OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma judge threw out a lawsuit that sought financial restitution for the three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, effectively ending any further attempts by survivors’ attorneys to seek reparations.

Tulsa County District Court Judge Caroline Wall on Friday dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit that was filed against the City of Tulsa and others in an effort to obtain legal justice for the racist attack’s survivors and the Black Tulsa community. The survivors, ranging in age from 102 to 109 years old, lived through what is considered one of the worst incidents of domestic terrorism in American history.

Between May 31, 1921, and June 1, 1921, an angry white mob stormed the well-established and prosperous Black community of Greenwood, Tulsa, also known as Black Wall Street. More than 1,000 homes were burned and businesses were looted and left in ruins as 35 city blocks were destroyed.

Although just 39 deaths were listed in official records, estimates now put the number at closer to 300, and thousands more were left homeless.

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020, stated that the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre represented an “ongoing public nuisance,” to survivors Viola Fletcher, Lessie Benningfield Randle, and Hughes Van Ellis, Sr. The lawsuit also said the destruction of what had been America’s most prosperous Black businesses community continues to affect Tulsa.

Wall wrote in her order that she was dismissing the case based on arguments from the city, regional chamber of commerce and other state and local government agencies. When a case is dismissed with prejudice, it acts as a final and permanent dismissal, meaning the case cannot be refiled.

The city has yet to receive the full court order, according to Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum.