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.
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 