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More than 100 years after the Tulsa race riot displaced hundreds of blacks and burned down the prosperous black Wall Street entrepreneurial district, a new chapter is being written by those connected to its legacy. Founded by Tyrance Billingsley II, Black Tech Street is part of a new global tech hub for black entrepreneurs in Tulsa and carries a heavy, hot torch.
“What would have happened if Black Wall Street had been supported and not destroyed?” Billingsley asks 3BL CSRWire reporters. “When I think about the level of perseverance these entrepreneurs took to build these amazing businesses during the Jim Crow era, it reminds me a lot of the tech industry.”
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As a direct descendant of the men who built the first Black Wall Street, Billings feels a personal responsibility to fulfill this mission. But he doesn’t go to the block alone. In partnership with innovation company Second Banana, Black Tech Street can facilitate investment in black startups, encourage large tech companies to open hubs in the city and hire black workers, and provide resources for black entrepreneurs to build their businesses. Other groups partnering with the organization include Building Tulsa, an accelerator network comprised of ACT Tulsa, TechStars and the Lightship Foundation.
“This is a collaboration between the city, local organizations like our regional chamber and entrepreneurs,” said Arthur Johnson, senior vice president of economic development at the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce. “I’ve never seen such intentionality, not just in developing black-owned businesses, but in black tech talent.”
Building in Tulsa has one main goal, and that is to close the racial wealth gap in Tulsa and beyond. “We want to build multi-generational wealth, and the fact of the matter is, the fastest tool to grow wealth in this country is technology,” said Ashley Sims, managing director of ORGAN.
We know that the advances in technology in the last 30 years are the reason for most of the wealth creation. What we do know is that black entrepreneurs and innovators are completely marginalized and underrepresented in the industry, so our chances of sharing in that wealth are slim. According to a 2022 report by the Kapor Center and the NAACP, 13% of Americans are black, and only 3% of those are tech players. But along with cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Birmingham, Tulsa is trying to change that by attracting major tech businesses and investing in black entrepreneurs, all of which are boosting their own economies.
“Tulsa’s history makes us more poised than other places to have significant conversations about the lack of access for black entrepreneurs and the disparity around capital dollars,” says Sims.
Black Tech Street and its affiliates are investing not only in the city’s entrepreneurs, but also in its students and teachers. “Technology has become an integral part of many different industries, and it’s only going to accelerate,” Johnson said. “The skill set is changing so that you don’t need a four-year degree in computer science, but you do need some technical knowledge, and the education has to start earlier.”
This year, the HP Teaching Fellows program was launched by HP and the organization’s Digital Hope, aiming to help North Tulsa educators use technology in innovative ways.
For Tulsa and its black Wall Street heritage, all roads lead to gold, or at least accessible capital for black entrepreneurs.
“We’re changing the narrative of what a tech entrepreneur looks like and who can succeed in tech,” Billinsley says. “You have to be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m what a tech CEO looks like,’ or ‘I’m what a founder of a billion-dollar company looks like.’
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