78 minutes
Source: Out of print
One day in 1921, a young black man, Dick Rowland, stumbled while entering the elevator of a Tulsa, Oklahoma building, accidentally bumping a white female elevator operator. Her startled cries – and the assumption that she had been assaulted – led to the young man’s arrest. Later, a white lynch mob gathered at the jail where Rowland was held – as did a small group of African Americans determined to protect him. A shot rang out, and pandemonium ensued. By the time the dust had settled two days later, more than 300 people were dead and an entire community had been burned to the ground.
