107-year-old Tulsa Race Massacre survivor Viola Fletcher testifies before Congress

One of the last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre told national lawmakers Wednesday that, 100 years later, she can “still smell the smoke” and “hear the screams” from the night her family fled Tulsa and invading white mobs.

“I was awakened by my family. My parents and five siblings were there. I was told we had to leave, and that was it,” said 107-year-old Viola Fletcher.

“I have lived through the massacre every day. … I will never forget.”

Fletcher, of Bartlesville, was in Washington, D.C., for a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing discussing the massacre’s legacy and the possibility of compensation for survivors and descendants.

She was joined for the hearing by the two other last known massacre survivors. Fletcher’s brother, Hughes Van Ellis, 100, of Aurora, Colorado, was there in person. Tulsan Lessie Randle, 106, testified virtually.

At: https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/racemassacre/watch-now---1921-tulsa-race-massacre-107-year-old-bartlesville-woman-other-last/article_17595f86-b7fa-11eb-bbe5-a3aa9185906f.html