African American Resources for Oklahoma: Difference between revisions

A few hundred black slaves had run away from their white masters and sought refuge in Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee settlements, where they were received as free people. While some Indian communities incorporated blacks as free people, American Indians in each of the nations, except the Seminole, began to purchase African Americans as slaves.

A number of Indian farmers had large tracts of land under cultivation and used enslaved laborers to produce cotton and surplus crops for sale and profit. Most Indian slave owners, however, practiced subsistence agriculture, and both slaves and masters labored side by side in the fields. By the 1830s well over three thousand African Americans, mostly slaves, lived among the tribes.

American Indians brought their slaves to the west in the 1830s and 1840s when the federal government removed the nations from the southern states. The Cherokee, with more than fifteen hundred, had the largest number. Slave populations removed with the other nations ranged from approximately three hundred in the Creek Nation to more than twelve hundred in the Chickasaw Nation. By the time the Civil War broke out more than eight thousand blacks were enslaved in Indian Territory, where they comprised 14 percent of the population. Slavery continued in the territory through the Civil War. ^[1]

All Black Towns of Oklahoma
More than 50 African-American towns were established between the 1865 and 1920. Many of the towns were formerly held by one of the Five Civilized Tribes.

Towns: Boley, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lincoln, Redbird, Rentiesville, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, Vernon and Wewoka.
Extinct Towns: Bailey, Bookertee, Canadian Colored, Chase, Ferguson, Gibson Station, Liberty, Marshall Town, North Fork, Wellston Colony and Wybark.

Online Resources

Oklahoma Historical Society: African Americans
Freedmen
Freedmen Towns
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture: African Americans
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture: Tenant Farming and Sharecropping
The Homestead Act
- Oklahoma Homesteader Records
- Oklahoma's All-Black Towns
- Langston City Herald - promoted African American homesteading in the Oklahoma Territory

Books to read

McPherson, James M. The atlas of the Civil War. New York: Macmillan, 1994.
Blattner, Teresa, People of Color: Black Genealogical Records and Abstracts from Missouri Sources" (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, c1993,c 1998) At various libraries (WorldCat);FS Library Book 977.8 F2bt volume 1 and 2
Brown, William Wells, Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave (NY, NY: Johnson Reprint, 1970) At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Catalog book 921.73 B815b
Franklin, Jimmie Lewis, Blacks in Oklahoma (U.S.A.: University of Oklahoma, c1980). Digital Copy at Oklahoma Digital Prairie.
Mallory, Rudena Kramer, Claims by Missourians for compensation of enlisted slaves: records of the U.S. District Court of Kansas, Slave Compensation Records, November 3, 1866 to February 21, 1867, Record Group 21, National Archives-Central Plains Region, Kansas City, Missouri (SLC, Utah:Genealogical Society of Utah, 1992) FS Library film 1597959 item 4
Lee, George R., Slavery North of St. Louis (Canton, Missouri: Lewis County Historical Society, Missouri, [200?]) At other libraries (WorldCat); FS Catalog book 977.8 H6L
State Slavery Statues (Bethesda, Maryland: University Publications of America, c1989) FS Library fiche 6118911
United States Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands and Washington Reginald, Records of the field offices for the state of Missouri, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1972: NARA, RG 105, M1908 (College Park, MD: NARA, 2004) FS Library films 2426982–2427005

Resources

Biographies

Cemeteries

Census Records

Church Records

Emancipation Records

Funeral Homes

CAAGS Obituary and Funeral Home Collection at California African American Genealogical Society - index & images

Genealogies

Land and Property

Plantation

Obituaries

CAAGS Obituary and Funeral Home Collection at California African American Genealogical Society - index & images

Oral Histories

Oklahoma Slave Narratives

Other Records

City Directories

Muskogee Oklahoma Negro Directory: includes the town of Taft (FamilySearch Catalog Film Number:1994331 Item 6)

Migration

Prison Records

Aylesworth State Prison Farm, 1916-1925, Marshall County, Oklahoma
Schools "The Aylesworth State Prison Farm was an all black prison located in Marshall County and was in existence between 1916 and 1925." -- P. 1. (FamilySearch Catalog Film Number: 1838318 Item 14)

Military Records

Buffalo Soldiers

Newspapers

Newspapers, African American
Langston City Herald
Pioneer newspaper, c[a. 1898-1905]The Pioneer was an African-American newspaper published in Muskogee County.

