Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died

Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old.

Photo: News On 6/KOTV

Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old.

“Today, our city mourns the loss of Mother Viola Fletcher — a survivor of one of the darkest chapters in our city’s history. Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose,” Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said in a statement.

“Mother Fletcher carried 111 years of truth, resilience, and grace and was a reminder of how far we’ve come and how far we must still go,” the statement continued. “She never stopped advocating for justice for the survivors and descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and I hope we all can carry forward her legacy with the courage and conviction she modeled every day of her life.”

Mother Fletcher, born on May 10, 1914, was only seven years old when a racist mob destroyed Greenwood, the prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa known as “Black Wall Street.”

In June 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit brought on by Mother Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle seeking reparations for the vicious attack.

Randle, the last known living survivor of the 1921 race massacre, celebrated her 111th birthday on November 10. Hughes Van Ellis, Fletcher’s brother, died at 102 years old in 2023.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.