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 as of the 2020 census, constituting 289,961 individuals.[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] During the 19th century, pre-statehood Oklahoma was viewed as desirable for settlement by African-Americans seeking political freedom in the American Frontier.[5] Prior to the institution of Jim Crow laws, multiple Black Oklahomans had served in the territorial legislature.[5]
Oklahoma began instituting Jim Crow legislation in 1897, banning miscegenation and segregating Oklahoma's schools. Racism against Black Oklahomans 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.[6] Today, 13 of the over-50 settlements founded by Black Oklahomans still exist.[7]
History
19th century: Black people in the "Twin Territories"
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 during the Trail of Tears to their new territorial home in Oklahoma beginning in the 1830s.[1] Later in the 19th century, groups of African Americans would migrate to the Oklahoma Territory in the hopes of securing political freedoms.[8]
New York-born Edward P. McCabe, who founded the town of Langston, led a movement to create a Black-majority state in Oklahoma, and pushed for settlement in both the "Twin Territories" of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory.[5] McCabe described the region as a "mecca" for Black Americans seeking freedom from oppression.[9]
Tensions would arise at times in the late 19th century in the Twin Territories between Black tribal members and African-American settlers from elsewhere. Creek freedmen would reportedly refer to Black settlers as "state negroes", leading to tensions in towns like Boley, an all-black town founded by settlers. Conversely, there were instances of local Black newspapers founded by settlers criticizing Native American freedmen for selling their land allotments to white settlers.[8]
Beginning in 1897, the territorial legislature and its successor, the state legislature, enacted Jim Crow laws to restrict African Americans' rights. A total of 18 Jim Crow laws were passed from 1897 until 1957, including laws segregating Oklahoma schools.[12] Miscegenation between white and Black Oklahomas was made a felony subject to five years imprisonment, with a 1921 law banning marriage between Black Oklahomans and Native Americans.[12]
The Edmond Sun noted in 1905 that Oklahoma's Jim Crow laws were extraordinarily strict, even by the standards of the time, stating "Probably no other state or territory has built a stronger barrier against mixed schools".[13] In response to increased oppression, around 1,000 Black Oklahomans chose to migrate to the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta between 1905 and 1911.[14]
In 1921, members of Tulsa's Greenwood District (nicknamed "Black Wall Street"), home to a large number of African-American businesses, was targeted in the Tulsa race massacre.[6] Considered among the worst incidents of racial violence in American history, it had an estimated death toll between 100 and 300.[16] In the aftermath of the massacre, over 6,000 Black Oklahomans were detained by National Guard agents in internment camps.[17]
1958-present: Civil Rights era and post-segregation period
Beginning in 2002, the Tulsa race massacre (known as the "Tulsa Race Riot") became permitted to be taught in Oklahoma public schools. This marked a shift with the state's approach in past decades, which prohibited its instruction in public schools.
However, an investigation found that many Oklahoma students graduated without learning of the massacre, even after 2012 state standards required more specific language surrounding the event.[16] In 2021, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission was formed.[24]
Economic conditions
Inequalities continue to persist in the 21st century, with Black children in Oklahoma estimated in 2019 to be almost six times more likely to live in concentrated poverty than white peers.[25]
All-black towns
Entirely black towns and neighborhoods were historically common in Oklahoma. From 1865 to 1920, African Americans founded over 50 all-black towns and settlements in the Indian Territory.[26] The Land Run of 1889 contributed to the settlement of African American towns in modern Oklahoma.[27] Thirteen African American towns still exist.[28][7]
This is a list of all remaining African American towns in Oklahoma:
Lelia Foley (born 1942), Democratic politician who served as mayor of Taft, Oklahoma; often cited as the first Black female mayor in the United States[30]
William Henry Twine (1864–1933), early African-American lawyer in Oklahoma and publisher of the Muskogee Cimeter
A. C. Hamlin (1881–1812), Republican politician; first African American in the Oklahoma state legislature
^Eilperin, Juliet (12 May 1998). "Watts Walks a Tightrope on Affirmative Action". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 August 2024. Raised in a family of Democrats, Watts declared that the party had taken blacks for granted and switched to the GOP, becoming the first African American elected statewide when he became one of Oklahoma's three corporation commissioners in 1990.
