Dick Rowland or Roland (born Jimmie Jones and Diamond Dick Rowland in news reports, born – –1979?) was an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

teenage

shoeshiner Shoeshiner or boot polisher is an occupation in which a person cleans and buffs shoes and then applies shoe polish, a waxy paste to give a shiny appearance and a protective coating. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job was tr ...

whose arrest for assault in May 1921 was the impetus for the Tulsa race massacre. Rowland was 19 years old at the time. The alleged victim of the assault was a white 21-year-old elevator operator Sarah Page (born July 27, 1899). She later declined to advocate for and/or assist any prosecution after the race riots. According to conflicting reports, the arrest was prompted after Rowland tripped in Page's elevator on his way to a segregated bathroom, and a white store clerk reported the incident as an "assault" or a rape.

Early life

Rowland's birth name was Jimmie Jones. It is not known where he was born, but by 1908, he and two sisters were orphans living in

Vinita, Oklahoma Vinita is a city and county seat of Craig County, Oklahoma, Craig County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 5,193. History Vinita was founded in 1870 by Elias Cornelius Boudinot. In 1 ...

. Jones was informally adopted by Damie Ford, an African American woman. In approximately 1909, Ford and Jones moved to

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, to join Ford's family, the Rolands. Eventually, Jones took Roland as his last name, which was later reported as "Rowland". He selected his favorite first name, Dick, as his own. Rowland attended the city's segregated schools, including Booker T. Washington High School. He dropped out of high school to take a job shining shoes in a white-owned, white-patronized shine parlor on Main Street in downtown Tulsa. As Tulsa was a segregated city where

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

practices were in effect, black people were not allowed to use toilet facilities used by white people. There was no separate facility for blacks at the shine parlor where Rowland worked, and the owner had arranged for black employees to use a segregated "

Colored ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur. Dictionary definitions The word ''colored'' wa ...

" restroom on the top floor of the nearby Drexel Building at 319 S. Main St.

Arrest

Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator

On May 30, 1921, Rowland attempted to enter the Drexel Building elevator. Although the exact facts are in dispute, according to the most accepted accounts, he tripped and, trying to save himself from falling, grabbed the first thing he could, which happened to be the arm of the elevator operator, Sarah Page. Startled, Page screamed, and a white clerk in a first-floor store called police to report seeing Rowland flee from the elevator. The white clerk on the first floor reported the incident as an attempted

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

. Rowland was arrested the following day, though the local police and prosecutors believed him innocent and planned to not charge him. With the headline "Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator", that day's issue of the '' Tulsa Tribune'' newspaper claimed Rowland had attacked Page and had torn her clothes. A subsequent gathering of angry local

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

outside the courthouse where Rowland was being held, and the spread of rumors that he had been lynched, alarmed the local

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

population, some of whom arrived at the courthouse armed. Shots were fired, and 12 people were killed; 10 white and two black. The black shooters fled into Greenwood, but were followed by white people bent on retribution. These white Tulsans began a riot that lasted 16 hours, during which time a white mob started fires and airplanes allegedly dropped firebombs. The destruction included 35 city blocks burned down and 1,256 residences in Tulsa's prosperous African American neighborhood of Greenwood destroyed, resulting in over 800 injuries and 37 confirmed dead — 25 black and 12 white. Later accounts have suggested the number of deaths were under-recorded, and the actual death toll was at least 150. The case against Dick Rowland was dismissed in September 1921. The dismissal followed the receipt of a letter by the County Attorney from Sarah Page, in which she stated that she did not wish to prosecute the case.

Subsequent developments

Most historians agree that Rowland escaped Tulsa after the massacre. Several reports say that Tulsa Sheriff Willard McCullough took Rowland to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, although he may have secretly returned to Tulsa in the fall of 1921. Rowland may have been killed in a

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

explosion in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in the 1960s, although his name does not appear on the list of people killed in the explosion. However, a relative said he died –1979, and some records say in 1967 he and Sarah Page saw each other in Kansas.

Notes

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