History: Meet the Man Behind Black Wall Street

Gurley was once one of the wealthiest Black men who founded the Greenwood district, Tulsa, Oklahoma, popularly known as “Black Wall Street”. Gurley was born in Huntsville, Alabama, U.S in 1867 to John and Rosanna Gurley. He was a businessman and a real-estate developer.

In 1905, Gurley and his wife, Emma, sold their property in Perry and moved 80 miles to the oil boom town of Tulsa where he purchased 40 acres of land meant only for the “colored”.

There in Tulsa, Gurley established his first business, a rooming house on a dusty trail near the railroad tracks that later became Greenwood avenue. The rooming house soon became refuge for black immigrants fleeing the oppression in Mississippi.

Gurley provided loans to black people looking to start up a business. He expanded his rooming house by building two-story buildings and five residences along with an 80-acre farm in Roger County.

As the black community grew around him, so did Gurley’s businesses. By 1921, Gurley owned more than 100 properties in Greenwood. He founded the Vernon AME church, helped build a black Masonic lodge and an employment agency. He was also made sheriff’s deputy to Greenwood’s residents.

Unfortunately, Gurley’s wealth was short-lived during the race massacre. He lost everything he owned and his properties were reduced to ruins. He died from arteriosclerosis and a cerebral hemorrhage in Los Angeles, California on August 6, 1935.