Tulsa aftermath – Jun 1, 1921

As young children, the three centenarians faced white mobs who killed hundreds of African Americans in the city of Tulsa in Oklahoma in 1921.

On May 31 that year, gangs, assisted by the authorities, descended on the community of Greenwood, which was a prosperous African-American neighbourhood, dubbed ‘Black Wall Street’.

They shot people indiscriminately and burnt more than 1,200 homes to the ground as well as businesses, schools and even a hospital. The survivors were rounded up and put in internment camps.

Now, more than a century later, a judge has ruled that a case brought by three people who are still alive has been given permission to proceed to discovery.

The survivors are: Lessie Benningfield Randle, 107, Viola Fletcher, 108, and 101 year-old Hughes Van Ellis. The city had attempted to have the public nuisance case dismissed but judge Caroline Wall, of Oklahoma District Court, said that “a private person may maintain an action for a public nuisance if it is especially injurious to himself, but not otherwise”.

Professor Eric Miller, of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said: “This case is essentially 101 years old and even though we filed the public nuisance case just three years ago, for over 101 years, the survivors of the Tulsa race massacre have tried to move forward in court against the city, the county, and the sheriff.”

He added: “This order is the first time that a survivor – in fact, three survivors – have managed to move to the merit stage of holding the city, the county, and the sheriff accountable for the massacre.

“That is significant progress over anything that’s happened over the last 101 years, and I’m just very pleased and proud to be part of a process that has got us this far – finally, to be able to be heard on the merits.”