Dick Rowland or Roland (aka "Diamond Dick Rowland", born c. 1902 — 1960s?) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

teenage

shoeshiner Shoeshiner or boot polisher is an occupation in which a person cleans and buffs shoes and then applies a waxy paste to give a shiny appearance and a protective coating. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job was traditionally d ...

whose arrest for assault in May 1921 was the impetus for the

Tulsa race massacre The Tulsa race massacre, also known as the Tulsa race riot or the Black Wall Street massacre, was a two-day-long massacre that took place between May 31 – June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom had been appointed as deput ...

. Rowland was 19 years old at the time. The alleged victim of the assault was a white, 17-year-old, elevator operator Sarah Page. She had declined to prosecute. According to conflicting reports, the arrest was prompted after Rowland tripped in Page's elevator on his way to a segregated bathroom, and a white store clerk reported the incident as an "assault" or a rape.

Early life

Rowland's birth name was Jimmie Jones. It is not known where he was born, but by 1908 he and two sisters were orphans living in

Vinita, Oklahoma Vinita is a city and county seat of Craig County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,743, a decline of 11.22 percent from the figure of 6,469 recorded in 2000. History Vinita was founded in 1870 by Elias Corn ...

. Jones was informally adopted by Damie Ford, an African-American woman. In approximately 1909 Ford and Jones moved to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, to join Ford's family, the Rolands. Eventually, Jones took Roland as his last name, which was later reported as "Rowland." He selected his favorite first name, Dick, as his own. Rowland attended the city's segregated schools, including Booker T. Washington High School. He dropped out of high school to take a job shining shoes in a white-owned and white-patronized shine parlor on Main Street in downtown Tulsa. As Tulsa was a segregated city where

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

practices were in effect, black people were not allowed to use toilet facilities used by white people. There was no separate facility for blacks at the shine parlor where Rowland worked and the owner had arranged for black employees to use a segregated "

Colored ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow, Jim Crow Era to refer to an African Americans, African American. In many places, it may be considered a Pejorative, slur, though it ...

" restroom on the top floor of the nearby Drexel Building at 319 S. Main Street.

Arrest and violent disturbances

Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator

On May 30, 1921, Rowland attempted to enter the Drexel Building elevator. Although the exact facts are in dispute, according to the most accepted accounts, he tripped and, trying to save himself from falling, grabbed the first thing he could, which happened to be the arm of the elevator operator, Sarah Page. Startled, Page screamed, and a white clerk in a first-floor store called police to report seeing Rowland flee from the elevator. The white clerk on the first floor reported the incident as an attempted

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

. Rowland was arrested the following day, on May 31, 1921, though the local police and prosecutors believed him innocent and planned to not charge him. With the headline "Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator" that day's issue of the ''

Tulsa Tribune The ''Tulsa Tribune'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1919 to 1992. Owned and run by three generations of the Jones family, the ''Tribune'' closed in 1992 after the termination of its joint operating agreement w ...

'' newspaper claimed Rowland had attacked Page and had torn her clothes. A subsequent gathering of angry local

whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as " ...

outside the courthouse where Rowland was being held, and the spread of rumors that he had been

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

, alarmed the local

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

population, some of whom arrived at the courthouse armed. Shots were fired, and twelve people were killed; ten white and two black. The black shooters fled into Greenwood and but their shooting at white people caused a riot that lasted 16 hours, during which time a white mob started fires and airplanes allegedly dropped firebombs. The destruction included 35 city blocks burned down and 1,256 residences in Tulsa's prosperous

African American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American ...

of Greenwood destroyed, resulting in over 800 injuries and 37 confirmed dead – 25 black and 12 white. Later accounts have suggested the number of deaths were under-recorded, and the actual death toll was at least 150. The case against Dick Rowland was dismissed in September 1921. The dismissal followed the receipt of a letter by the County Attorney from Sarah Page, in which she stated that she did not wish to prosecute the case.

Subsequent developments

Most historians agree that Rowland escaped Tulsa after the massacre. Several reports say that Tulsa Sheriff Willard McCullough took Rowland to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, although he may have secretly returned to Tulsa in the fall of 1921. Rowland may have been killed in a

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

explosion in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in the 1960s, although his name does not appear on the list of people killed in the explosion.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Dick 1900s births 1960s deaths Year of birth uncertain People from Tulsa, Oklahoma Lynching survivors in the United States Racially motivated violence against African Americans Shoeshiners History of civil rights in the United States African-American history of Oklahoma History of racial segregation in the United States History of racism in Oklahoma Crimes in Oklahoma Tulsa race massacre