At a time honoring the life of Martin Luther King Jr., it might be appropriate to reflect on select Black history in Oklahomans. Legendary author Washington Irving, known for penning “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” journeyed in 1832 to what was then Indian Territory.
He subsequently wrote about it in a “Tour of the Prairies.” One interesting event Irving chronicled was the assistance of an African American woman who helped translate during dealings with Native Americans.
Later in 1838, a large number of African Americans would make the journey to Indian Territory when the federal government forcibly moved the five civilized tribes to what is now referred to as Oklahoma’s “Trail of Tears.”
Slaves journeyed with those tribes and some even became tribal members. Their stories are told in “African Americans in the West” by historian Douglas Flamming, who writes of the crucial role that the African American (Buffalo) soldiers played in the development of Oklahoma and other Western states.
He also laments the fact that they have not been given their historical due by most Western American studies.
That author writes of how the Seminole Tribe had groups of African Americans who were affiliated with their tribe, and his research reveals that some founded Oklahoma’s historic Black towns.
Those communities’ success brought thousands of African Americans to post-Civil War Oklahoma territory. In some former Confederacy states there were groups of African Americans known as “exodusters” who walked to Kansas and Oklahoma Territory to seek freedom and economic opportunity.
While the author doesn’t mention it, Ralph Ellison, a native Oklahoman African American author, wrote about how his own family members had been exodusters. He also mentioned Blues singer Bessie Smith putting it to song with “Going to the Territory.”
The presence of those prosperous Oklahoma Black towns brought Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute and a proponent of Black advancement through self help, to Oklahoma.
Washington toured the town of Boley, and pronounced it a model for black communities throughout the nation. And Flamming reminds that several Black leaders, Langston University founder Edward McCabe, envisioned making Oklahoma Territory an African American majority state.
But after statehood, the new Oklahoma legislature instituted a system of racial discrimination. It also slowed the pace of African American migration to Oklahoma.
But despite that system, African Americans expressed their talents in other ways. Oklahoma City developed a vibrant African American cultural scene that included the “Oklahoma City Blue Devils,” a jazz band that would go on to influence artists such as Count Basie.
The author concludes his study noting many Africa American’s migration to western states. Many, like the African American settlers who came before - were fleeing political oppression and seeking opportunities.
Of course, full racial equality remains elusive. But African Americans are increasingly found throughout Oklahoma in all walks of life, a fact partially attributable to the efforts of early African American settlers. King’s dream continues to evolve.
