All Black Towns of Oklahoma

Following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, the persons formerly enslaved by the Five Tribes wanted to settle in land next to other Black people. Meanwhile, the federal government forced Native slave owners to grant allotments to their former slaves. 

These “freedmen” came together and began establishing farming communities throughout Indian Territory, which gradually grew prosperous enough to support businesses, schools, and churches. Eventually, they formed towns. 

Newspapers were among the many businesses established in these towns, and began circulating stories of Black prosperity and promise throughout the Deep South. Black people came to Oklahoma believing it was a “promised land.”

The Land Run of 1889 opened up more than two million acres once held by Native Americans to outside settlers. Black people from the Old South were among the settlers who rushed to stake their claims in the Unassigned Lands, located in Indian Territory in what is today central Oklahoma. In 1890, the U.S. Congress designated the western half of the present state as Oklahoma Territory.

Black Americans saw both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory as lands of opportunity. They continued to establish All-Black towns that were free from the racism or even outright brutality found elsewhere in the United States. But an escape from prejudice was not the only reason Black people established their own communities and towns. People in All-Black towns could rely on each other in times of financial need, and could take advantage of markets for their crops, products, and services.

As early as the 1860s, Marshalltown, North Fork Colored, Canadian Colored, and Arkansas Colored were established in Indian Territory. Sanders, Mabelle, Wiley, Homer, Huttonville, Lee, and Rentie soon followed. 

In Oklahoma Territory, the All-Black towns established were Lincoln, Cimarron City, Bailey, Zion, Emanuel, Udora, and Douglas. 

While these All-Black towns no longer survive, many still do: Boley, Brooksville, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Red Bird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, and Vernon. 

Thanks to the unprecedented success of the All-Black towns in Oklahoma, some Black citizens began to dream bigger.

E.P. McCabe was one of the first Black people to hold a major political office in the Old West when he was twice elected to serve as state auditor of Kansas. After his unsuccessful attempt to become register of the Kansas treasury, McCabe moved to Guthrie in 1890. There he became one of the most successful Black leaders in early Oklahoma history.

McCabe helped establish the All-Black town of Langston, and founded the Langston City Herald. He used the Herald to encourage Black people to move to Langston by circulating it throughout the South. McCabe also hoped to establish a Black political power block in the Oklahoma territory.

With the growth of All-Black towns and Black prosperity, McCabe and other boosters even led the movement for Black statehood. However, an All-Black state was unlikely for several reasons, most notably because it angered white settlers and Native Americans, the latter of whom had dreams for an All-Indian state. While McCabe was unsuccessful in establishing an All-Black state, he did establish the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal College, now Langston University.

Following Oklahoma statehood in 1907, the Oklahoma legislature immediately passed many Jim Crow laws designed to disenfranchise Black people. Disillusioned, some people in All-Black towns moved north to Canada, forming colonies at Amber Valley, Alberta, and Maidstone, Saskatchewan. Several Black people left Oklahoma during the “Back to Africa” movements of the early 1900s. Still more Black people moved to colonies in Mexico.

Many of those who stayed faced blatant legal discrimination meant to stall the growth of the All-Black towns. In 1911, whites in Okfuskee County forced Blacks into racially segregated communities. They even made several white farmers sign oaths pledging to never “rent, lease, or sell land” to Black people, unless it was more than one mile from a white or Native American.

The most devastating hit to All-Black towns was not legal, it was economic. The Great Depression began with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, and lasted throughout the 1930s.

All-Black towns were mostly agricultural centers where Black farmers could sell their crops, most notably cotton, to eager buyers. But when Black people left these towns in search of work in the west and north, it destroyed the economic base, as Black farmers no longer had customers for their crops. Farmers statewide were doubly affected by the Dust Bowl, a severe drought which wreaked havoc across the American midwest, with Oklahoma farmers hit especially hard.

Many railroads failed during the Great Depression, further isolating these All-Black towns. Without local, regional, or national markets to serve, the All-Black towns were unable to support themselves. Meanwhile, white-owned banks would not extend credit to Black farmers and businessmen. In 1939, Boley, one of the most successful All-Black towns, declared bankruptcy. It was not the only one.

Only thirteen of the historical All-Black towns still survive today: Boley, Brooksville, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Red Bird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, and Vernon. Additionally, a fourteenth town was incorporated in 2001 — IXL. 

While IXL is a historic Freedmen’s town that traces its origins back to 1900, it was not officially incorporated until more than 100 years later. The origins of the name “IXL” are disputed, with some claiming it was the name of three men, while others say it stood for “Indian Exchange Land.” Located six miles northeast of Boley, IXL’s population is less than 100.

Though the All-Black towns of Oklahoma are mostly gone today, they represent a fascinating chapter in Black, Oklahoma, and American history. Nowhere else in the nation were there ever more official Black communities, spaces in which Black people were free to live autonomously, self-govern, and partake in the American dream.