TULSA RACE MASSACRE
Believed to be the single worst incident of racial violence in American history, the bloody 1921 Tulsa race riot has continued to haunt Oklahomans to the present day. During the course of eighteen terrible hours on May 31 and June 1, 1921, more than one thousand homes and businesses were destroyed, while credible estimates of riot deaths range from fifty to three hundred. By the time the violence ended, the city had been placed under martial law, thousands of Tulsans were being held under armed guard, and the state's second-largest African American community had been burned to the ground.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/index.html
Howard Barrens (Great Uncle of Ms. Lisa Stafford, John B. Coleman Library, Special Collections Librarian) was a victim of this racial violence. His injury and death is listed in I. Marc Carlson's compilation of information from a newspaper article, "Riot Deaths", Tulsa Daily World, 5 February 2000. This list gives the occupation of Howard Barrens as an elevator operator in the Tulsa, Oklahoma Maye Building.
His death date, 6-1-1921, provided by Find A Grave contributor Russ #48927162
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