Historical Society to open exhibit on state's once-flourishing black towns

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The fruits of two years of research on Oklahoma's once-flourishing black towns go on exhibit next week. More than 50 all-black towns were founded by former slaves of various

Monday, February 14th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The fruits of two years of research on Oklahoma's once-flourishing black towns go on exhibit next week. More than 50 all-black towns were founded by former slaves of various American Indian tribes and flourished until the Great Depression, when many blacks left the state and moved west.

Many of the former slaves received the land from allotments in the late 1800s or by claiming it in the state's six land runs. The Oklahoma Historical Society exhibit, which opens Feb. 25, stems largely from the work done by Langston University chief historian Currie Ballard and Larry O'Dell. "At one time, Oklahoma was an extremely progressive place for African-Americans. There were settlements all over the state," said Ballard, who will serve as guest curator of the exhibit.

Ballard and O'Dell of the historical society scoured land allotment records and lists of land run participants. By comparing the records with a territorial map, they discovered 20 previously unrecognized black townships. "What was incredible to us was how little of this research had been done before," O'Dell said.

Freed slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes founded most of the towns through tribal land allotments. Town founders then advertised for other blacks to move to their towns. "It was a huge thing to be able to build your own settlement," O'Dell said.

The exhibit includes hundreds of photographs from the glory days of the black townships and features a video program on the subject by Oprah Winfrey. Mayor Cecil Jones of Tatums is noticing a resurgence of interest in his town. Jones is the third generation to live in the once all-black town founded by his grandmother. "I think the black towns were something that for a long time people just didn't want to talk about, but now we are seeing quite a lot of people coming through here," he said.