Educational and Social Needs in Small All-Black Towns

Abstract

This paper reports on an action-oriented study of six small allBlack towns in central and eastern Oklahoma. The study is concerned with the degree of self-sufficiency in educational, religious, economic, and social services. The towns, with population figures for 1972, are: Boley (650), Langston (416), Lima (86), Taft (328), Tatum (107), and Vernon (46). The data were collected from rankand-file individuals in the communities by interviewing one adult member of each household. These communities developed during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Blacks migrated from the South in order to escape its prejudice and discrimination. As they migrated to what was then Indian Territory, they established allBlack settlements which developed into towns. Blacks settled mostly in the eastern part of the present state of Oklahoma. There was a movement by E. P. McCade and others to establish Indian Territory as an all-Black state, and this prompted a countermovement by whites in the Territory to become a regular state of the Union. The present-day population of the all-Black communities is very small. At one time, Boley had a population in excess of four thousand, and Langston had a population of more than three thousand. At their inception, and for a long time thereafter, these communities were primarily agriculture-oriented, serving Black farmers in the local area. Their records reveal that they were quite viable. Some of the towns had their own newspaper, and Boley, until recent years, had a bank. Where empty or decaying buildings now exist, there were once thriving business enterprises. Closed