Collection consists of various materials collected by Eddie Faye Gates (February 5, 1934 - December 9, 2021) documenting her life and career as an educator, historian, author, and community activist, including photographs, recorded audiovisual oral histories, and manuscripts related to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the history of Oklahoma, especially North Tulsa.

The Eddie Faye Gates Tulsa Race Massacre Collection contains materials that reflect the life and 40-year public career of Eddie Faye Gates (February 5, 1934 - December 9, 2021), a contemporary African American woman, educator, historian, author, and community activist.

The collection materials date from the early 20th century to approximately 2010 and contain photographs, postcards, obituaries, correspondence, handwritten research notes, clippings from newspapers and periodicals, personal materials, typed manuscript drafts of Gates’ published books, press releases, oral history questionnaires, recorded audio/video materials including oral history interviews with survivors and descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, interviews with various Tulsa community members for the North Tulsa Oral History Project (originally financed by and housed at the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City but in different arrangement from this collection), and newspaper and broadcast television interviews documenting Gates’ vigorous efforts to publicize the stories from survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Materials are largely textual, photographic, and audiovisual, with some negatives and scattered personal artifacts including awards, jewelry, and ephemera. The materials document Gates’ international travels to Europe and Africa; her work as a teacher and public school administrator; her career as an author of three published books related to her family history, Oklahoma history, and the Tulsa Race Massacre; her oral history research and interviews with numerous notable community members for the North Tulsa Oral History Project; her service on the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 and assiduous work with survivors and descendants of the massacre; her activism in publicizing the stories of survivors and descendants, as well as her leading efforts supporting the fight for reparations; her involvement in various local, regional, and national organizations and societies; and various events, conferences, concerts, festivals, and more.

Notable people found in the collection include Gates’ family members relevant to Greenwood such as Mildred Williams (née Peevyhouse), Lloyd Hume Williams, Sr.; Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors Otis Granville Clark, Genevieve Tillman Jackson, Delois Vaden Ramsey, Thelma Thurman Knight, Roanna Henry McClure, Jo Pearl Jarrett, Hugh and Naomi Hollins, Robert Fairchild, Eldoris Mae McCondichie, James Steward, Thelma Harrison, Samuel Walker and daughter Joyce Walker Hill; Cecil White, William Harold Woods and Celdie Lee Woods, Robert and Anita Holloway, Verneice Dunn Sims, Wess Young, Sr.,Hal “Cornbread” Singer, and more. Prominent lawyers and politicians Johnnie Cochran, Jesse Jackson, Jr. Representative Maxine Waters, Representative Al Green, Representative Don Ross, Senator Maxine Horner, Senator Barack Obama, and more.

Notable musicians include Useni Eugene Perkins, Alfred Stanley Dennie, JAP Allen’s Cotton Club Orchestra, Ernie Fields, Straw-hat-John Quenton Brown, Clarence Love, Mozelle Lewis, Tony Matthews, Lowell Fulson, Shelby Minner, Lionel Hampton, Mercer Ellington and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Numerous prominent clergy include Reverend B.S. Roberts, Reverend Billy Jarrett, Reverend Benjamin Harrison Hill, Reverend Andrew Young, and Reverend Benjamin Hooks. Many notable other people include Dr. Charles Bate, Dr. Charles Ogletree, Jr., Dr. Olivia Hooker, Dorothy Irene Height, Bobby Battle, Elise Pierce, Dr. John Hope Franklin, Dr. Scott Ellsworth, and Hannibal Johnson, Attallah Shabazz, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Lawrence Reed, Mabel B. Little, and more.

Important events noted in this collection include the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Gates’ trip with survivors to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the 75th Riot Commemoration Program at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1990 Human Rights Seminar in Tulsa, 1991 Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries Racism Conference, The National Black Legislative Caucus 1987 Planning Youth Conference at the Tulsa Press Club, HB1017 Rally at Boulder Park, Tulsa Juneteenth, Tulsa Jazz Festival events, Gates’ trips to New York City, the Summer Holocaust Fellowship and United Nations tour, Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Parade (Tulsa, OK), March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, and the Tulsa Minority Public Forum of 1994.

Many noteworthy subjects appear in the collection, including Tulsa Race Massacre experiences, reparations, history of North Tulsa, Springfield race massacre, Mann’s Brother’s Grocery Store, Jarrett Family Grocery Store, First Baptist Church’s 95th anniversary, Civil Rights Act of 1965, civil rights history, segregation and desegregation eras, Sit-in Demonstrations, Black medical workers and medical schools, Booker T. Washington High School, Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa music history, Jazz, Blues, Works Progress Administration (WPA), Early Settlement of Oklahoma and Tulsa, Creek history, Cherokee history, Cherokee Freedmen, Afro-Indigenous history, Black rodeo, Black cowboys, Black-owned businesses in North Tulsa, Tulsa Oil Industry, Perryman Cemetery, Oak Lawn Cemetery, Family Reunions, African Slavery, Tulsa Urban Renewal, Prison Reform, Tulsa First Post Office, Creek Nation Council Oak Park, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lynchings, Caines Ballroom, Boley, Oklahoma, Local Organizing and Activism in Tulsa, U.S. Military, Buffalo Soldiers, Black Wall Street;

Notable organizations in the collection include Greenwood Cultural Center; Mabel B. Little Heritage House; North Tulsa Heritage Foundation; Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921; Ida D. Willis Museum of Dolls, Miniatures, and Toys; Greenwood Pharmacy (Williams Drug Store); Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa; Tulsa Public Schools; Red Cross; NAACP; Rose Baptist Church, Tulsa, OK; First Baptist Church, Tulsa, OK; The Oklahoma Eagle; First Methodist Church; Boston Avenue Methodist Church; Chrsitian Science Church; Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church; Jackson Funeral Home; First Christian Church; Mt. Zion Baptist Church; D&R Ranch; Wilson’s Family Store; Gilcrease Museum; University of Tulsa; Langston University; Oklahoma State University; Howard University; Lyon’s Indian Store (Tulsa, OK); Mayo Hotel; Orpheum Theatre; First National Bank; Rudisill Library; Tulsa Historical Society.