A. J. Smitherman , editor of the black-owned newspaper , '' Tulsa Star , '' realized that , if a mob could lynch a white man , no black man would be safe if he were jailed . Later , he warned that blacks should take matters into their own hands if another black were arrested . The next year young black man Dick Rowland was arrested on a complaint from a white woman although she did not press charges . '' The Tulsa Tribune '' published inflammatory material about the incident . Aware of the failure of Tulsa police to defend the white Belton against a lynch mob , some in the black community offered to help the sheriff 's deputies defend Rowland when a crowd gathered outside the courthouse . The Sheriff said they did not need assistance . Hours later an armed confrontation took place outside the courthouse , and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 broke out . Mobs of whites attacked the black community of Greenwood , injuring and killing hundreds of people , and burning tens of blocks to the ground , in the most destructive race riot in United States history
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
Tulsa race riot
Roy Belton