DORA WELLS

Wells pictured in Events of the Tulsa Disaster (1923).

Business Extraordinaire | Engaged Citizen | & Fund-Raiser

Dora Pritchett Wells was born in 1884 in Texas. Most likely, she was born to a family in Houston. ¹

Though the names and the birth locations of her parents are shrouded in mystery, historical documents reveal that her mother made a living as a hairdresser. ² Wells had at least one sister, Geneva, who lived in Houston when Dora relocated to Oklahoma. ³

Wells likely moved to Oklahoma with her husband around 1910.

John H. Wells was also from Texas, a town called Fulshear, a few miles west of Houston.

It is not surprising that the couple left Texas to start life anew in Oklahoma. Like other Confederate states, Texas Democrats resisted slavery’s end by implementing discriminatory practices and laws.

Historians likened the lives of Black Americans to neo-slavery as they contended with debt peonage, sharecropping, Black codes, the convict lease system, and lynching .⁴ By comparison, the newly-established state of Oklahoma appeared to offer better opportunities for African Americans especially concerning land and safety from White violence.⁵

This would not be the case. At Oklahoma’s 1907 statehood, the state legislature’s passed Senate Bill One and enshrined racial segregation.

By 1912, the Wells family settled in Tulsa and were running a successful tailoring business.

This same year, Dora and her husband took out a chattel mortgage, a $48 loan (1,280.72 in today’s money) for “movable property.” They purchased two sewing machines to expand their profitable business.Tulsa Daily Legal News (Tulsa, OK) May 18, 1912; The pair took out similar loans in 1913 for a horse wagon and harness (Tulsa Daily Legal News Oct 27, 1913)

The couple worked at 613 E Archer Street where Dora not only owned Wells Garment Factory, but also managed the Wells Hair Manufacturing School. The latter taught female employees skills in hairdressing, hair making, and the latest in hair technologies.⁶

Clearly, Wells was following in the footsteps of her mother.⁷

Continuing his family’s tendency to serve (since his father had served as a minister in Texas), John became a deacon at the First Baptist Church.. ⁸

While John was listed as the business owner during his lifetime, upon his passing, Dora assumed official ownership of their assets.

Under her care, both maintained a strong reputation. ⁹

Wells also continued to serve her community.

According to Mary E.J. Parrish, Wells’s reputation for community service meant that she was “loved by all, feared by none” and “all-around serviceable and resourceful.”¹⁰

In 1916, Wells became the the secretary and treasurer of the Burial Department in Tulsa of the Order of the Eastern Star, an organization for female relatives of Masons in the state of Oklahoma.¹¹

She was also a member of the Tulsa branch of the Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, a sister organization to the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW), an African American fraternal organization.¹² The IBPOEW promoted community unity and welfare.¹³

Wells was also an officer of the Court of Calanthe, a sister organization of the non-sectarian fraternal order Knights of Pythian.¹⁴ The Knights of Pythian is a fraternal organization and secret society that promoted the unity and welfare of its members.

In January 1921, Wells was elected to serve as the second vice president of the local business league.

The Tulsa chapter of the National Negro Business League was formed in 1920.¹⁵ The co-ed organization’s primary focus was to promote black business interests within their respective communities. Booker T. Washington, the founder, believed that economic prosperity would bring about social and economic equality for African Americans.¹⁶

Wells was not in Greenwood at the time of the Massacre. Just before the dreadful and deadly event occurred, she left town for a trip.

Household belongs of a Greenwood family dumped into the street. Originally shown in the Tulsa Daily World. Public Domain.

When she returned on June 2^nd, she found the Garment Factory and her home burned to the ground .¹⁷ She lost $2,500, which is roughly equivalent to $32,697 today. ¹⁸

Wells’s neighbor, John Williams, owner of the East End Garage (and spouse of Loula T. Willams), lost $8,500 , while the Greenwood Public Library lost $750.

While Wells’s losses weren’t the highest nor the lowest in the community, they were certainly devastating. Like many Greenwood residents, she worked to put her life back together and to tend to the needs of her neighbors. She built up three small rooms and sheltered several people.

Like other Greenwood community members, Wells was “crushed but not conquered.” ¹⁹

In August 1922, Wells traveled to Boston to present the plight of the Greenwood community to the Elks Grand Lodge and Temple of IBPOEW in Boston. Her efforts generated funds and clothing, which she brought back to Tulsa to provide for nearly 300 persons. Parrish recognized this relief work, and said the following of Wells:

“Too much cannot be said of this noble woman and her great work during the great disaster of June 1st, 1921… no one receives more hospitality than those who visit Mrs. Wells. Her table is always ready to feed the hungry, her roof to shelter the homeless. Tulsa can well be proud of such a woman.” ²⁰

Unfortunately, little information is available about Dora Wells after this date. Oklahoma death records indicate that she remained in the state and died sometime between 1962 and 1966.²¹

Autumn Bean and Elizabeth Thomas

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Bibliography:

Alwyn Barr. “Late Nineteenth-Century Texas,” https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/late-nineteenth-century-texas.

Joseph Bernardo, ” National Negro Business League (1900 – ), January 30, 2020, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/national-negro-business-league/.

Death Index Ok2explore.org.

“History of the Order of the Eastern Star,” General Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star.

IMPROVED BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER ELKS OF THE WORLD, INC. ibpoew.org

“Inflation Rate between 1920-2021: Inflation Calculator,” accessed February 15, 2021, https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1920?amount=2500.

Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa 1921: Reporting A Massacre. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019).

“Ladies Court Organized” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK), April 18, 1914.

“Local Business League Elects Officers” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK) Jan 22, 1921.

Mary Elizabeth Jones Parrish. Events of the Tulsa Disaster, (Tulsa, OK: Out on a Limb Publishing, 1998).

“News Around the City” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK) May 9, 1914.

“News Around the City” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK) Sept 12, 1914.

“Officers Elected Of Queen Bethsheba Grand Chapter Order of Eastern Star” Muskogee Cimeter Sept. 2, 1916.

“Reception Committee” Tulsa Star April 25, 1914; Tulsa Star April 18, 1914.

Tulsa City Directory, 1920; imaged in “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995;” Digital images. Ancestry.com. (http://ancestry.com)

“Tulsa Daughter Elks are Organized” Tulsa Star April 24, 1920; “Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World” ibpoew.org

“Wells Hair Manufacturing School” Ad in Tulsa Star, (Tulsa, OK) Sept. 19, 1913.

“When is a Deacon not a real Deacon?” Tulsa Daily World July 31, 1912.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Roll: T625_1487; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 256; Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Citation:

To cite this essay, using the following: Autumn Bean and Elizabeth Thomas, “Dora Wells” in Brandy Thomas Wells, Ed. Women of Black Wall Street, 2021, https://blackwallstreetwomen.com/dora-wells/. (Access date).

Any use of images on the website must be attributed to the original site/copyright holder.

DORA WELLS

Business Extraordinaire | Engaged Citizen | & Fund-Raiser

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