The Obie Mann Story and the Fight to Save Black Wall Street

Obie Mann was a successful grocery owner from Tulsa, Oklahoma (Greenwood District aka Black Wall Street) and a decorated World War I hero who led the resistance against German forces in the trenches of Normandy. Despite facing extreme hostility, he and his fellow soldiers adhered to the rules, worked hard, and supported each other. Their unit, the 92nd Division of the Army--an all-Black division--was eventually activated to fight. Together with U.S. and French divisions, they broke through enemy lines, advancing nearly 10 miles and pushing the Germans out of the Meuse Forest. For their bravery, Obie and his fellow soldiers received the French Croix de Guerre and the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross. Upon returning home, they hoped for equal treatment but found that the hearts and minds of white America had not changed. Their loyalty, patriotism, and sense of worth were not reciprocated. Everything changed on May 31, 1921. Determined to prevent a lynching, Obie recruited men from Greenwood to join him at the jailhouse to protect Dick Rowland, a Greenwood resident falsely accused of raping a white woman. They encountered a large, angry white mob. When an older white man saw Obie's gun and lunged for it, a struggle ensued, and the gun went off, killing the man. Chaos erupted, and Obie shouted, "One Shot One Kill," as he and his men raced out of the building. They survived the initial encounter but knew the fight wasn't over. Obie returned to Greenwood, ready to defend his town and way of life.

This is Obie Mann's story from Texas to Oklahoma during the Great Migration, through his valor on the battlefields of France in World War I, to his fight in one of the deadliest racial massacres in U.S. history.