Black History Month
John C. McCornack
Yukon, Oklahoma
Creek Freedman
It is known that many Africans intermarried with
Native Americans. Less widely known is the fact that many Native Americans
also owned African slaves, and fathered children with African slave women.
In addition there were smaller numbers Free People of Color who lived in
many of the nations and who also lived and married persons from the same
nations, and whose descendants claim ancestry from the Oklahoma Black Indian
people. As a result, thousands of Americans have African and Indian
ancestry.
The Freedmen of Indian Territory--now Oklahoma, were
the former slaves and also the Free Persons of Color in the Five Civilized
Tribes. Within these nations-the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and
Seminole Nations -- genealogists will find thousands of records documenting
the history of those African people living within the Indian nations. More
than 20,000 Africans were adopted into these nations before the end of the
19th century. The Treaty of 1866 brought about the abolishment of Slavery
in Indian Territory, and the adoption of the former slaves into 4 of the
5 nations. Although many of the nations have now chosen to ignore this critical
treaty, the history stands as the major official connection of these Oklahoma
nations have to their African brethren that cannot be disputed
historically.
http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/1IntroPage.htm |
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An early Creek freedman home in Indian Territory
Black History
Month
As time goes on we always
hope
That advancement is being
made
So in the case of Black
History
We must never let progress
fade
We want to learn and become
better
And treat everyone with dignity
As the sunrises and the sun
sets
We must have freedom and
equality
For freedom is granted to
everyone
Thats what makes our country
great
And it wasnt always that way, of
course
It took time to abolished slavery in every
state
But progress continues to march on
And although we cannot erase the past
Most of us try to treat each other
fairly
If we do, I think that this progress will
last
So lets remember Black History
Month
Lets learn from so many past
mistakes
And continue making progress each
day
Remember that fairness is what it
takes!
Marilyn Lott © 2007-
101 |
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Oklahoma Black
Farmers
SOURCE: The Negro Farmer - Saturday, June 6, 1914.
Published by the Negro Farmer Publishing Company, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
-
In 1914, there are 20,671 black farmers in the Oklaoma.
These farmers work 2,276,711 acres of land. They own 1,599,655 acres of land.
The value of their property, land and buildings, increased from $14,149,980
in 1900 to $47,221,793 in 1910. Fifty-three and nine--tenths per cent of
the black farmers in the State own their farms.
http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/ok_over.htm |
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A black homesteader family home in Indian Territory
Oklahoma Black History
Oklahoma's black history began, long before
it existed as a state, and it began, as it did in other parts of America,
with slavery. Bob Blackburn, director of the Oklahoma Historical Society,
selected a few milestones in the state's black history:
The first, he said, was the arrival of them
Five Civilized Tribes into Indian Territory by way of the Trail of Tears.
Tribal members owned black slaves and thus introduced that "pervasive
institution" into what would become Oklahoma, as well as Freedmen, former
slaves living with the tribes.
The Reconstruction Act of 1866 influenced Oklahoma,
Blackburn said. The post-Civil War legislation included a clause forcing
tribes to treat Freedmen as legal members of the tribes. It followed then,
that the freed slaves figured in the allotment picture of the 1890s. They
and their descendants were entitled to at least 160 acres; just as other
tribal members were. If they chose their property near one another they formed
a community, and communities grew to towns, and soon 36 all-black towns were
functioning In Oklahoma, among them Boley, Langston and
Rentiesville.
With Statehood in 1907, the Legislature established
a legal system. A Senate Bill, the first bill filed, was popularly called
the Jim Crow Law and established legal separation of races. Discrimination
in schools, churches and public privileges because of skin color became the
law of the land, Blackburn said. By the 1950s, the civil rights movement
was sweeping the nation and meeting violent resistance in the Deep South.
Oklahoma, Blackburn said, was enough of a blend of Southern and Midwestern
that its black leaders were willing to take chances, and its white officials
preferred peaceful integration. The philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr.
prevailed in this prairie state, and the previous history of all-black towns
served the blacks well.
Those segregated settlements needed to be
self-sufficient; they attracted black doctors and attorneys and journalists
and business entrepreneurs who couldn't practice in white societies. They
prospered, and they learned to take leadership roles. When society integrated,
black men and women were able to guide the transition in Oklahoma. This
nonviolent passage allowed two important changes to take place, Blackburn
said. Public sit-ins were staged successfully in stores and restaurants in
Oklahoma years before they were attempted in Southern states. Oklahoma schools
were desegregated under the guidance of white and black
leaders.
Source: Daily Oklahoman Feb 1, 2004 |
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In memory of the people who settled
the land that later become Oklahoma
Oklahoma Homesteaders
I
Slowly the great wheel of life continues to
turn
For many reasons Oklahoma became home for many
people
Displaced Indians from many eastern states
Blacks from the southern states looking for
a new start
Pioneers from east and south looking for a better
life
Some how, some way, they all meshed together
They build their homes and raised families
And became the ancestors of todays people
in Oklahoma
----- John |
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Thanks for spending a little time in my world !
John McCornack |
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