Tulsa Cadets must Journey through Greenwood's History before Policing its Present
Raymond Doswell, executive director of Greenwood Rising, details Greenwood's early history to a group of Tulsa police officers and potential officers Oct. 10, 2025. Clara Stewart/The Oklahoma Eagle
On a recent Friday, about a dozen Tulsa Police Academy cadets visited the Greenwood Rising museum. Upon entering they stood face to face with bold lettering on the museum’s walls.
“Built, Destroyed, Rebuilt, Dismantled, And Born Again.”
The cadets mostly kept to themselves as they shuffled around the lobby. Each person took turns examining photos comparing what the Historic Greenwood District was to what it is today.
Some areas were decimated by the installation of I-244, while others depict burning buildings and businesses lost in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
This tour marked one of the final steps of their training before becoming police officers.
Visiting Greenwood Rising became a part of the academy’s curriculum in 2021, shortly after the center opened amid national reckoning on racial violence and police brutality. The goal is to help incoming officers understand the history of the neighborhood they will serve and to acknowledge how TPD aided the white mob that descended on Greenwood during the massacre.
Police deputized hundreds of white Tulsans as violence between the mob and Black residents began to unfurl on May 31, 1921. As residents retreated back to Greenwood, members of the white mob — acting on behalf of law enforcement — shot and killed African Americans while looting and torching homes and businesses.
“One hundred years ago, the municipal officers in this area did some pretty horrible things,” Capt. Richard Meulenberg told The Eagle. “It’s important for us to make sure the officers understand the history of the city and the history of officers that preceded them by several generations [and what they] did and why there may be some distrust sometimes.”
After taking in a video visualizing modern day Black Wall Street, Raymond Doswell, executive director of Greenwood Rising, led the group through different sections of the museum. He highlighted the rise and fall of the former economic center of Tulsa’s Black community.
Cadets viewed the Greenwood Spirit exhibit, which features excerpts about the key figures behind Black Wall Street, including aviator Simon Berry and hotelier J.B Stradford.
Raymond Doswell, executive director of Greenwood Rising, summarizes the history of racial violence in America to a cohort of Tulsa Police Department officers and prospective officers on October 10, 2025. Clara Stewart/The Oklahoma Eagle
The museum also houses “The Arc of Oppression,” an exhibit tracing the rise of racial violence across the country leading up to the massacre, including the rise of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan both in Tulsa and nationally.
The recruits were mostly silent throughout the early October tour, which Doswell said was normal for the bulk of TPD recruits. Since becoming executive director in 2023, he has welcomed between eight and 10 academy classes.
“It’s a lot for anybody to take in when we get to the deeper dive,” he said. “A lot of these folks are from Oklahoma. They (either) didn’t know the history, didn’t learn it in school (or) they don’t remember learning it in school.”
Doswell gave the group time to browse the collection of historical artifacts after each section, and asked them to reflect on what they learned once the tour was finished.
Cadet Harrison Hardman told The Eagle he’s aware of the baggage that may come with donning a police uniform given the department’s history.
“It really reminds me that people are going to judge me because of the fact I wear this uniform,” Hardman said. “But I have to remind myself that the world doesn’t define me. I am my own identity.”
Only new recruits, not current officers, are required to tour the museum, said Maj. Richard Alexander, who leads the TPD training division. Alexander has done it three times, and said recruits can use their newfound knowledge of what happened in 1921 to build relationships with residents.
“No one blames anybody, nor the department, for those issues that happened before,” Alexander told the cadets. “But we also recognize that we’re part of a system that has failed people in the past, and it hasn’t always performed our best.”
Tulsa police officer Khara Rogers examines the interactive modules during an Oct. 10, 2025 tour of Greenwood Rising. Rogers attended as part of a tour for cadets training to become officers. Clara Stewart/The Oklahoma Eagle
The sometimes tense relationship between TPD and Tulsa’s Black community isn’t solely tied to the events of 1921. In 2016, TPD officer Betty Shelby shot and killed 40-year-old Terence Crutcher as he was walking to his car. Shelby, who was responding to a 911 call about a broken down car, said she thought he intended to grab a weapon from his vehicle. She was charged with first degree manslaughter but was found not guilty in 2017. A year later, Shelby became a deputy sheriff in Rogers County.
Investigators later found Crutcher was unarmed and had no weapons in his car. The aftermath stoked several protests around Tulsa, and eventually led his family to create the Terence Crutcher Foundation.
“Since that event, there has been a concerted effort to try to have the police department be more informed about the community and especially the community’s history,” Doswell said.
Tulsa Public Schools also brings eighth graders to Greenwood Rising for a field trip experience, Doswell said. The museum recently began hosting tours for Tulsa Fire Department recruits, along with members of the Wichita Police Department in Kansas.
In their walk through the museum came to a close, cadet Sydney Howard described her experience as hopeful. She was inspired by the way residents were able to work together to rebuild Greenwood, and said this kind of cohesion is necessary for officers to ensure public safety.
“The way to be successful in this job is to have a positive relationship with the community,” Howard said. “We need relationships from them to be able to be successful in the job. And so this day will always be on the back of my mind.”