As curiosity in Oklahoma’s traditionally all-Black towns grows and a associated exhibition opens in downtown Tulsa, the state Historic Preservation Office is celebrating an award that can permit it to proceed its efforts to survey the 13 communities.
The $75,000 the workplace obtained is an element of $1.2 million in grants the National Park Service is allocating to assist spotlight underrepresented communities throughout the nation, based on a press launch.
The history of all-Black towns in Oklahoma begins primarily after the Civil War. Black freedmen got here to Oklahoma hoping to discover a haven within the soon-to-be state.
Towns corresponding to Langston and Boley, which famend educator Booker T. Washington as soon as visited, had been capable of thrive throughout that period. After statehood, nonetheless, the Great Depression and racial discrimination because of Jim Crow legal guidelines induced many of these towns to say no. From the unique 50 recognized Black towns, solely 13 stay.
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The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is highlighting these towns with a new exhibition known as “All-Black Towns of Oklahoma,” which opened Friday on the Henry Zarrow Center for Art & Education in downtown Tulsa.
The exhibition will present historic paperwork, images and movies, in addition to present-day pictures of the communities.
As half of the occasion, a symposium will likely be held on the Zarrow Center on Feb. 18.
The purpose of the exhibition is for individuals to find out about “how lively the towns were” earlier than the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Great Depression and the way “vibrant” the remaining 13 are, stated Sean Latham, director of the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.
Having the archives and images proven on the Zarrow Center is important as a result of it sits within the center of Tulsa’s Arts and Greenwood districts, Latham stated.
It’s additionally vital for individuals to “understand that Greenwood isn’t the only Black history in Oklahoma,” he stated. The exhibition exhibits “the dreams of Black freedom” that introduced individuals right here and the racist historical past that affected them.
The artifacts are put collectively in a solution to showcase the foundations of the towns and the way their connections to the state have developed, stated Dr. Dayne Riley, a curator of the exhibition.
It’s needed for individuals to “recognize that these towns exist, and they each have an interesting history,” he stated.
The exhibition will run by means of Feb. 25, and admission is free.
Featured video: A glance inside Greenwood Rising(tncms-asset)e9415926-bc47-5b7b-9525-833b78d40b9a[0](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)ff0d3928-8e3c-11ed-bbb6-43d34febf1df[1](/tncms-asset)
Photos: The 13 historic all-Black towns that stay in Oklahoma
All-black towns nonetheless in existence
All-black towns grew in Indian Territory after the Civil War when the previous slaves of the Five Tribes settled collectively for mutual safety and financial safety. When the United States authorities pressured American Indians to simply accept particular person land allotments, most Indian “freedmen” selected land subsequent to different African-Americans. They created cohesive, affluent farming communities that would assist companies, colleges and church buildings, ultimately forming towns. Source: okhistory.org
Clearview
Located in Okfuskee County eight miles southeast of Okemah, Clearview was based in 1903 alongside the tracks of the Fort Smith and Western Railroad. J. A. Roper, Lemuel Jackson and John Grayson platted the city web site and shaped the Lincoln Townsite Company to draw settlers and promote the settlement. From its starting the neighborhood supported a newspaper, the Lincoln Tribune, which developed into the Clearview Patriarch. Grayson and Roper additionally organized the Abe Lincoln Trading Company to function a basic retailer, deal in farm produce, and purchase and promote actual property.
The 1907 inhabitants determine of 618 declined to 420 by the late Nineteen Thirties. The Great Depression and the falling value of cotton had severely crippled the city. The 2010 U.S. Census counted 48 residing there.
Pictured is the Oklahoma African-American Educators Hall of Fame that opened in 2011 within the Clearview Community Center.
Source: okhistory.org
Vernon
An all-black city in southwestern McIntosh County, Vernon was established in 1911 on the Tankard Ranch within the Creek Nation. Thomas Haynes secured a lot of the land for the townsite and performed a big half in organizing the neighborhood. Its title honored Bishop W. T. Vernon of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When the Julius Rosenwald Fund offered cash to assist construct a public faculty, Vernon turned one of the primary communities in Oklahoma to obtain help from that philanthropic supply.
The Vernon Rock Front Post Office is listed within the National Register of Historic Places. Rock Hill School is listed within the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory as a useful resource associated to African American historical past. Like many rural towns of Oklahoma, Vernon suffered financial misery through the Great Depression. No inhabitants statistics are accessible.
Source: okhistory.org
Langston
The city of Langston in Logan County is 10 miles northeast of Guthrie. The title honors John Mercer Langston, an African-American educator and U.S. consultant from Virginia. Because Langston and Brooksville started in Oklahoma Territory, they differ from the opposite 13 surviving all-black towns. Although E. P. McCabe has been credited for founding the city, Charles Robbins, a white man, owned the land and filed a city survey and plat in 1891. The two males opened the city April 22, 1890.
