Tulsa Massacre: Nigeria High Commission in Ghana hails visit of iconic figures

Mrs. Esther A. Arewa, a Minister at the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana says the visit of iconic centenarians, Viola Floyd Fletcher and her brother, Hughes Van Ellis, also known as "Uncle Red" shows the respect Africans in Diaspora have for their roots.

She made the statement in an interview with MyNigeria.com journalist, Novieku Babatunde Adeola after the Igbo King in Ghana's capital Accra hosted the two known living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

According to her, their historic visit shows the long-standing desire for blacks in the diaspora to know where they are from and to reconnect with their people.

"I see a general longing of Africans in the diaspora to connect with their roots, especially those that the forefathers were taken out of the continent many years ago, and found themselves in continents that are not the same as Africa," Mrs Arewa said.

"I see in them a longing, a desire, to know where they come from, and to be reconnected, Because in their own place, they will be highly welcomed and also celebrated, and accepted for who they are," she added.

Mrs. Fletcher’s name will be prefixed with the title, Ebube Ndi Igbo, meaning the glory of Igbos, while Hughes Van Ellis Uncle Red will be known with the title, Ikeoha Ndi Igbo, meaning the strength of the Igbos after they were ordained as chiefts.

Present at the event were chiefs from the Igbo and Yoruba communities in Ghana.

What you should know about the Tulsa Race Masaccre

People.com reports that there are just three known survivors left of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — but between them, they've now had 300 years total to reflect on the horrors and trauma that the infamous night wrought upon them.

Though the massacre, which historians believe may have killed as many as 300 people, has not received nearly as much attention as other historical events in the U.S., it was a devastating turning point for Tulsa, specifically the city's Greenwood District, which was often called "Black Wall Street" for its affluent African-American business district.

Born in 1914, Fletcher was only seven years old when white mobs descended on the thriving Black community in Tulsa’s Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street, in 1921, burning it to the ground, Thehill.com reported at a recent hearing after taking legal actions against the city and Oklahoma in seeking reparations over the attack.

Fletcher said when her family left Tulsa, she lost her chance to get an education and “never finished school past the fourth grade.”

Hughes Van Ellis, known as "Uncle Red," who testified alongside his sister is a World War II veteran who served in an all-Black unit of the Army in the China Burma India Theater.

"Because of the massacre, my family was driven out of our home. We were left with nothing. We were laid refugees in our own country. My childhood was hard and we didn't have much. We worried that the little we had would be stolen from us just like it was stolen in Tulsa," he said at the hearing.

Watch videos from the event