Nationwide — Viola Ford Fletcher — widely known as “Mother Fletcher” and celebrated as the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — has died at 111, her grandson Ike Howard confirmed to CNN.
Howard said Fletcher passed peacefully. “She had a beautiful smile on her face,” he shared. “She loved life, she loved people.” Oklahoma State Senator Regina Goodwin, who was with the family at a local hospital, also confirmed her death.
Fletcher became a national figure in recent years as she and the remaining survivors fought for justice through a landmark lawsuit against the city of Tulsa and other agencies. The suit accused the city of enabling the racist mob that destroyed Greenwood — a flourishing Black business district — and argued that the trauma and economic losses from the attack still linger today.
On May 31, 1921, a White mob reduced roughly 35 blocks of Greenwood to ash in less than 16 hours, CNN previously reported. Thousands of Black residents were arrested, and many others were beaten, robbed, or killed as fires consumed homes, churches, schools, and businesses.
With Fletcher’s passing, 111-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle becomes the sole remaining survivor. Randle’s granddaughter, LaDonna Penny, said her grandmother sent a message to Fletcher’s family when she learned Fletcher had fallen ill: “She was sorry it was happening and that she loved her.” Penny, who considered Fletcher a grandmother figure, said the loss feels deeply personal. “It’s like I lost my grandmother,” she told CNN. “My heart is broken. I keep trying to stop crying.”
Fletcher’s younger brother, fellow survivor Hughes Van Ellis, died in October 2023 at age 102.
The survivors’ push for restitution suffered a major setback in June 2024 when the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed their lawsuit, ruling the city could not be held financially responsible more than a century later. Fletcher often said she “never got over” what she witnessed as a 7-year-old — the fear, the flames, and the loss of an entire community. “I have lived in Tulsa since,” she once said, “but I don’t sleep all night living there.”
How the attack began
The violence was sparked on May 30, 1921, when 19-year-old Black shoe shiner Dick Rowland fled an elevator after the young White operator screamed. Rumors of assault spread, Rowland was arrested, and a White lynch mob quickly formed. Armed Black residents went to the jail to protect him when tensions escalated. A gunshot rang out — and, as Sheriff William McCullough later described, “All hell broke loose.”
Historic photos show entire blocks burned to the ground and Black victims lying in the streets. After the attack, insurance companies refused to pay claims for what would now equal tens of millions in losses, including the destruction of two Black hospitals and more than 1,200 homes, according to the Greenwood Cultural Center.
A century later, the search for justice continues
Federal attention returned to the case in September 2024 when the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation. But by January, officials concluded that with perpetrators long deceased and statutes of limitations expired, no criminal path remained under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
In June, Tulsa’s mayor proposed a more than $100 million private trust as part of a broader “road to repair.” The plan would invest in housing, cultural preservation, education, and local business development in historically affected areas. However, the proposal does not include direct compensation for survivors or descendants.