Tulsa Pastor Leads Petition Drive for a June 1 Greenwood Remembrance Holiday in Oklahoma

A Tulsa pastor is leading an effort to create a new Oklahoma state holiday honoring the victims and survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. If it succeeds, Greenwood Remembrance and Reconciliation Day would be observed every year on June 1.

Francetta Mays, associate pastor at Vernon AME Church, is curating the petition. Mays says the aim is for flags to fly at half staff on that day in remembrance of the "innocent children, men and women that lost their lives." Supporters describe the day as both an annual reminder of the massacre and a symbol of healing for the Greenwood community and beyond.

The cause is a personal one for Mays, who leads historical tours at Vernon AME Church. The church is the only structure still standing from the original Black Wall Street, and it served as a safe haven during the massacre. Mays wants visitors to grasp what the people who sought shelter there had just witnessed. "They were running after seeing Armageddon… 40 square blocks on fire," Mays said, describing those who ran into the church on May 30, 1921.

To reach the ballot, Mays must collect 95,000 valid signatures within 90 days of the state approving the petition. The stated goal is to have the state question appear on the ballot in 2025.

The measure would ask voters to designate June 1 as Greenwood Remembrance and Reconciliation Day, a symbolic holiday recognizing the victims and survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre. It would have no fiscal impact on the state.

State Rep. Ronald Stewart, D-Tulsa, supports the effort. "I believe that this is a way that not only that we can remember some of the things of the past, but we can also move forward and learn from the mistakes of the people that came before us," Stewart said. Stewart called the proposed observance "something that is prominent."

Mays is asking Oklahomans to help by spreading the word and backing the petition drive. "Talk to your family members, your friends, your churches," Mays said, urging people to show the same heart they showed after the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the federal building. "I’m asking for people to care."

If the petition gathers enough signatures and a majority of voters approve the question, the holiday would become official state law sometime next year.