African Americans in Oklahoma

African Americans in Oklahoma

Elderly African American Sharecroppers in 1914
Total population
289,961

African Americans in Oklahoma or Black Oklahomans are residents of the state of Oklahoma who are of African American ancestry. African Americans have a rich history in Oklahoma. ^{[1] [2]} An estimated 7.8% of Oklahomans are Black. ^[3]

African-Americans first settled in Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears. While many of these people were enslaved Africans, around 500 chose to do so in order to escape slavery. ^[4]

Racism against Blacks has been common throughout the state's history, manifesting itself in scenarios such as the Tulsa race massacre, which targeted members of Tulsa's affluent African-American Greenwood District. ^[5]

History

Staff at the American Red Cross disaster relief headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after the Tulsa race massacre of June 1921

Black slaves came with their Native American slave owners across the Trail of Tears to their new territorial home in Oklahoma. ^[1]

All-black towns

Entirely black towns and neighborhoods were historically common in Oklahoma, and thirteen still exist. ^{[6] [7]} This is a list of all remaining African American towns in Oklahoma:

• Brooksville
• Boley
• Clearview
• Grayson
• IXL
• Langston
• Lima
• Redbird
• Rentiesville
• Summit
• Taft
• Tatums
• Tullahassee
• Vernon

Black newspapers

A list of historically black-owned/edited newspapers, serving primarily black communities, established in Oklahoma. ^[8]

• Clearview Tribune
• Creek Baptist Herald
• Lawton Community Guide
• The Baptist Informer
• The Beacon
• The Black Dispatch
• The Boley Informer
• The Boley News
• The Bookertree Searchlight
• The Chickasaw Rival
• The Clarksville Echo
• The Clearview Patriarch
• The Langston City Herald
• The Lawton Oklahoma Eagle
• The Lima Observer
• The Lincoln Tribune
• The Muskogee Cimeter
• The Muskogee Lantern
• The New Community Guide
• The Oklahoma Dispatch
• The Oklahoma Eagle
• The Oklahoma Guide
• The Oklahoma Safeguard
• The Oklahoma Tribune
• The Paden Press
• The Paden Times
• The Patriarch
• The Peoples Elevator
• The Taborian Monitor
• The Tulsa Star
• The Wagoner Echo
• The Weekly Progress
• The Western World
• The Wewoka and Lima Courier
• The Wichita Observer

Notable residents

• Green Currin, first African American to serve in the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature
• Lelia Foley, first Black female mayor in the United States
• A. C. Hamlin, first African American in the Oklahoman legislature
• Barry Sanders,famous former running back for the Detroit Lions
• Edward P. McCabe, politician

See also

• Oklahoma portal

• Choctaw freedmen
• List of African-American newspapers in Oklahoma
• Demographics of Oklahoma
• History of slavery in Oklahoma
• History of Oklahoma

References

1. "African Americans". Oklahoma Historical Society .
2. "Black History is Oklahoma History". Oklahoma Historical Society . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
3. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Oklahoma". www.census.gov. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
4. "African American History & Culture in Oklahoma". TravelOK.com - Oklahoma's Official Travel & Tourism Site. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
5. Huddleston, Tom Jr. (4 July 2020). "'Black Wall Street': The history of the wealthy Black community and the massacre perpetrated there 100 years ago". CNBC. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
6. "Throwback Tulsa: The 13 historic all-Black towns that remain in Oklahoma". Tulsa World. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
7. Young, Marcus (15 October 2021). "All-Black Towns of Oklahoma". State Historic Preservation Office . Retrieved 30 December 2021– via ArcGIS Story Maps.
8. "African-American Newspapers". The Gateway to Oklahoma History. Retrieved 4 May 2023.