Probate Records

Reconstruction Records

Freedman’s Bank

Freedmen's Bureau

School Records

Slavery Records

In the 1830s African American slavery was established in the Indian Territory, the region that would become Oklahoma. By the late eighteenth century, when over half a million Africans were enslaved in the South, the five southern Indian societies of that region Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole had come to include both enslaved blacks and small numbers of free African Americans ^[2]

Vital Records

Birth

Marriage

Death

Divorce

Voting Records

Archives and Libraries

The Black Archives of Mid-America, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a center for learning and research into the African American experience in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and the Midwest at large.

Societies

References

[1] ttp://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SL003.html

[2] Oklahoma State Digital Library

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=== Archives and Libraries  ===
+{{OK-sidebar}}{{breadcrumb
+| link1=[[United States Genealogy|United States]]
+| link2=[[African American Genealogy|African American Genealogy]]
+| link3=[[Oklahoma Genealogy|Oklahoma]]
+| link4=
+| link5=[[African American Resources for Oklahoma|African American Resources]]
+}}<br>
+<div id="fsButtons"><span class="online_records_button">[[African American Online Genealogy Records]]</span></div>
+{{TOC left}}
+==Introduction==
+A list of resources to research African American ancestors who lived in Oklahoma. <br>
-[http://www.blackarchives.org/ The Black Archives of Mid-America], located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a center for learning and research into the African American experience in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and the Midwest at large.<br>
+==Online Resources==
+<li>[http://african-nativeamerican.blogspot.com/2010/11/old-choctaw-plantation-part-of-oklahoma.html The African-Native American Genealogy Blog]</li>
+<li>[[African American Digital Bookshelf]] - a growing list of digital books on FamilySearch and other websites</li>
+<li>[http://www.blackarchives.org/ Black Archives of Mid-America]</li>
+<li>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v011/v011p1056.html Chronicles of Oklahoma] </li>
+<li>[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AF003 Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History] </li>
+<li>[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entryname=african%20americans Oklahoma Historical Society: African Americans]</li>
-=== City Directories  ===
+==Research Strategy==
+==Historys==
+'''Slavery'''
-Muskogee Oklahoma Negro Directory&nbsp;: includes the town of Taft (FHL Catalog Film Number:&nbsp;[http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C180%2C0&titleno=746676&disp= 1994331 Item 6])&nbsp;
+A few hundred black slaves had run away from their white masters and sought refuge in Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee settlements, where they were received as free people. While some Indian communities incorporated blacks as free people, American Indians in each of the nations, except the Seminole, began to purchase African Americans as slaves.
-=== Freedmen  ===
+A number of Indian farmers had large tracts of land under cultivation and used enslaved laborers to produce cotton and surplus crops for sale and profit. Most Indian slave owners, however, practiced subsistence agriculture, and both slaves and masters labored side by side in the fields. By the 1830s well over three thousand African Americans, mostly slaves, lived among the tribes.
+American Indians brought their slaves to the west in the 1830s and 1840s when the federal government removed the nations from the southern states. The Cherokee, with more than fifteen hundred, had the largest number. Slave populations removed with the other nations ranged from approximately three hundred in the Creek Nation to more than twelve hundred in the Chickasaw Nation. By the time the Civil War broke out more than eight thousand blacks were enslaved in Indian Territory, where they comprised 14 percent of the population. Slavery continued in the territory through the Civil War. <ref>http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SL003.html</ref>
+'''All Black Towns of Oklahoma'''<br>
+More than 50 African-American towns were established between the 1865 and 1920. Many of the towns were formerly held by one of the [[Five Civilized Tribes|Five Civilized Tribes]].
+*Towns: Boley, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lincoln, Redbird, Rentiesville, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, Vernon and Wewoka.
