Dick Rowland

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

[6][2] Startled, Page screamed, and a white clerk in a first-floor store called police to report seeing Rowland flee from the elevator.

[2] Rowland was arrested the following day, though the local police and prosecutors believed him innocent and planned to not charge him.

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.

[2] 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.