In Tulsa's Greenwood District, a dollar circulated at least 19 times inside the community before it left. That's where the name comes from, and that's the whole idea behind this platform.
In the early 1900s, segregation forced Black Tulsans to build a complete economy of their own. Banks, grocery stores, hotels, theaters, doctors, lawyers. Because there was nowhere else for that money to go, it stayed inside the community and kept changing hands.
On May 31, 1921, a white mob burned that neighborhood to the ground. An estimated 35 blocks destroyed in less than a day. Hundreds of people killed. Generations of wealth gone, and never repaid.
Every time someone chooses a Black-owned platform instead of the default option, that's a dollar, or an hour, or a download, circulating the way it once did on Greenwood Avenue. 19TIMES exists to make those platforms easy to find, so that choice is easier to make.
19TIMES launched on June 19th on purpose. The same number that represents how a dollar moved through Greenwood also marks the day freedom came. This platform is built on both.
The exact number is disputed. Sources cite anywhere from 19 to 100 times. 19 was chosen because it traces back to the Library of Congress and is one of the most repeated figures.
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