Viola Fletcher

Viola Fletcher (; May 10, 1914 – November 24, 2025), also known as Mother Fletcher, was an American woman who, at the time of her death, was the oldest known living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre and a supercentenarian. One hundred years after the massacre, in May of 2021, she testified before Congress about the need for reparations.

Early life Fletcher was born May 10, 1914, in Comanche, Oklahoma, to Lucinda Ellis and John Wesley Ford. (While The Washington Post reported Fletcher's birthday as May 5, 1914, in 2021, local media in Tulsa report her 110th birthday as May 10, 2024, in 2024.) She was the second oldest of eight children.

Fletcher told Congress that due to family circumstances after the massacre, she left school after the 4th grade.

Fletcher was seven years old at the time of the massacre. She was in bed, asleep, on May 31, 1921, when the massacre began; her mother woke the family and they fled. The family lost everything but the clothes they were wearing. She testified that the city of Tulsa had used the names of victims and images of the massacre to generate money for the city.

A Justice Department review in 2024 found that federal prosecution may have been possible a century ago, but there was no longer an avenue to bring a criminal case launched under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. They met with Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo.

In 2021, on the occasion of the centennial of the massacre, an AI-powered conversational video project using StoryFile technology debuted at the Gilcrease Museum and was made accessible to the public online, so people could ask her questions about her experiences.

Personal life and death In 1932, at the age of 18, she married Robert Fletcher (d. 1941) and moved with him to California, where they both worked in shipyards, Viola as an assistant welder. She worked until she was 85.

On May 10, 2024, Fletcher turned 110, and became a supercentenarian.

Fletcher died on November 24, 2025, at the age of 111. Her age was validated by the Gerontology Research Group.