In 1897, by means of the affect of McCabe, the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature established the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (later Langston University) at Langston. The school helped Langston endure the Great Depression.
Many distinguished Oklahomans have made Langston their residence or had been affiliated with the college, together with Melvin Tolson, Ada Louis Sipuel Fisher, Clara Luper, E. Melvin Porter, Frederick Moon, Marques Haynes, Zelia Breaux, Isaac W. Young, Inman Page and Zella Black Patterson. Simon Alexander Haley, the daddy of acclaimed creator Alex Haley, taught on the school. The 2010 census discovered 1,724 residing in Langston.
Source: okhistory.org
Brooksville
Located in Pottawatomie County 4 miles southwest of Tecumseh, Brooksville was established in 1903. Originally, the city was named Sewell, after a white physician who owned a lot of the encompassing land and who attended the residents. In 1912, the title modified to Brooksville in honor of the primary African-American within the space, A. R. Brooks, a cotton purchaser and farmer. His son, W. M. Brooks, turned the primary postmaster.
A declining cotton market and the Great Depression made life tough in Brooksville, as in lots of Oklahoma communities. Most of the residents departed, however the city survived. It included in October 1972. At the flip of the twenty first century, Brooksville had 90 residents, however by 2010, the quantity had dropped to 63.
Source: okhistory.org
Grayson
Formerly often known as Wildcat, Grayson is located in southeastern Okmulgee County. The city was named for Creek Chief George W. Grayson. A Grayson submit workplace was established Feb. 10, 1902, and was discontinued April 30, 1929. By 1909 the small rural neighborhood boasted 5 basic shops, two blacksmiths, two drug shops, a doctor, and a cotton gin. At the flip of the twenty first century Grayson’s inhabitants was 64.1 % African-American, 9.8 % white and 9.8 % American Indian. It had two public colleges, two church buildings, and a neighborhood heart the place space residents voted.
Here, Shirley Nero takes a photograph of an outdated two-cell jail constructing in Grayson in 2013.
Source: okhistory.org
Lima
Lima is in Seminole County between Seminole and Wewoka. At the flip of the twentieth century, Seminoles and Seminole freedmen occupied the world. The neighborhood often known as Lima, named for the native limestone quarries, existed not less than by 1904 and doubtless earlier. The submit workplace survived from 1907 to 1957, and Grudge V. Gross served as the primary postmaster. Established on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Lima was included in 1913.
In 1926, the invention and improvement of the Greater Seminole Oil Field introduced prosperity and white settlers to the city. The newcomers began a separate village east of Lima, which turned often known as New Lima. This neighborhood by no means included however constructed its personal faculty, submit workplace and companies. The mixed inhabitants numbered 239 in 1930 and 271 in 1940. With the decline within the oil increase, the inhabitants dropped. In 1957, with the tip of segregation, the Lima and New Lima colleges merged. As the twenty first century started, nearly 90 % of the inhabitants of Lima and New Lima commuted to work, most to Seminole or Wewoka.
Source: okhistory.org
Boley
Boley is the biggest and most well-known of the all-black towns of Oklahoma. The city was named after J. B. Boley, a railroad official of the Fort Smith and Western Railway. Founded in 1903 and included in 1905, Boley and the African-Americans residing within the space prospered for a few years.
By 1911, Boley boasted greater than 4,000 residents and lots of companies, together with two banks and three cotton gins. Booker T. Washington, founder of the National Negro Business League and the Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama, visited the city in 1905 and proclaimed it “the most enterprising and in many ways the most interesting of the Negro towns in the United States.” The city supported two faculties: Creek-Seminole College and Methodist Episcopal College. Boley additionally had its personal electrical producing plant, water system and ice plant. The Masonic Grand Lodge accomplished an impressive Masonic Temple round 1912. At the time, it was stated to be the tallest constructing between Okmulgee and Oklahoma City.
Like many rural towns, Boley suffered by means of onerous occasions within the Nineteen Twenties and Nineteen Thirties. At the daybreak of the twenty first century, with a inhabitants of 1,126, the city was experiencing financial rejuvenation. The quantity of residents was 1,184 in 2010. Boley nonetheless hosts the nation’s oldest African-American community-based rodeo each Memorial Day weekend.
Source: okhistory.org
Tatums
Lee Tatum and his spouse, Mary, utilized for a submit workplace designation in 1895, starting the city of Tatums in Indian Territory. A resort was inbuilt 1899, a blacksmith store in 1900, a cotton gin and sawmill in 1910, and a motor storage in 1918. Oil wells had been drilled within the space within the Nineteen Twenties, bringing wealth to a number of of Tatums’ farmers and landowners. The Julius Rosenwald Fund helped construct a brick faculty in 1925–26, and the WPA constructed one other in 1936. Tatums’ Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, which is listed within the National Register of Historic Places, was accomplished in 1919.
Tatums skilled the crippling results of the Great Depression, and lots of residents migrated to city areas. At the tip of the twentieth century, the inhabitants stood at 172, and the city awaited financial revival. The 2010 census counted 151 residents.
