'A Home to Inherit' campaign aims to buy house for 111-year-old Tulsa Race Massacre survivor

Mother Viola Ford Fletcher is 111 years old—the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. She has lived through two world wars, the Civil Rights Movement, and one of the darkest chapters in Oklahoma history. But through it all, she has never owned a home.

Today, she shares a small senior living facility room with her 110-year-old roommate, Mother Lessie Randle, who is the second-oldest survivor of the massacre.

A new effort called ‘A Home to Inherit’ launched last week, hoping to give Fletcher something history has denied her: a home of her own.

Co-organizer Andrew Sartain says the campaign is about more than money:

“What she had taken away from her is also seen as the proverbial American dream… just simply a home.”

What the Initiative Would Provide

Organizers Sartain and journalist Deon Osbourne say the goal is to raise $1 million. All funds would go directly to Fletcher and her family through the Viola Ford Fletcher Foundation.

The money would cover:

1. A home in Fletcher’s name
2. 24-hour in-home care
3. Medical equipment to support her daily needs

Osbourne says it’s about giving her peace in her final years:

“We just really hope that the community wants to come through and give her last days the dignity that was denied to her during the Tulsa Race Massacre.”

A Chance to Inherit Peace

Fletcher has already received support from philanthropists and well-wishers—new dentures, new clothes, and a place in one of the nicest nursing homes in Tulsa. But she told organizers that what she wants most is a home.

She believes that if she had that, she could live another five years.

How to Help

The A Home to Inherit campaign has already raised more than $3,000. Donations can be made through GoFundMe, and more details are available on ahometoinherit.com.

Fletcher, who’s also a sports fan, says she hopes her next chapter includes not only a home, but also meeting Shaquille O’Neal and receiving a signed jersey from Shedeur Sanders.