Last Known Tulsa Massacre Survivor Turns 112

Lessie Benningfield Randle, the last known living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has reached her 112th birthday.

Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in African-American

Last Known Tulsa Massacre Survivor Turns 112

Lessie Benningfield Randle turned 112 years old, marking another milestone for the last known living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre. She was born in 1914 and survived the 1921 attack as a young girl.

Why it matters

Randle's lifetime spans the massacre itself and the decades of efforts to acknowledge it, making her testimony a direct link to a historical event. Her continued public voice connects the past to current debates over how Black history is taught.

Randle was born in 1914 and survived the Tulsa Race Massacre at age seven, which lasted 18 hours. Her age is documented, but the source provides no further biographical detail beyond her survival of the event.

The players

Lessie Benningfield Randle

Randle is the last known living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and an advocate against censoring Black history in education.

Viola Fletcher

Fletcher was a fellow Tulsa Race Massacre survivor who testified before Congress in 2021 and died in November 2025 at age 111.

Hughes Van Ellis

Van Ellis was a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor who testified before Congress in 2021 and died in October 2023 at age 102.

The details

White men with guns destroyed Randle's community during the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, when she was a young girl. Randle has since spoken out against censoring Black history in education, and she testified before Congress in 2021 alongside fellow survivors Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis.

1914: Lessie Benningfield Randle is born.
1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre occurs, and Randle survives as a girl.
2021: Survivors testify before Congress on Capitol Hill.
October 2023: Hughes Van Ellis dies at age 102.
November 2025: Viola Fletcher dies at age 111.

Cultural Legacy

Randle's survival places her testimony alongside the 2021 congressional hearing on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the first such hearing on the event. As the last known survivor, her voice now stands at the end of the living record of that attack.

Randle's account is a firsthand record of a historical event that shaped many Americans' understanding of race and history. Her continued advocacy against censoring Black history bears on what students across the country learn about the massacre.

The takeaway

As the last living witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre passes, the record of the event depends increasingly on preserved testimony and documented history. Readers can take the survivors' own words seriously as primary sources.