EMMA GURLEY

Co-Owner and Operator of the Gurley Hotel & Fundraiser

Emma Evans Gurley was born around 1870 in Tennessee.¹ It is likely that she moved to Arkansas some time before she turned 18, as some accounts describe Emma and her soon-to-be husband, Ottowa, as “childhood sweethearts.” ²

Marriage License of Emma and Ottowa W. Gurley

On January 25, 1888, Emma Evans married Ottowa “O.W.” Gurley, and became Mrs. Emma Gurley.³The pair married in Jefferson, Arkansas, but soon left for Indian Territory because they heard that the area held better advancement opportunities for African American citizens than their home state.⁴

In Arkansas, African Americans contended with discrimination of all sorts. They struggled to enjoy their rights to citizenship in the face of Black Codes and to protect their families against such evils as the convict lease system and lynching.

Photograph from the Cherokee Outlet Opening in 1893⁵

In 1893, the Gurleys ran in the Cherokee Outlet Opening, Oklahoma’s fourth and preeminent land run.⁶ There, they staked claim to a plot of land that would become Perry.

After realizing the opportunity that Tulsa, a new oil town offered, the Gurleys moved and purchased 40 acres of land north of the Frisco railroad tracks.

Segregationist policies restricted Black men from working in the oil industry. It also mandated that plots be set aside and sold only to Black buyers. Despite this extreme prejudice, the Gurleys were committed to making the new town their home. Together, the two came to own a significant amount of land and a number of businesses in the growing Greenwood area. ⁷

It was not only O.W. who made land purchases and explored new business ventures. Emma Gurley did so as well.

Emma’s name appears in the numerous property records. In 1905, the couple bought two lots in her name. ⁸ In May of 1906, she purchased property in Block 46 from a local white man, Giuseppe “Joe” Piro.⁹

Advertisement for the Gurley Hotel in the Tulsa Star on November 1, 1913.

Emma’s work as proprietress of the Gurley Hotel was also widely recognized during her lifetime.

Several articles were published about her labors and her character.¹⁰

Once, three White men approached Mrs. Gurley and asked her to provide them with “good time girls.” She flatly refused. When O.W. heard of the incident, he threw the men out of the hotel. Onlookers remarked that the men were not great fighters, but they “were some sprinters.”¹¹

While quite busy managing the Gurleys’ business, Emma remained heavily involved in civic organizations.

She was the Grand Treasurer of the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten (S.M.T.) of Oklahoma, a secret society masonic order in Muskogee, in 1920.¹²

In 1914, she was elected Associate Matron of the Eastern Star.¹³ The Eastern Star, also known as the Grand Order of the Eastern Star, is an organization for female relatives of Masons in the state of Oklahoma. ¹⁴

Emma and O.W. were members at First Baptist Church in Greenwood.¹⁵ In 1918, she traveled to the National Baptist Convention in St. Louis.¹⁶ The National Baptist Convention was an African American convention of churches which organized missions, publishing, and occasionally erected buildings.

The convention had several subcommittee-esque conventions, including the Baptist Young People’s Union, the Sunday School Congress, the National Baptist Benefit Association, and the Women’s Convention Auxiliary of which Mrs. Gurley was likely a member. ¹⁷

The Tulsa Race Massacre

A picture postcard showing the destruction of the Greenwood District during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. A printed caption on the images states, “Ruins of the Tulsa Race Riot 6-1-21. Tulsa Historical Society and Museum.

On the night of the Tulsa Race Massacre, community members gathered at the Gurley Hotel. Emma offered her business as a shelter from the mob that was looting and burning Greenwood. When the rioters arrived at the hotel, they forced everyone out and burned it down.

While and Emma and O.W. fled to safety, she fell. Worried more about her husband that herself, she instructed O.W. to keep running.