+*Extinct Towns: Bailey, Bookertee, Canadian Colored, Chase, Ferguson, Gibson Station, Liberty, Marshall Town, North Fork, Wellston Colony and Wybark.
+'''Online Resources'''
+*[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entryname=african%20americans Oklahoma Historical Society: African Americans]
 *[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FR016.html Freedmen]
 *[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AL009.html Freedmen Towns]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140701110414/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AF003.html Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture: African Americans]
+*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TE009.html Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture: Tenant Farming and Sharecropping]
+*[http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/war.crimes/US/Homestead.Act.htm The Homestead Act]
+**[http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~swokla/custer/homested.html Oklahoma Homesteader Records]
+**[http://thislandpress.com/06/05/2010/oklahomas-all-black-towns/ Oklahoma's All-Black Towns]<br>
+**[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/langston-city-herald Langston City Herald] - promoted African American homesteading in the Oklahoma Territory
-=== History of African American Oklahomans<br>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AF003.html]  ===
+'''Books to read'''
+*McPherson, James M. [http://www.worldcat.org/title/atlas-of-the-civil-war/oclc/318999229 ''The atlas of the Civil War'']. New York: Macmillan, 1994.
-[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AF003.html African Americans]
+*Blattner, Teresa, ''People of Color: Black Genealogical Records and Abstracts from Missouri Sources" (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, c1993,c 1998) {{WorldCat|29334936|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}};{{FSC|597154|item|disp=FS Library Book 977.8 F2bt volume 1 and 2}}''
+*Brown, William Wells, ''Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave'' (NY, NY: Johnson Reprint, 1970) {{WorldCat|457165953|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FSC|45483|item|disp=FS Catalog book 921.73 B815b}}
-=== Homestead Records<br>[http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/war.crimes/US/Homestead.Act.htm]  ===
+*Franklin, Jimmie Lewis, ''Blacks in Oklahoma'' (U.S.A.: University of Oklahoma, c1980). ''Digital Copy at'' [https://digitalprairie.ok.gov/digital/collection/culture/id/112/rec/7 Oklahoma Digital Prairie].
+*Mallory, Rudena Kramer, ''Claims by Missourians for compensation of enlisted slaves: records of the U.S. District Court of Kansas, Slave Compensation Records, November 3, 1866 to February 21, 1867, Record Group 21, National Archives-Central Plains Region, Kansas City, Missouri'' (SLC, Utah:Genealogical Society of Utah, 1992) {{FSC|551311|item|disp=FS Library film 1597959 item 4}}
-*[http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/war.crimes/US/Homestead.Act.htm Homestead Act]
+*Lee, George R., ''Slavery North of St. Louis'' (Canton, Missouri: Lewis County Historical Society, Missouri, [200?]) {{WorldCat|44094812|disp=At other libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FSC|1483403|item|disp=FS Catalog book 977.8 H6L}}
-*[http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~swokla/custer/homested.html Oklahoma Homesteader Records]
+*''State Slavery Statues'' (Bethesda, Maryland: University Publications of America, c1989) {{FSC|723107|item|disp=FS Library fiche 6118911}}
-*[http://thislandpress.com/06/05/2010/oklahomas-all-black-towns/ Oklahoma's All-Black Towns]<br>
+*United States Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands and Washington Reginald, ''Records of the field offices for the state of Missouri, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1972: NARA, RG 105, M1908'' (College Park, MD: NARA, 2004) {{FSC|1461239|item|disp=FS Library films 2426982–2427005}}
-*[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/langston-city-herald Langston City Herald]&nbsp;&nbsp;promoted African American homesteading in the Oklahoma Territory.
-=== Migration  ===
+==Resources==
+===Biographies===
+===Cemeteries===
+===Census Records===
+===Church Records===
+===Emancipation Records===
+===Funeral Homes===
+*[https://app.air.inc/a/borzvL1af/b/8dc76b25-27b0-42b5-a889-6c7027db068f CAAGS Obituary and Funeral Home Collection] at California African American Genealogical Society - index & images
-[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AF001.html African American Exodus to Canada]
+===Genealogies===
+===Land and Property===
+====Plantation====
+===Obituaries===
