Tulsa race massacre lawsuit, were involved in the tragedy

 Tulsa race massacre lawsuit, were involved in the tragedy.

Survivors and descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre held a press conference Tuesday to announce a lawsuit against those who were involved in the tragedy, including the city of Tulsa.

Justice for Greenwood Advocates, a team of civil and human rights lawyers led by Tulsa attorney Damario Solomon Simmons, is asking the city and other defendants to repair the damage they did in causing a public nuisance by their destruction of Greenwood in 1921, according to a press release.

The suit’s lead plaintiff is Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, 105, and is one of the two known Massacre survivors still living.

Randle said she continues to experience flashbacks of bodies stacked up on the street as her neighborhood was burning.

Other plaintiffs include:

• Vernon A.M.E., the only standing Black-owned structure from the Historic Black Wall Street era and the only edifice that remains from the Massacre;
• Laurel Stradford, great-granddaughter of J.B. Stradford who owned the Stradford Hotel in Greenwood, the largest Black-owned hotel in the United States at the time of the Massacre;
• Ellouise Cochrane-Price, the daughter of Massacre survivor Clarence Rowland and the cousin of Massacre victim Dick Rowland;
• Tedra Williams, the granddaughter of Massacre survivor Wess Young;
• Don M. Adams, the nephew of Massacre victim Dr. A.C. Jackson;
• Don W. Adams, great-grandson of Massacre survivor Attorney H.A. Guess;
• Stephen Williams, grandson of Massacre victim Attorney A.J. Smitherman who owned the nationally circulated Tulsa Star Newspaper;
• The Tulsa African Ancestral Society, whose membership includes descendants of Massacre survivors.