A Critique of Oklahoma All-Black Towns Conference
On August 20th, Oklahoma’s thirteen remaining historically All-Black Towns; convened a meeting at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City, Ok. The all-day conference allowed each city to share its rich histories, unique economic development, and town engagement and marketing strategies.
While the presenters did talk about their town’s founding, past, and current population, many of the presentations were short on long-range planning, development strategies, and the sharing of best practices. Except for Langston, the presentations offered little evidence of any strategic planning, strategy on sustainability, or long-term resilience. Many of the presentation themes and challenges centered around failing infrastructure, the absence of capital improvements, a fleeing population, and absentee landowners. Many of these towns still have not organized to the level of creating a city tax structure. They offer no municipal services. Some are accepting donations to pay their annual insurance. We owe our ancestors more than this level of mediocrity. These cities are far from their zenith and need complete strategic makeovers. In Booker T. Washington’s closing thesis in an article written in The Outlook om 1908, he suggested that the Negro struggle for liberation was a long struggle aimed and centered around morality, collective development and worth, and freedom. Unfortunately, Booker T. Washington wouldn’t recognize this current iteration of All Black Towns.
Today’s All-Black towns of Oklahoma represent a unique chapter in American history. Historically they are proxies for those ancestors who gained land in Indian Territory through tribal allotments. According to the Muskogee Cimeter (1906), Approximately 20,000 Indian Territory Freedman accounted for approximately 3 million acres of land. Freedmen of the five tribes had more land than the estimated one million acres controlled by about one million Black folks in Georgia. An estimated eight thousand Creek Citizens, classified as Freedmen, held nearly 1,092,240 in 1907 at Oklahoma statehood.
The reconstruction period created an infectious movement of self-pride within these All-Black communities. However, it didn’t come without a penalty. The White power structure was unhappy with this newfound Negro Liberation. Oklahoma Statehood strategically and politically changed those dynamics. Shortly after statehood in 1907, the Oklahoma State legislature passed a series of statutes that would come to be known as Jim Crow laws, which systematically enforced racial segregation.
Oklahoma Jim Crow laws (separate and unequal) In 1907, the impact of white supremacy, racism, brutality, and leadership indifference: both federal and state indifference, led to an exodus of Blacks to western states, Canada, and Mexico. Before Oklahoma statehood, most of the reported Indian Territory Lynching’s occurred among non-African descendant communities. After statehood, most of the lynchings occurred among people of African Descent. Some were murdered, and many were terrorized. My very own Oklahoma ancestry mirrored this migration pattern during that period. Urbanization of major cities has also contributed to a decline of all rural communities, especially “all” Black-Town.
Should Oklahoma All-Black Towns still exist? Not in this current iteration. If these towns are to thrive into this millennium, they need business models, partnerships, and collaborations with Urban Black Americans to ensure their survival. The All-Black Town of Oklahoma should collectively develop a strategic plan and footprint model that strategically and politically elevates their needs. These towns need a Marshall Plan if they are to survive. ___________________________________________________________________
Dr. Franklin is a direct descendant of some of Oklahoma’s current and extinct Oklahoma All-Black Towns. He is Creek and Chickasaw Freedman. Franklin attributes his activism and social justice commitment to the influences of his mom, James Baldwin, Marcus Garvey, his 4th Great Grandfather Buck Franklin, and cousin Dr. John Hope Franklin. Dr. Franklin lives in New York City and is a native of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.
