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Otis Clark
Otis Clark (Born Meridian, Oklahoma May 13, 1903 – died Seattle, Washington, May 22, 2012) was the last living survivor of the May 31, 1921 Tulsa race riot, considered to be the worst race riot in American history. He later worked as the Hollywood butler to movie stars Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, and Joan Crawford. Clark's wife lived as the Crawford residence working as the cook for actress Joan Crawford.[1] [2]
Historical Significance
At 109 years old. 'Dad' Clark (as he was called) was the oldest known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race riot, an 18-hour siege that destroyed 30 blocks of a thriving African-American residential and business community known as the “Black Wall Street,” leaving 300 known dead (a figure estimated by the American Red Cross) and 10,000 homeless. A documentary was later made entitled 'Before They Die' telling the story of Clark and the riots as they occurred in 1921.[3]
Early life
Clark grew up in a segregated Tulsa, Oklahoma as a drugstore delivery boy. He grew up in the Greenwood side of town (which was black) and could not enter stores in the predominately white downtown area. In late afternoon on May 30, 1921, a black teenager, Dick Rowland, used the elevator in the Drexel building in downtown Tulsa. As Dick Rowland exited the elevator, an employee of Renberg’s clothing store heard what was thought to be a scream. The clerk reached the conclusion that Sarah Page, the white elevator operator, had been assaulted. Newspaper headlines supported the account, causing a race riot to occur in Tulsa on May 31, 1921.[4]
Clark was 18 years old at the time when the Tulsa riot occurred, and saw hundreds of people die. Clark remembered trying to get a car to help victims of the riot when gunfire came his way. Clark ran for his life while people were shooting at him, trying to get out of the way of the bullets. His family home was burned to the ground during the riot, and he believed his stepfather was killed during the riots because he was never seen again. Shortly thereafter, at age 19, Clark fled Tulsa on a train bound for California to look for his biological father. He survived 20 days in a California jail for bootlegging and selling illegal whiskey. He wound up getting married and finding employment in Hollywood as a butler. Based on a spiritual dream to become a preacher doing the work of God, Clark later became a traveling evangelist traveling the United States on behalf of the Church of Christ.
Source: Wikipedia
Otis Clark
Otis Clark (Born Meridian, Oklahoma May 13, 1903 – died Seattle, Washington, May 22, 2012) was the last living survivor of the May 31, 1921 Tulsa race riot, considered to be the worst race riot in American history. He later worked as the Hollywood butler to movie stars Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, and Joan Crawford. Clark's wife lived as the Crawford residence working as the cook for actress Joan Crawford.[1] [2]
Historical Significance
At 109 years old. 'Dad' Clark (as he was called) was the oldest known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race riot, an 18-hour siege that destroyed 30 blocks of a thriving African-American residential and business community known as the “Black Wall Street,” leaving 300 known dead (a figure estimated by the American Red Cross) and 10,000 homeless. A documentary was later made entitled 'Before They Die' telling the story of Clark and the riots as they occurred in 1921.[3]
Early life
Clark grew up in a segregated Tulsa, Oklahoma as a drugstore delivery boy. He grew up in the Greenwood side of town (which was black) and could not enter stores in the predominately white downtown area. In late afternoon on May 30, 1921, a black teenager, Dick Rowland, used the elevator in the Drexel building in downtown Tulsa. As Dick Rowland exited the elevator, an employee of Renberg’s clothing store heard what was thought to be a scream. The clerk reached the conclusion that Sarah Page, the white elevator operator, had been assaulted. Newspaper headlines supported the account, causing a race riot to occur in Tulsa on May 31, 1921.[4]
Clark was 18 years old at the time when the Tulsa riot occurred, and saw hundreds of people die. Clark remembered trying to get a car to help victims of the riot when gunfire came his way. Clark ran for his life while people were shooting at him, trying to get out of the way of the bullets. His family home was burned to the ground during the riot, and he believed his stepfather was killed during the riots because he was never seen again. Shortly thereafter, at age 19, Clark fled Tulsa on a train bound for California to look for his biological father. He survived 20 days in a California jail for bootlegging and selling illegal whiskey. He wound up getting married and finding employment in Hollywood as a butler. Based on a spiritual dream to become a preacher doing the work of God, Clark later became a traveling evangelist traveling the United States on behalf of the Church of Christ.
Source: Wikipedia
