Hughes Van Ellis was one of the last three known Black Tulsans, who lived through a 1921 race massacre. He sued the city of Tulsa seeking reparations for one of the deadliest acts of racial violence in U.S. history.
Hughes Van Ellisdies aged 102: Cause of death, obituary, and funeral arrangements
Hughes Van Ellis’s death was a peaceful one and there was no cause of death recorded. His death was confirmed by his family. He died on Monday night October 10, 2023, in Denver, Colorado.
Hughes Van Ellisdies aged 102: obituary
According to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum, Van Ellis was an infant when a white mob, deputized by police, rampaged through the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing hundreds of Black residents and burning thousands of businesses and homes to the ground.
It’s estimated nearly 300 people were killed in the racist attack, Oklahoma’s Tulsa Race Massacre Commission concluded in 2001, but more are feared dead as the city of Tulsa continues to search for unmarked graves.
In the letter Van Ellis submitted to the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, Van Ellis said he and his family were driven from their home and made refugees within the country.
“My childhood was hard and we didn’t have much,” he wrote. “We worried what little we had would be stolen from us. Just like it was stolen in Tulsa.”
The two last known living survivors of the race massacre are Van Ellis’ sister Viola Fletcher, who is 109, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is 108.
The survivors have been locked in a years-long legal battle with the city of Tulsa and other officials to secure reparations for the destruction committed more than a century ago.
“You may have been taught that when something is stolen from you, you can go to the courts to be made whole – you can go to the courts for justice,” Van Ellis wrote. “This wasn’t the case for us. The courts in Oklahoma wouldn’t hear us. The federal courts said we were too late. We were made to feel that our struggle was unworthy of justice.”
In July, an Oklahoma judge dismissed the survivors’ lawsuit against the city, and their attorneys have since appealed the decision. The state Supreme Court has said it would consider the appeal, but it is unclear when the court will hear the case.
Hughes Van Ellisdies aged 102: funeral arrangements
Hughes Van Ellis’s funeral arrangement is going to be announced soon and will be communicated to you. Keep reading our articles.
Source: Ghanafuo.com
