Fletcher's grandson Ike Howard told CNN and the Associated Press that she died on Monday, Nov. 24, surrounded by family.
“She had a beautiful smile on her face,” Howard said. “She loved life, she loved people.” Oklahoma Sen. Regina Goodwin also confirmed the news, sharing that she was with Fletcher's family at a local hospital. Known as "Mother Fletcher"; the 111-year-old was just 7 when a two-day attack led by a White mob began in Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood on May 31, 1921. The massacre resulted in the deaths of as many as 300 Black people. Thirty-five city blocks were burned to the ground and decades of segregation, trauma and financial hardship followed for the city's Black community.
"Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose" said Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols. Fletcher was born in Oklahoma on May 10, 1914, and spent most of her early years in Greenwood. She remembered her time there before the massacre as idyllic, as the neighborhood served as an oasis for Black people during segregation. Her family was forced to flee during the massacre, and they spent time living in a tent as they worked as sharecroppers. She received a fourth-grade education, the CNN reported.
“I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community, the smoke billowing in the air, and the terror-stricken faces of my neighbors,” she wrote in her 2023 memoir, Don’t Let Them Bury My Story.
