It’s like how I was just arguing with a Christian friend of mine. He’s of the opinion that antisemitism is rare to nonexistent in the US. I told him, as a Jew, that it’s prevalent, growing, and scary. He wrote me off as being hysterical because he doesn’t see it. Well, of course he doesn’t see it. He’s not the one being threatened by the Nazis waving swastika flags.

            It’s important to know where your blind spots are and pay attention to what’s happening there.