America is the land of opportunity, founded on the principal that all men are created equal. But recent events throughout the country, across our state and in the City of Tulsa serve to remind us of the extreme racial, cultural and political divisions that impede this nation’s fulfillment of equality and opportunity for all. Transcending those divisions requires courage, leadership, and an unflinchingly honest understanding and acknowledgement of our past.

In 2021, we will observe the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre – the deadliest and most destructive massacre in our country’s history. I invite you to explore the links on this website to view historical documents, eyewitness accounts and more as we seek to ensure that neither this tragedy nor the lessons learned from it are never forgotten.

It takes courage to be transparent about our history, including both famous and infamous events. We must address and discuss the facts as they have happened so we can ultimately stand together across racial, geographical, political and cultural lines. The call for unity can facilitate education and enable greater understanding for future relations among competing and complementary interests. Therefore, in partnership with federal, state, county, city and private support, we have assembled a group of stakeholders to create the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission.

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission will leverage the history surrounding the events of nearly 100 years ago by developing programs, projects, events and activities to commemorate and inform. We will remember the victims and survivors, and create an environment conducive to fostering sustainable entrepreneurship and heritage tourism within the Greenwood District specifically, and North Tulsa.

We will lead and be examples of “the best of who we are,” and we will “be the change we want to see,” and display that to the world through the efforts of this Commission. By 2021, we will have a world-class display along with systems and programs that will turn this tragic moment in our history into a future where Tulsa Triumphs.

We invite you to join us in our planning and implementation efforts.

Senator Kevin L Matthews, District 11
Commission Chair

Senator Kevin Matthews

Commission Chair
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission

Senator Kevin L. attended Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma from 1978-1981, where he pledged Phi Beta Sigma. He later earned a degree in Fire Protection Technology while serving 25 years on the Tulsa Fire Department. He retired in January 2010 as the Administrative Fire Chief (Chief of Personnel) of a 694-person Fire Department, with budget responsibility of approximately $52 million dollars. 

During his career as a Chief Officer, he completed the four-year Middle Management Curriculum at the National Fire Academy, and the five-year Executive Development Institute at Dillard University. In 2013, Matthews was one of two persons in the Oklahoma Legislature selected to attend the Darden School of business "Emerging Leaders" program at the University of Virginia and was a 2015 graduate of Leadership Oklahoma.

Senator Matthews has owned a number of businesses, as well as multiple interests in real estate and wholesale retail ventures, most of which are located in the North Tulsa and Greenwood area. Matthews is passionate about seeing the North Tulsa community as the prosperous and successful community it once was.

Phil Armstrong

Project Director
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission

A native of Ohio, Phil Armstrong has made Tulsa his home for more than 20 years. Armstrong has a varied background in the corporate sector and as an entrepreneur in the restaurant business and has been actively engaged in the community by serving on several non-profit boards, including the Barthelmes School for Music, Community Service Council, Reading Partners of Tulsa, and as chairman of the board for the Greenwood Cultural Center.

Armstrong holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Akron.

Phil will work with the Commission, its subcommittees, and key Greenwood District organizations to execute plans for the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.