ATLRepair AtlantaReparations Study Commission

Study · Case study · 6 min read

Tulsa's Road to Repair: A $105M Private Trust

After the courts closed and a council vote looked unreliable, Tulsa's first Black mayor structured repair as a charitable trust. Includes the mass-graves investigation that other cities now study.

Tulsa shows what a repair effort can look like after litigation fails and appropriations prove impossible, when a government decides to act anyway.

The dead ends first

The last two known survivors of the 1921 Race Massacre, Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, both over 110, sued the city under public-nuisance law, arguing the massacre's harms continue to this day.[1][2] In June 2024 the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the case 8-1: the grievances were legitimate, but the statute did not reach them.[2][3] Seven months later the U.S. DOJ's cold-case review concluded the massacre was "a coordinated, military-style attack" by as many as 10,000 white Tulsans, and that no one could be prosecuted.[4] Advocates cite the pairing as a demonstration of where law alone runs out: full official acknowledgment, no remedy.

The trust

On June 1, 2025, Observance Day and the massacre's 104th anniversary, Mayor Monroe Nichols, Tulsa's first Black mayor, announced "Road to Repair": a $105 million private charitable trust (the Greenwood Trust), with a goal of raising the full amount by the 105th anniversary.[5][6][7] Its design choices have drawn close study:

  • No council vote required. A private trust with the mayor as trustee is protected from council politics, and from constitutional challenges aimed at government spending.[6]
  • Assets: philanthropy, transferred property (the 56 acres of city land in the Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood master plan could be transferred to the trust and counted toward the total, pending council authorization), and public funds only if separately authorized later.[5][6]
  • Three funds: Housing ($24M, homeownership for survivors, descendants, and North Tulsa residents), Cultural Preservation ($60M, building improvement, blight reduction, master-plan implementation), and Legacy ($21M, land acquisition, descendant scholarships, small-business support).[5][8]
  • The word: Nichols deliberately avoided "reparations," calling it "politically charged," and presented repair as ordinary civic investment.[6] (Whether Atlanta should make the same trade is a survey question; Fulton County and CARSC both say the word.)
  • Staffing: a national-caliber executive director (Alaina C. Beverly, formerly Black Economic Alliance Foundation and Obama White House) hired within five months.[9]

The criticism travels with the model: the trust pays no direct cash to the two living survivors or to descendants, offering housing, preservation, and scholarships instead, and organizers have said so loudly.[6][8] As of mid-2026 there is also no public accounting confirming the $105M was fully secured by the anniversary deadline, so the $105M should be treated as a goal rather than money in hand.

Finding the graves, naming the dead

Since 2020 the city has funded the 1921 Graves Investigation at Oaklawn Cemetery: five excavations; 83 previously unknown graves identified in one section in 2025; exhumed remains carrying gunshot wounds; 14 burials with genetic-genealogy profiles; and actual names returned, C.L. Daniel in 2024 (the first confirmed massacre victim identified) and two more in 2025, through a free DNA program that actively solicits descendant swabs.[10][11][12][13][14] Alongside it: a permanent June 1 Observance Day and mass release of historical records.[5]

For Atlanta this is concrete. Ground-penetrating radar at Chattahoochee Brick identified probable burial sites of convict laborers in mid-2026 (see the Chattahoochee Brick brief).[15] Tulsa has already shown what comes after such a finding: forensic archaeology, genetic genealogy, a registry of descendants, annual observance, and opening the records.[10] That work supports the memorial, the research into who qualifies for repair, and the case for material repair, all at once.

Lessons cited for Atlanta

  1. The parallel-track approach: a defensible public process plus a privately funded trust that can move large sums without a government appropriation. This bears directly on Georgia's Gratuities Clause, with one Georgia-specific caution: the 11th Circuit's Fearless Fund ruling means a trust's benefits would need to be structured as charitable gifts and need-based programs, not racially exclusive contract-like grants.[16]
  2. Scale: $105M showed how much a city-connected effort can raise, and Atlanta's philanthropic and corporate base is larger than Tulsa's. Its community foundation held $1.51B in assets at the end of 2024 to Tulsa's $1.07B, and Georgia hosts 17 Fortune 500 headquarters, nearly all in metro Atlanta.[5][17][18][19]
  3. Using the calendar: Tulsa announced on the massacre's own anniversary and set its delivery deadline on the next one.[5] Atlanta's calendar holds comparable dates, including 1906's September and the Brick site's own observances.
  4. Build the list of descendants before the remedies: the DNA and genealogy program identifies who repair is for while the money is being raised, instead of after.[12]

References

  1. Oklahoma State Courts Network, appellate docket, Randle v. City of Tulsa, No. 121502 (dismissal affirmed June 12, 2024; rehearing denied Sept. 9, 2024), oscn.net. Accessed July 2026.
  2. PBS NewsHour (Associated Press), "Oklahoma's Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit from last 2 survivors of Tulsa Race Massacre seeking reparations," June 12, 2024, pbs.org. Accessed July 2026.
  3. State Court Report (Brennan Center), "Oklahoma Supreme Court Rejects Reparations for Tulsa Race Massacre," 2024, statecourtreport.org. Accessed July 2026.
  4. U.S. Department of Justice, "Justice Department Announces Results of Review and Evaluation of the Tulsa Race Massacre," Jan. 10, 2025, justice.gov. Accessed July 2026.
  5. City of Tulsa, "Mayor Nichols Presents Road to Repair to Address Systemic Impacts from 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre," June 1, 2025, cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  6. NBC News (Associated Press), "Tulsa's new Black mayor proposes $100M trust to 'repair' impact of 1921 Race Massacre," June 1, 2025, nbcnews.com. Accessed July 2026.
  7. Tulsa World, "Private trust to be created to aid Greenwood District, those harmed by Tulsa Race Massacre, Nichols says," June 1, 2025, tulsaworld.com. Accessed July 2026.
  8. Public Radio Tulsa, "$105 million trust to be built for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre reparations, city says," June 1, 2025, publicradiotulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  9. City of Tulsa, "The Greenwood Trust" (incl. Oct. 24, 2025 appointment of Alaina C. Beverly as executive director), cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  10. City of Tulsa, "1921 Graves Investigation," cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  11. City of Tulsa, "1921 Graves Investigation: Oaklawn Cemetery Excavation Update Nov. 3," Nov. 3, 2025, cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  12. City of Tulsa, "Genealogy Process — 1921 Graves Investigation," cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  13. City of Tulsa, "Major Discovery Made in 1921 Graves Investigation; C. L. Daniel Confirmed as First Victim Identified from City's Yearslong Investigation," July 12, 2024, cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  14. City of Tulsa, "City Provides Significant Archeological, DNA Updates in 1921 Graves Investigation" (second identification, George Melvin Gillispie; new confirmed victim, James Goings), June 18, 2025, cityoftulsa.org. Accessed July 2026.
  15. WABE, "Archaeologists find potential burial sites at Chattahoochee Brick Company property," June 24, 2026, wabe.org. Accessed July 2026.
  16. Council on Foundations, "Summary of 11th Circuit Ruling in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund," 2024, cof.org. Accessed July 2026.
  17. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Inc." (EIN 58-1344646; FY ending Dec. 2024: total assets $1,511,857,437), projects.propublica.org. Accessed July 2026.
  18. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Tulsa Community Foundation" (EIN 73-1554474; FY ending Dec. 2024: total assets $1,073,416,757), projects.propublica.org. Accessed July 2026.
  19. Metro Atlanta Chamber, "Fortune 500 and 1000 Companies in Georgia" (2025), metroatlantachamber.com (PDF). Accessed July 2026.

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