Before the world knew Tulsa, Oklahoma’s “Black Wall Street,” there was Greenwood in Tuskegee. Established near Tuskegee Institute under the vision of Booker T. Washington, Greenwood represented self-determination, ownership, enterprise and community.
According to historical accounts connected to Booker T. Washington, Charles W. Green helped develop the Black-owned district outside the Tuskegee campus. Land was purchased in 1890, and famed architect Robert L. Taylor began planning Washington’s “model village” by 1895. Taylor designed the plat and plans, including two and three bedroom cottages that offered efficient and affordable housing.
A self-contained community, Greenwood had its own businesses and tradesmen and supplied its own power. The village was advertised in the national Black press as a residential development that offered good schools and an opportunity to own property.
Greenwood was also a model for faith. For the families who built Greenwood, churches were more than places of worship. They also provided gathering spaces where residents celebrated milestones, addressed community challenges and nurtured young leaders.
Butler Chapel AME Zion Church housed classes for the newly formed Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School and hosted mass meetings for voter rights in the Jim Crow era.
Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church played a significant role in establishing the Tuskegee Civic Association, a cornerstone of local civil rights advocacy.
The Catholic mission in the area represented one of the few integrated institutional partnerships of its time.
Historic congregations, like Bowen United Methodist Church and the Dawsons’ Washington Chapel AME, also shared deep connections with many of Greenwood’s influential families.
Ultimately, the community became a model of economic cooperation and aspiration…one that would inspire the naming and development of Tulsa’s Greenwood District years later. After Washington visited Tulsa in 1905, that thriving Black business district also adopted the name.
Historic Dawson House 