Summary
Mann, of Stanton Heights, can trace her mother's family's lineage back to her great-grandfather John Calhoun Byars, who was born a slave. But her lawsuit is linked to her great-uncle Herbert "Bud" Byars, whose tailoring shop was burned down in the Tulsa race riots of 1921. At least 300 were killed and over 1,200 properties demolished; Byars' shop was just one of those burned out of existence in the all-black, professional-class Greenwood district of Tulsa, known popularly as "Little Africa," the "Negro Quarter" and "the Negro's Wall Street."
A Tulsa World headline read later "Grand Jury Blames Negroes for Inciting Race Rioting: Whites Clearly Exonerated." The Tulsa Tribune newspaper wrote: "Such a district as the old 'Niggertown' must never be allowed in Tulsa again. ... In this old 'Niggertown' were a lot of bad niggers. ... Well, the bad niggers started it.""The key thing is disclosure; it puts the info out," says Ron Johnson, political action chair for Philly's chapter of NCOBRA. If enough "cities pass these bills that require companies to disclose if their profits came from participation in slavery," he says, "at some point these corporations will go to the U.S. government and say they sanctioned it, so they're gonna have to clean it up."See the full content of this document
Extract
Cold Case
A CHILLING TALE OF TULSA RACE RIOTS REACHES ALL THE WAY TO PITTSBURGH -- AND MAY CHANGE THE WAY THE COUNTRY APPROACHES RACE RELATIONS
Contrary to popular reporting, the Michael Jackson trial is not the most important court case concerning black Americans today. The trial that is concerns an African American who, like Jackson, grew up in Gary, Indiana. Her name is Carolyn Mann.The lawsuit involving her ancestors, the Byars family, could potentially impact every other African American who can trace his or her ancestry back to a time when blacks were enslaved, lynched or had their communities torched, crimes that were still recorded a half-century after the Emancipation Proclamation.Mann, of Stanton Heights, can trace her mother's family's lineage back to her great-grandfather John Calhoun Byars, who was born a slave. But her lawsuit is linked to her great-uncle Herbert "Bud" Byars, whose ...See the full content of this document
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