Viola Fletcher: Oldest Known Survivor of The Tulsa Race Massacre (1914- )
Who Is Viola Fletcher?
Viola Ford Fletcher is known today as the oldest known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. She was born on May 5, 1914 to parents, Lucinda Ellis and John Wesley Ford, in the small town of Comanche, Oklahoma. Viola is the second oldest of eight children. She had three sisters and four brothers. She has one living brother, Hugh Van Ellis who is also a centenarian.
Growing up, Viola and her family would travel to different cities where her parents worked as sharecroppers. Viola and her siblings would often help with the farming duties. In an interview with Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma Oral History Research Program,Viola recalls her parents having their own horses, cows and chickens. She attended church regularly with her family. The house she and her family lived in had no electricity. They used lamps for light and heated the home using a wood burning stove.
In 1932, Viola met and married Robert Fletcher. They had three children, two boys and one girl. Viola and her husband both traveled by car from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, CA to work in the shipyards during World War II. Viola took a job as a welder’s assistant helping lay steel to build ships used to carry fuel. She was required to complete a six week class to learn the skills needed to complete the job. In an interview with Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, she likened the art of welding to using a sewing machine. She worked for two and a half years until the war was over, then returned to Bartlesville, Oklahoma with her husband where she raised her family.
Viola worked as a house cleaner until she was 85 years old.
Leaving Greenwood And What She Remembers About the Massacre
As a young girl, Viola and her family left Comanche for Greenwood, a once prosperous black community in Tulsa, OK known as Black Wall Street. In various interviews, Viola recalls Greenwood as, “having everything you needed in a neighborhood.” She mentions the community having churches, parks, playgrounds, stores and other establishments needed in a community.
On May 31, 1921, Viola and her siblings were put to bed for the night. A few hours later, they were awakened by their parents and rushed outside to their horse drawn wagon to flee the violence and destruction we all know as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Viola recalls seeing people running and hearing screams and gunshots. She remembers the smell of smoke, seeing airplanes flying overhead and a person running through the neighborhood telling people to leave town because they, the White Mob, were killing all of the black people. They left the town and traveled to the nearby city of Claremore, OK. Viola was only around seven years old at the time of this horrific event.
How the Race Massacre Has Affected Her Life
Viola witnessed most of the violence and horror the night of the genesis of the race massacre. The trauma from those events remains with her today. Being forced to leave her home, Viola never finished school and hence lost her chance at receiving a quality education. Viola only reached the fourth grade.
During an interview with the Today Show, Viola stated that even today, she still gets a nervous feeling when remembering the events that took place. “ I hardly sleep nights, and it looks like I lost my appetite. I only eat a few times. It’s just always, it don’t ever leave my mind. Not mine. That’s something I’ve been thinking about for the last 100 years.”
Viola also mentioned in the interview that after witnessing the events that took place during the massacre, she became fearful of interacting with white people. She believes that if people are brave enough to commit such an atrocity once, they will do it again.
Her Fight For Reparations
On May 18, 2021, Viola visited Washington D.C. for the first time in her life, along with her younger brother, Hughes Van Ellis and another survivor, Lessie Benningfield Randle, seeking justice and acknowledgement for the most brutal race massacre to occur in the United States. Viola and the other survivors are lead plaintiffs in a reparations lawsuit filed against the city of Tulsa, Tulsa County, the state of Oklahoma and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce.
They all testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee giving their accounts of what happened that night and explaining why the survivors of the massacre and their descendants deserve reparations.
Viola believes the city should compensate her and everyone injured during that time. On the contrary, Tulsa’s mayor, G. T. Bynum is opposed to any form of compensation, stating today’s taxpayers should not pay for yesterday’s crimes. For Viola, reparations look like opportunities and money. She stated in an interview that had it not been for the massacre, she could have received a better education and secured a job that paid a higher salary.
Viola’s Vision For Greenwood
During multiple interviews, Viola mentioned wishing that Greenwood would be the way it once was 100 years ago before the massacre. She also believes the massacre needs to be publicized more in books and on television and well as observed annually so more people can learn about what happened to one of the most affluent black towns in America.
Advice For Aging Gracefully
At the time of this writing, Viola is 108 years old. Not many people live to achieve such a milestone. In a 2014 oral history interview with Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, Viola gave her secret to good health and longevity which were, “eating, sleeping and exercise”. These are the things she believes have contributed to her longevity and vitality.
Interesting Fact: As of the writing of this article, Viola has lived through two pandemics, the 1919 Flu Pandemic and the 2020 COVID Pandemic.
