Lessie Benningfield Randle, the last known Tulsa Race Massacre survivor, turns 112

The last known living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre celebrated a big milestone this week. Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is affectionately known as "Mother Randle," turned 112 on Wednesday. (KOCO via CNN)

TULSA, Oklahoma — The last known living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre celebrated a very large milestone this week.

Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is affectionately known as "Mother Randle," turned 112 on Tuesday.

Randle, who has spoken out against censoring Black history in education, was born in 1914 and was a young girl when she survived the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. She likened the 18-hour period to a war.

"White men with guns came and destroyed my community," Randle said to members of Congress on Capitol Hill in 2021. "We couldn't understand why. What did we do to them?"

She is the last known remaining survivor.

Two other survivors died in recent years. They were Hughes Van Ellis, who died in October 2023 at the age of 102, and Viola Fletcher, who died in November 2025 at the age of 111.

The three spoke in front of Congress to describe the horrors of what happened in 1921.

"I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home," Fletcher said in 2021. "I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street."

×