New York, NY—-Viola Ford Fletcher, widely known as “Mother Fletcher,” was one of the last living eyewitnesses to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and devoted her later years to making sure the violence in Greenwood would never be forgotten. She died at age 111 in a Tulsa hospital, with loved ones at her side, after a long life that included raising three children, working in a World War II shipyard, and spending decades in domestic work.
Childhood in Greenwood and the massacre
Fletcher was born on May 10, 1914, and grew up in Greenwood, the prosperous Black community in Tulsa that would later be called “Black Wall Street.” As a 7‑year‑old, she witnessed white mobs descend on her neighborhood, killing hundreds of Black residents and leveling more than 30 blocks of homes and businesses. Her family fled through smoke and chaos, losing their house, possessions, and financial security, eventually living in a tent and working as sharecroppers while her schooling ended after the fourth grade.
Years of silence and later activism
For most of her life, Fletcher rarely spoke publicly about the massacre, fearful of retaliation and the consequences of challenging entrenched power. In her later years, however, she began sharing her story, co‑authoring a memoir, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story,” and describing scenes of bodies in the streets, burning buildings, and a white gunman shooting a Black man in front of her as her family tried to escape. She told relatives that speaking out and seeing people respond to her testimony was healing, even though it meant reliving traumatic memories.
Fight for justice and reparations
Fletcher became a central figure in efforts to secure justice and reparations for massacre survivors and their descendants. In 2021, she testified before Congress about what she endured as a child and later joined a lawsuit with her brother, Hughes Van Ellis, and fellow survivor Lessie Benningfield Randle, seeking compensation and accountability from local authorities. The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2024, ruling that their claims did not fit within the state’s public nuisance law, even as federal reviews acknowledged the scale of the massacre and concluded there was no longer any path to criminal prosecution.
Life, work, and legacy
After being forced from Greenwood, Fletcher eventually returned to Tulsa as a teenager, finding work cleaning and dressing department‑store windows before marrying Robert Fletcher and moving to California, where she became a welder in a World War II shipyard. She later left her abusive husband, raised her son, returned to Oklahoma to be closer to family, and had two more children while working for decades as a housekeeper, continuing to labor into her mid‑80s. In her final years back in Tulsa, she hoped that living once again in the city that had taken so much from her would strengthen her ongoing push for recognition, reparations, and an honest telling of history.
Why Black Independent media access matters
Fletcher died without receiving meaningful reparations from the city or state, even as officials spoke publicly about the tragedy and explored limited forms of support for descendants. That gap between acknowledgment and real accountability shows why Black independent publications must continue to gain access to major events, civic spaces, sporting events, and decision‑makers: to ask the difficult questions others avoid, to center elders and survivors like Mother Fletcher, and to tell stories in ways that resonate with communities who see themselves in her experience.
Again, that is why it is important that Black independent publications keep getting access to these events—so we can tell these stories fully and honestly, and so people who look like us can see their lives, their pain, and their resilience reflected in the coverage.
