Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols signed an executive order Sunday designating June 1 as “Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day,” an official city holiday.
According to a statement, the occasion will be a time for "residents, schools, businesses, and community organizations to participate in appropriate observances, activities, and discussions that reflect the significance of the day.”
“This day of observance will be not just a remembrance of what happened, but about the bright future ahead of us,” Nichols said via a video message.
Advocates for the last two living Massacre survivors requested that the city begin observing an official holiday on June 1 as part of an ambitious reparations program, of which Nichols said he planned to implement “significant elements.”
In addition to the holiday designation, Nichols plans to present at a north Tulsa church next month a “complete framework and path forward” for addressing the Massacre.
The city has moved to more aggressively tackle the legacy of the two days of slaughter in 1921, which may have killed as many as 300 people in Tulsa’s predominately Black neighborhood of Greenwood.
Last month, a city commission recommended allocating nearly $25 million to go toward housing for Massacre survivors, descendants and other residents of north Tulsa.
