Last known Tulsa race riot survivor dies at 103
Olivia Hooker, among the last known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre, died Wednesday morning at her New York home.
Hooker, 103, was 6 years old at the time of the 1921 massacre in Tulsa’s Greenwood District.
In one of her last interviews, Hooker told how she and her siblings were covered with a large tablecloth.
Her mother instructed them to remain silent while a white mob ransacked their home.
“It was horrifying for a little girl who was only 6 years old trying to remember to keep quiet,” Hooker said.
Hooker died Wednesday morning, Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said she was told by Hooker’s family.
Hooker was the first African-American woman to join the U.S. Coast Guard. She was also a psychology professor and an activist.
Hooker advocated and raised awareness for the massacre, said Jamaal Nash-Dyer, project director of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Centennial Commission.
“She wanted to make sure the story was no longer a secret,” Nash-Dyer said.
The massacre would leave at least 37 dead — though some unofficial estimates put the figure in the hundreds — and about 10,000 people homeless.
Hooker was honored earlier in November in a Google Doodle for Veterans Day, after she shared her story about entering the Coast Guard and her career there.
The Coast Guard named a dining facility in her honor.
“She lived a phenomenal life,” said Hooker’s longtime friend Chief Egunwale Amusan. “Very few people come to the Earth and leave a mark like she did on this planet.
“She lived a very remarkable life.”