Mary Elizabeth Jones Parrish (1892–1972) was an African American journalist, typist, and educator who became a crucial chronicler of one of the worst incidents of racial violence in United States history. Living and working in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she survived the devastating 1921 Tulsa race massacre, during which a white supremacist mob destroyed the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood, famously known as "Black Wall Street."
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Parrish dedicated herself to preserving the truth of what had occurred. She meticulously gathered firsthand accounts from fellow survivors, compiled her own observations of the two-day-long terrorist attack, and documented the immediate impact on the community. Her efforts culminated in the publication of Events of the Tulsa Disaster, a groundbreaking work of journalism that remains one of the most comprehensive and vital historical records of the massacre.
Through her writing, Parrish provided a voice to a traumatized community and ensured that the details of the violence, displacement, and resilience of Tulsa's Black residents would not be erased from history. Her work stands as a monumental contribution to early twentieth-century African American documentary journalism, offering an indispensable primary source that continues to inform historical understanding of the era.
