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Deep Greenwood Foundation asks commission to back descendant certification and preservation; commissioners discuss protecting massacre-era trees and markers
Summary
Janetta Smith Williams of the Deep Greenwood Foundation told the Beyond Apology Commission that her group is certifying descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, seeking funding and technical help to preserve four historic Greenwood buildings, and planning a descendants'reunion on June 1.
Janetta Smith Williams, representing the Deep Greenwood Foundation and identifying herself as a descendant of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, told the Beyond Apology Commission that her organization is focused on certifying direct descendants and preserving physical sites tied to the massacre.
"Our motto is ‘nothing about us without us,'" Williams said, urging the commission to coordinate efforts with other local groups that address the massacre and its surviving descendants.
What the foundation is seeking: Williams described a certification process for descendants similar to processes used in other historical reparations efforts (Holocaust, Rosewood) and said Deep Greenwood is working with the Greenwood Cultural Center and genealogists to collect documentation. She said certification will prioritize bloodline descendants (children and grandchildren) and that the group has identified more than 280 potential descendants nationally.
Williams said the foundation's restitution focus is on preserving four buildings in Greenwood tied to the 1921 events and on helping those structures with repairs such as sprinkler systems and elevators. She said funding today comes from private donors and grant applications are pending. The foundation is planning a descendants'family reunion on June 1 from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. at the Mabel B. Little House, 121 N. Greenwood.
Commission discussion and preservation concerns: Commissioners raised the recent discovery that a large historic tree linked to massacre-era memory had been cut down and that two tombstones (for Ed Locker and Reuben Everett) were missing. The chair and commissioners discussed cataloging and municipal recognition for historically significant trees and markers so that public-record changes or removals would require notification and permits.
A commission member read a note from a collaborator who explained that trees do not heal but "seal" wounds and that old trees can contain decay yet remain historically significant. Commissioners proposed building a catalog of massacre-era trees and seeking municipal or local designations that would require reporting before removal. The chair suggested partnering with preservation partners and researchers (National Geographic and others) who are documenting surviving trees and oral histories.
Why it matters: Descendant certification and site preservation bear directly on reparations, restitution planning and the community's ability to protect and interpret Greenwood's physical heritage. June 1 was repeatedly referenced as a focal date for community events and city-level commemoration.
No formal vote or ordinance was taken during the public comment segment; Williams said the Deep Greenwood Foundation will share a written restitution plan with the commission for review and potential collaboration.
