Tulsa race massacre survivors back in court April 2nd

Terré Gables/KFOR
·1 min read

TULSA, Okla. (KFOR) – The last two survivors of the 1921 Race Massacre are set to make a appearance at the State Capitol.

FILE - Tulsa Race Massacre survivor Viola Ford Fletcher, left, is joined by her younger brother, Hughes Van Ellis, during an interview with The Associated Press, June 16, 2023, in New York. Van Ellis, who was the youngest known survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre and who spent his latter years pursuing justice for his family and other descendants of the attack on “Black Wall Street,” died on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. He was 102. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

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Mother Lessie Benningfield Randle and Mother Viola Ford Fletchers, both age 109, are set to attend the final court battle in their quest for relief after the Greenwood District was mobbed and left many black families displaced and wounded.

Both survivors are looking to petition the courts for reparations at the State Capitol April 2. Previously, an Oklahoma judge has dismissed eight plaintiffs and two entities from a lawsuit seeking reparations for survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The order, signed by Tulsa County District Judge Caroline Wall, allows the three known massacre survivors, Randle, Fletchers and 101 year old Hughes Van Ellis, Sr., to continue seeking reparations under the state nuisance laws

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