In the roughly 100 years since the Greenwood massacre and more than 150 years since the official end of slavery on Juneteenth , studies show little progress has been made to reduce the racial wealth gap between Black and white households. While many economic, legislative, and social proposals have been made to eliminate the gap between white and Black Americans, some say that reparations is the only hope.

By 1921, the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Okla., was a thriving black community. Dubbed the Black Wall Street, the district featured restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, grocery stores, two newspapers, and more.

It was quite extraordinary, says folklorist and reparations scholar and author Kirsten Mullen. There were probably few places like it in the southwest. It was held up at the time as a star.

Though the name lends itself to a comparison with the street and financial center in New York, Mullen says it does not compare to the volume and capitalization of New Yorks Wall Street.

Whats more, Greenwood wasnt the only Black Wall Street in the United States. Black wealth was being created in neighborhoods around the country, in places like Durham, N.C., and Richmond, Va.

But it wasnt long before these thriving black neighborhoods were noticed, and eventually destroyed.

The Greenwood Massacre

Just under 100 years ago, the Greenwood district was destroyed in an event that has been called the Greenwood massacre .

After there were accusations of a sexual assault on a white woman, Greenwood was attacked. Stores and homes were looted, and hundreds died. The neighborhood was set on fire from the ground, and from planes dropping incendiary devices from overhead.

In the wake of the violence, 35 city blocks lay in charred ruins, over 800 people were treated for injuries and contemporary reports of deaths began at 36. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died, states the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum .