Gurley, O.W. (Ottawa W.)
1868-1935 · Contribution: 1905-1921
Founded the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as 'Black Wall Street'
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Purchased land in Tulsa to develop into a self-sustaining Black business district, building it into one of the most prosperous Black communities in American history with over 300 Black-owned businesses before it was destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the deadliest single act of racial violence in U.S. history.
Life & background
Born to formerly enslaved parents in Alabama and raised in Arkansas, Gurley worked as a teacher and postal worker before relocating to the oil boomtown of Tulsa in 1905, where he purchased land intended to be sold only to Black buyers. He built a rooming house, multiple commercial buildings, and provided loans to help other Black entrepreneurs start businesses, growing his personal net worth to between $500,000 and $1 million by 1921 and helping the Greenwood district earn the nickname 'Black Wall Street.' He lost the bulk of his fortune when white mobs destroyed Greenwood during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, after which he relocated to Los Angeles.
Sources
- HISTORY.com (9 Entrepreneurs Who Helped Build Tulsa's Black Wall Street); Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
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