Who is Viola Ford Fletcher?
Viola Fletcher, also known as Mother Fletcher, is an empowered woman and humanitarian who exemplifies grace, dignity, resiliency, perseverance, and pragmatism. She is a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and sister who knows how to move through challenging circumstances.
At 109 years old, she is most recognized as the oldest known survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre. With her family, including four of her siblings, she lived in Greenwood, a wealthy Black neighborhood of Tulsa. Fletcher, then 7 years old, was in bed asleep. She woke to her mother gathering the family to urgently leave their home as the violence ensued in the streets. The families lost everything except the clothes they were wearing.
One hundred years after the killings, on May 19, 2021, she testified before Congress, “I will never forget the violence of the White mob when we left our home,” she said, “I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams.” Even today, Viola sleeps sitting up on her couch with the lights on."
A book about Viola’s life is now available.
"Every day, I have lived through the massacre. While our country may forget this history, I cannot." Viola Ford Fletcher
Viola Ford Fletcher's memoir Don't Let Them Bury My Story vividly recounts the lasting impact of the Tulsa Massacre on her life. As the oldest survivor and last living witness of the tragic events that unfolded in 1921, she shares her testimony with poignant clarity. From the terror of her childhood as a seven-year-old fleeing the burning streets of Greenwood to her current role as a 109-year-old family matriarch seeking justice for the affected families, Mother Fletcher takes us on a journey through a lifetime of pain and perseverance. Her inspiring story is a powerful reminder that some wounds never fully heal, and we must never forget the lessons of our history.
More publicly available information about her and others impacted by the hateful acts can be found online.
Unprecedented in many ways
The VFFF is the accessible rallying point where pragmatism and innovation merge to create real-world solutions. We are leveling the playing field; raising the bar to heights never imagined
Breakthrough Mindsets
We operate at the forefront of disruptive change; lifting people from challenging circumstances is not simple. That is why we are unafraid to dialogue, engaging broad perspectives and experiences to operationalize programs that affect the root causes of our most pressing challenges.
Our Vision
is leaders joining in thought and action across historical boundaries to overcome generational disparity and hopelessness; globally by using common knowledge, wisdom, and best practices.
Our mission
is empowering, advancing, and improving people’s physical, financial, mental, and spiritual well-being. To do this, we advance sustainable systems for caring for people, families, communities, societies, nations, and our shared environments in the USA and Africa.
The Best and Brightest
We are requisitioning the top talent and expertise so that together we may evaluate, recommend and support optimal funding and resource allocations to get the right things done that matter to people in need. We hope to set a new standard that includes philanthropic giving, fund usage, measured and monitored outcomes.
How we do it?
We are setting the standard for doing the right things with wealth, power, influence, heart, and intention. The VFFF works to move beyond constraints that limit people and society. Given a supportive environment, we believe people possess the unique ability to achieve their best. A set of human basics unites us across races, creeds, genders, financial means, political and national boundaries. Attaining stability requires building, understanding, and leveraging healthy physical, mental, economic, and theo-spiritual systems.
The VFFF joins philanthropic giving and high-performance program initiatives that get things done that matter to not just some but all people.
We measure and monitor refining, continually improving our outcomes, so our collaborative work supports each person’s ability to creatively improve their lives.
We recognize that everyone everywhere is unique. That is why our initiatives are architected to support people to achieve their creative personal best through life’s essentials: health, experiential education, mentorship, and workforce opportunity.
Working collaboratively, our leadership alliances enable us to see, feel, think, and act from the top-down and the bottom-up. Together, we include, not overlook, the diverse connecting points between people and the planet.
Think Globally
Act Locally
Act Locally
Good decision-making is essential in our advanced age. The wars we wage many times begin between our ears and heart. Mobilizing our thoughts and actions builds generational momentum; historical decisions have lasting consequences. Under the Foundation, Viola inspires leaders to use their power and influence wisely, intelligently, and with the greatest impact for the Good.
Read Viola's Vision
