Black History fact

Terry Corothers · 2023-02-23T16:56:44.377Z

• Ottawa W. Gurley was a Black educator, entrepreneur, and landowner who was born to former enslaved Africans. • At the beginning of the 20th century, he bought 40 acres of land in Tulsa, Okla. • Gurley forged a partnership with Black businessman John the Baptist Stradford, and the two developed an all-Black district in Tulsa, which became known as Greenwood. • When hundreds of African Americans moved to Greenwood for the oil boom, the two became increasingly wealthy. • Greenwood’s prosperity became legendary in Black America, with Booker T. Washington dubbing it "Black Wall Street." • After O.W. built several square two-story brick boardinghouses near his grocery store, he called the street on which these structures sat Greenwood Avenue, after the Mississippi town from which many of his early residents hailed. Before long, the entire area became known as Greenwood, which soon became the site for a school and an African Methodist Episcopal Church. But O.W.’s crowning project was the Gurley Hotel, whose high quality rivaled that of the finest White hotels in the state.

Ottawa W. Gurley was a Black educator, entrepreneur, and landowner who was born to former enslaved Africans.
At the beginning of the 20th century, he bought 40 acres of land in Tulsa, Okla.
Gurley forged a partnership with Black businessman John the Baptist Stradford, and the two developed an all-Black district in Tulsa, which became known as Greenwood.
When hundreds of African Americans moved to Greenwood for the oil boom, the two became increasingly wealthy.
Greenwood’s prosperity became legendary in Black America, with Booker T. Washington dubbing it "Black Wall Street."
After O.W. built several square two-story brick boardinghouses near his grocery store, he called the street on which these structures sat Greenwood Avenue, after the Mississippi town from which many of his early residents hailed. Before long, the entire area became known as Greenwood, which soon became the site for a school and an African Methodist Episcopal Church. But O.W.’s crowning project was the Gurley Hotel, whose high quality rivaled that of the finest White hotels in the state.