+*[https://app.air.inc/a/borzvL1af/b/8dc76b25-27b0-42b5-a889-6c7027db068f CAAGS Obituary and Funeral Home Collection] at California African American Genealogical Society - index & images
-[http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/blacks_early_settlements.html Blacks: &nbsp;Early Settlements (African-Canadians)]
+===Oral Histories===
+*[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/_borders/Oklahoma%20Slave%20Narratives/Slave%20Narrative%20Index.html Oklahoma Slave Narratives]
-=== Military  ===
+===Other Records===
+'''City Directories'''<br>
+*Muskogee Oklahoma Negro Directory: includes the town of Taft (FamilySearch Catalog Film Number:{{FSC|746676|item|disp=1994331 Item 6}})
-[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BU005.html Buffalo Soldiers]
+'''Migration'''
+*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AF001.html African American Exodus to Canada]
+*[http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/blacks_early_settlements.html Blacks:  Early Settlements (African-Canadians)]
-=== Newspapers  ===
+'''Prison Records'''<br>
+*Aylesworth State Prison Farm, 1916-1925, Marshall County, Oklahoma<br>Schools "The Aylesworth State Prison Farm was an all black prison located in Marshall County and was in existence between 1916 and 1925." -- P. 1. (FamilySearch Catalog Film Number: {{FSC|1341762|item|disp=1838318 Item 14}})
+===Military Records===
+*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BU005.html Buffalo Soldiers]
-*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/N/NE013.html Newspapers, African American&nbsp;]
+===Newspapers===
+*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/N/NE013.html Newspapers, African American ]
 *[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/langston-city-herald Langston City Herald]
-*[http://www.worldcat.org/title/pioneer-newspaper-c1898-1905/oclc/71000957&referer=brief_results Pioneer newspaper, c[a.] 1898-1905]&nbsp;The Pioneer was an African-American newspaper published in Muskogee County.
+*[http://www.worldcat.org/title/pioneer-newspaper-c1898-1905/oclc/71000957&referer=brief_results Pioneer newspaper, c[a.] 1898-1905]The Pioneer was an African-American newspaper published in Muskogee County.
-=== Oral History  ===
+===Probate Records===
+===Reconstruction Records===
+====Freedman’s Bank====
+====Freedmen's Bureau====
+===School Records===
+*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/L/LA021.html Langston University]
+*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FR017.html Freedman Schools]
-[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/_borders/Oklahoma%20Slave%20Narratives/Slave%20Narrative%20Index.html Oklahoma Slave Narratives]
+===Slavery Records===
+*In the 1830s African American slavery was established in the Indian Territory, the region that would become Oklahoma. By the late eighteenth century, when over half a million Africans were enslaved in the South, the five southern Indian societies of that region Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole had come to include both enslaved blacks and small numbers of free African Americans <ref>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SL003.html Oklahoma State Digital Library]</ref>
-=== Prison Records  ===
+===Vital Records===
+====Birth====
+====Marriage====
+====Death====
-Aylesworth State Prison Farm, 1916-1925, Marshall County, Oklahoma<br>Schools "The Aylesworth State Prison Farm was an all black prison located in Marshall County and was in existence between 1916 and 1925." -- P. 1.&nbsp;(FHL Catalog Film Number:&nbsp;[http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=1341762&disp=Aylesworth+State+Prison+Farm%2C+1916-1++ 1838318 Item 14])
-=== Schools  ===
+====Divorce====
+===Voting Records===
-*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/L/LA021.html Langston University]
+==Archives and Libraries==
-*[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FR017.html Freedman Schools]
+[http://www.blackarchives.org/ The Black Archives of Mid-America], located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a center for learning and research into the African American experience in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and the Midwest at large.
-=== Sharecropping and Tenant Farming  ===
+==Societies==
-[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TE009.html Tenant Farming and Sharecropping]
-<br>
+=== References  ===
+<references />
-<br>
+{{African American}}
+{{Oklahoma|Oklahoma}}
-[[Categorie:African Americans|Category:African Americans]] [[Categorie:Oklahoma|Category:Oklahoma]]
+ [[Category:Oklahoma, United States]] [[Category:African American Records]]
+[[Category:Oklahoma Cultural Groups]]