Source: okhistory.org
Rentiesville
Located 17 miles southwest of Muskogee, Rentiesville possesses a novel mix of musical and educational achievements, based on Tulsa World tales. This all-black city was residence to the late famed blues man D.C. Minner, who yearly hosted the Dusk ‘Til Dawn Blues Festival in Rentiesville, a pageant that draws blues artists and followers alike. Also defining the small city, which was established in 1903, is its pivotal function within the Civil War. Oklahoma’s most vital Civil War occasion, the Battle of Honey Springs, was fought in Rentiesville and is called the “Gettysburg of the West.”
Here, D.C. Minner’s guitar is on show within the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in Rentiesville.
Red Bird
The Barber and Ruffin households settled within the Red Bird neighborhood earlier than 1900, and different households quickly adopted. The settlement attained a submit workplace in 1902, with A. A. White as the primary postmaster. In 1889, E. L. Barber, one of the city’s builders, organized the First Baptist Church, the biggest church in Red Bird. He additionally turned Red Bird’s first justice of the peace and served as an early mayor. The Red Bird Investment Company recruited African-American households from all elements of the South to settle within the newly established city. More than 600 individuals attended the grand opening at Red Bird, Aug. 10, 1907. By 1920, Red Bird’s inhabitants was 336.
Red Bird confronted devastation and inhabitants decline led to by falling cotton costs and by the onset of the Great Depression. In 1930, the inhabitants was 218. It rose and fell over the a long time, reaching a excessive of 411 in 1950 however dropping to 310 in 1960 and 199 in 1980. At the start of the twenty first century, the city was steadily rebuilding, though the inhabitants stood at solely 137 in 2010.
Source: okhistory.org
Taft
Taft began because the neighborhood of Twine, which had a submit workplace by 1902. In 1904, residents named the city Taft in honor of then Secretary of War (later President) William Howard Taft. The settlement developed within the Creek Nation on land allotted to Creek freedmen.
Early within the city’s historical past, the residents promoted their new neighborhood all through the South. The Reaves Realty Company marketed Taft because the quickest rising black neighborhood in Oklahoma. Before 1910, the neighborhood supported three basic shops, one drugstore, a brickyard, a soda pop manufacturing unit, a livery steady, a gristmill, a lumberyard, two lodges, a restaurant, a financial institution and a funeral residence.
From a inhabitants of 250 in 1907, Taft grew to 690 by 1937 after which slowly declined; by 1990, the inhabitants was 400. In 1973, the city elected Lelia Foley-Davis (pictured) as mayor, making her the primary feminine African-American mayor within the United States. Davis stepped down in 1989 however was re-elected in 1999. At the strategy of the twenty first century, Taft exhibited a robust financial system. The 2000 census counted 197 residents, and the 2010 census counted 250.
Source: okhistory.org
Summit
Summit, platted as South Muskogee in 1910, had a submit workplace as early as 1896. The city is in Muskogee County, 6 miles southwest of the town of Muskogee. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway had a depot in the neighborhood. The city could have been named Summit as a result of it was the best level on the railroad between Arkansas and the North Canadian rivers. Rev. L. W. Thomas organized the St. Thomas Primitive Baptist Church in 1923; in 1929, the congregation constructed a church constructing that also stands. Although not included till 1980, the city has at all times been self-governed.
Summit suffered through the Great Depression, and after World War II, flight to city facilities added to the decline. The inhabitants rose to 226 in 2000 however fell to 139 in 2010.
Source: okhistory.org
Tullahassee
Tullahassee is taken into account the oldest of the surviving all-black towns of Indian Territory. The roots of the neighborhood had been planted in 1850 when the Creek Nation constructed a college alongside the ruts of the Texas Road. Near the college, the inhabitants of Creek freedmen elevated whereas the inhabitants of Creeks declined. The council transferred the American Indian college students to a different faculty and gave Tullahassee to the freedmen on Oct. 24, 1881. The city was included in 1902 and platted in 1907. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway line ran by means of the city, serving to to draw settlers.
In 1916, the African Methodist Episcopal Church established Flipper Davis College, the one personal establishment for African-Americans within the state, at Tullahassee. The school closed after the tip of the 1935 session. Tullahassee’s inhabitants held regular at almost 200 from 1920. In 2000, the city sheltered 106 residents, and the 2010 census once more discovered 106 individuals residing there.
The Tullahassee Creek Indian Cemetery has been right here because the turn-of-the-century.
Source: okhistory.org
All-black towns now not inhabited
Events of the Nineteen Twenties and Nineteen Thirties spelled the tip for many black communities. The Great Depression devastated these towns, forcing residents to go west and north in search of jobs. As a consequence, many of the black towns couldn’t survive. Even one of essentially the most profitable towns, Boley, declared chapter in 1939.
Source: okhistory.org
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