News

The 109-year-old doesn’t sleep well at night. The atrocities and terrors of May 31-June 1, 1921, still seem as though they will engulf Viola Ford Fletcher, like the flames that burned down her home and others during the Tulsa Race Massacre on Black Wall Street in the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Okla. 

Fletcher, also widely known as “Mother” Fletcher, spent the day on Tuesday, March 19 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville talking to audiences and promoting her book, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre In Her Own Words.” 

Mother Fletcher was accompanied by her eldest grandson and co-author Ike Howard and Jana “J.P.” Haynes. Haynes is co-writer with Mother Fletcher and Howard on “Black Wall Street the Musical.” Haynes is also writer and director of “Selma the Musical: The Untold Stories.” 

While it has consistently been reported that as many as 300 people died in the massacre, Howard maintains that it was more than 3,000. 

“I remember seeing how cruel they were,” said Mother Fletcher. “They burned houses, buildings and everything on the street. Families were told to get out of town, if they didn’t, they would be killed. I remember seeing people falling from being shot and killed. It was just terrible.” 

“I was with my family of a mother, father and six children,” continued Mother Fletcher. “Of course, we escaped, because they were killing all the Black people. None of us were injured. We got out of town safely.” 

But Howard spoke up to say his grandmother was harmed, because she has post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. 

“Mother Fletcher had to put her mother in a nursing home,” said Howard, “because her mother would wake up at night, yelling, ‘The house is burning. They come to burn down the house. We need to get out now!’” 

When asked if she sleeps at night, Mother Fletcher responded, “All of that has stayed with me, so I can only sleep half of the early part of the night.” 

“Mother Fletcher doesn’t sleep at night,” interjected her grandson. “When she does sleep, she speaks to the ancestors. When I’m in my room, I can hear her talking and having nightmares, and I wake her up. And sometimes she cries in her sleep.”

In discussing the horrific event further, the subject of reparations was introduced. Mother Fletcher was one of three survivors who appeared at a hearing on May 19, 2021, marking the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. A 107-year-old Mother Fletcher appeared in person with her then 100-year-old brother Hughes Van Ellis. Appearing remotely was Lessie Benningfield Randle. 

“Why sure,” was Mother Fletcher’s response when asked if she believed Blacks were due restitution. “People lost everything in the massacre. And most of the Black people back then didn’t have an education. It was a big setback for us.” Mother Fletcher completed the fourth grade. 

“I need a house, money, food,” enumerated Mother Fletcher. “I live with my grandson, and I tell him I’m homeless. With reparations, I wouldn’t have to say that.” 

Mother Fletcher, whose birthday is May 5, 1914, currently lives in Tulsa but goes back to the revitalized Greenwood area often. 

“When I go back to Greenwood, I still have a fear,” confessed Mother Fletcher. “I don’t think it would happen in the same way, but you never know. There is still some prejudice there for people of color.” 

“We’ve been asked numerous of times if my grandmother hates white people,” offered Howard. “She doesn’t hate white people, but she doesn’t trust white people. Blacks need reparations. They need to be made whole. She needs to be made whole.” 

“There is a lawsuit that is on the verge of going to the Supreme Court for a public nuisance case that was brought forth by the law firm and associates out of New York and Oklahoma,” Howard went on. “On April 2, the Supreme Court has the chance to do the right thing and reinstate the case because it was dismissed.” 

“After experiencing that kind of race-based trauma, what is the journey to healing?” asked SIUE student Aisha Cain, a junior majoring in integrated business administration and applied communications, during a session for student questions. 

“My grandmother hasn’t recovered,” said Howard. “She still needs to be made whole. Generational trauma is real, and I got a chance to see it in real time until now. And I am 57. I’ve watched it manifest itself throughout our family. We’re still seeking justice from organized chaos.” 

“However, we know a lot of good white people,” Howard continued. “We need advocates of all races, creeds and colors to say, ‘That wasn’t right. They need to be made whole.' It just can’t be a Black voice. It needs to be one voice.” 

“The reason I invited Mother Fletcher, Ike and J.P. to the SIUE campus is because I recognize the power of the Black narrative,” said Simone Williams, diversity and engagement librarian at Lovejoy Library and assistant professor, who coordinated the event. The evening presentation included a four-person performance of Haynes’ “Selma the Musical.” 

“Storytelling gives a voice to those who have been marginalized and oppressed for hundreds of years and provides a platform for Black people to shape the narrative of their own history, in both the written form and song,” added Williams. “This is especially important in a world where Black voices have historically been excluded from mainstream books and media and are considered negligible.” 

“As Black Americans, we seek stories that bind us and show that we existed, we exist and that we will continue to exist,” she emphasized. “We need stories to show that we mattered, we matter, and we will continue to matter. I recognized that Viola Ford Fletcher is significant, and her story is significant.” 

What is Mother Fletcher’s secret to long life? The author and co-author agree that it causes more damage to a person to hate. 

“You forgive, but you don’t forget,” said Howard. 

For other information about the work of Mother Fletcher, visit the Viola Ford Foundation. 

The SIUE program was made possible with support from the College of Arts and Sciences Arts and Issues, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Department of Theater and Dance, and the Lovejoy Library.   

Photos:
Viola “Mother” Ford Fletcher, 109-year-old survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, visited SIUE on March 19 to tell her story and promote her book, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre In Her Own Words.” 

(L-R): Visiting with Mother Fletcher were her grandson and co-author Ike Howard (center) and Jana “J.P.” Haynes (right), co-writer with Mother Fletcher and Howard on the “Black Wall Street the Musical.”