Dick Rowland

Who is Dick Rowland?

Dick Rowland was an African-American teen-age shoeshiner whose arrest in May 1921 was the impetus for the Tulsa Race Riot. When he was arrested for attempted assault, Rowland was 19 years old. The white teenager, who was supposed to have been the victim, declined to prosecute. According to some reports, the arrest was prompted after Rowland tripped in an elevator on his way to a segregated bathroom, and a white store clerk misconstrued the incident as an "assault."