George Floyd, CDP Witness During the Tulsa Race Massacre

The following reflection was provided by Sister Imelda Maurer, CDP.

Videos of the violence done to George Floyd and the resulting protests have been running on every news show. I am reminded of the Tulsa Race Massacre that took place in that city May 31 and June 1, 1921.

In the manuscripts of our “Pioneer Sisters” written at Mother Florence’s request (in 1926) Mother Antoinette Loth wrote the following:

“One sad event happened on one of our Commencement Nights: ‘The Negro Uprising’. This is of course a purely political event. Was it not Divine Providence that no harm was done to us though the school building on the same street only two blocks away from the center of the fight? A man was shot down almost at our door. The night following and the next day and night we had between 250 and 300 Negro refugees in our basement. We gave clothing and medicine to the poor people and two dying Negroes we sent in our ambulance to an improvised hospital where they died that night. Sister George, who died a few years ago, helped to bathe and dress at least a dozen babies. The Knights of Columbus and the Catholic ladies of Tulsa cooked for and waited on the poor people; they were so pleased with the attention they received. On the third day they were permitted to go out to seek”…”when they came back again for meals; they refused to go anywhere else saying ‘No, we go to the Catholic sisters. There we are waited on.’”

A beautiful CDP family story revealing the presence of Providence. These victims of the massacre felt the love and service of our Sisters and those with whom our Sisters collaborated during those days and nights.