Tulsa Drillers to Wear Patch Honoring Victims of Race Massacre

The Tulsa Drillers, Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will wear a patch for the first month of their upcoming season to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. At the end of May, the jerseys will be auctioned to benefit Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center, a state-of-the-art history center still under construction that will showcase Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District.

The Tulsa Race Massacre, also called the Tulsa Race Riot, occurred May 31 and June 1, 1921, when hundreds of white residents destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street.”

“Having this logo on the Tulsa Drillers jerseys gives us the opportunity to enlighten and educate baseball fans who may have thought they were just out for a day at the ballpark,” said Phil Armstrong, Project Director for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission in a statement. “We are loading the bases for awareness of Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District, a history of tragedy and triumph, punctuated by reminders about the indomitable human spirit, in this space the Tulsa Drillers call home.”

The Drillers’ season begins May 4, and the team will wear the patch for home games during the month of May.