They were reunited at McNulty park, where black refugees from Greenwood were being held, “against their will,” supposedly for their own protection.¹⁸

The Tulsa Convention Hall, one of several hastily formed shelters for Greenwood residents unhoused by the massacre¹⁹

The baseball park was one of several hastily thrown together shelters for those whose homes were taken from them in the Massacre. Other places included the Convention Hall and the fairgrounds.²⁰

Following the massacre, the Gurleys aided other Greenwood residents in rebuilding. O.W. was an active member of the East End Relief Committee, a committee formed by African American property owners in an attempt to recover their losses, and worked to rebuild some of their property.²¹

However, Emma and O.W.’s wealth had been destroyed. Their losses are valued at over $250,000 (around 3.4 million today).²²

Seeing no future in Tulsa, they left for Los Angeles, California.

They likely were attracted to the city because it was a popular destination for Black Americans migrating out of the South for economic opportunities, including those associated with the First World War. There, they joined other Black Americans from Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia. ²³

There, the Gurleys lived in a four bedroom home in the southern part of the city. They opened a hotel, and while Emma likely still worked as O.W.’s partner, official records list her as a maid.²⁴

Not much else is known about the Gurleys’ time in California. The couple likely did not maintain contacts with Greenwood residents since many assumed that OW. died during the Massacre.

Emma Gurley passed away on February 21, 1938, at the age of 68.²⁵ Her life as a devoted wife and excellent business woman continues to be understudied. As we continue to learn more about Greenwood, we must pay close attention to Emma Gurley’s experiences.

Elizabeth Thomas

Take a short quiz on Gurley’s life!

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Bibliography:

Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

“Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NM5W-96G : 9 March 2021), O W Gurley, 25 Jan 1888; citing Marriage, Jefferson, Arkansas, United States, county offices, Arkansas; FHL microfilm 983,667.

“Cherokee Outlet Opening,” (The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: Oklahoma Historical Society). https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CH021

Scott Ellsworth, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. (Feb. 21, 2001).

“Eastern Star Installs Officers,” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK), December 26, 1914.

Alexander A. Forbes. Cherokee Outlet Land Opening, photograph, 1893~; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1596042/m1/1/?q=cherokee%20outlet%20opening), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society

“History Of Order Of The Eastern Star,” General Grand Chapter OES – Order Of The Eastern Star, November 14, 2013, https://www.easternstar.org/information/history-of-order-of-the-eastern-star/.

“History of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.” https://www.nationalbaptist.com/about-nbc/our-history

“Insults Colored Woman, Gets Kicked Out- Three White Men Get in Bad When They Visited Gurley Hotel for Immoral Purposes” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK), November 11, 1916

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

Joe Miller. [Photograph 2012.201.B0390.0087], photograph, 1971; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc425403/), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.

Tim Madigan, The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, (MacMillan Publishing, 2001).

Carlos Moreno “The Victory of Greenwood: O.W. Gurley” https://thevictoryofgreenwood.com/2020/02/15/the-victory-of-greenwood-o-w-gurley/;“Ottowa (O.W.) Gurley,” Uncrowned Community Builders, https://www.uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com/person/ottowa-o-w.

“Mrs. O.W. Gurley Returned,” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK), August 28, 1920

“News of the Week,” Tulsa Star (Tulsa, OK) September 7, 1918

“Ottowa (O.W.) Gurley,” Uncrowned Community Builders, https://www.uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com/person/ottowa-o-w.

“Ottowa W. Gurley,” Black Wall Street USA, http://blackwallstreet.org/owgurley.

“O.W. Gurley,” The Victory of Greenwood, April 6, 2021, https://thevictoryofgreenwood.com/2020/02/15/the-victory-of-greenwood-o-w-gurley/.

“Progress of the Race in our Sister State,” Topeka Plaindealer (Topeka, KS) April 14, 1916

“Propaganda Would Destroy Relief Work” Black Dispatch August 5, 1921.

Kelly Simpson, “The Great Migration: Creating a New Black Identity in Los Angeles,” KCET (February 15, 2012). https://www.kcet.org/history-society/the-great-migration-creating-a-new-black-identity-in-los-angeles

“United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database.

1930 Census, Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Page: 19A; Enumeration District: 0301; FHL microfilm: 2339879, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Citation:

To cite this essay using the following, Elizabeth Thomas, “Emma Gurley” in Brandy Thomas Wells, Ed. Women of Black Wall Street, 2021, https://blackwallstreetwomen.com/emma-gurley/ (Access date).

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