Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

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Slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment on December 18, 1865. It was ratified by the states on December 6 but the statement verifying the ratification was not issued until December 18. (Library of Congress)

Indian Territory provided a new beginning for many freed slaves, who came here to form towns and farm. Others became cowboys and joined cattle drives.

Background Photo: Bill Pickett performing his famous rodeo trick, bulldogging. See Bill Pickett, Bulldoggin' Cowboy to learn more.

Red Dirt Groundbreaker: Edward P. McCabe and the All-Black Towns

Blacks first came to Indian Territory as slaves owned by members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The next Black migrations were the result of organized efforts by people like Edward P. McCabe. McCabe was an African American businessman who helped found the all-Black town of Langston and later the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University).

McCabe and a partner began publication of the Langston City Herald in 1890. Copies of the paper were circulated throughout the South. Each issue included homesteading instructions to help immigrants understand the procedure before they arrived in Oklahoma Territory. McCabe advised homesteaders to come with enough money to support themselves for one year.

As a result of the advertisements, Langston's population swelled to 2,000 people in the weeks before the 1891 Sac and Fox land opening. Approximately 1,500 African Americans made the run from Langston. An estimated 1,000 secured land.

The first crops grown by African American homesteaders were subsistence crops of corn, sweet potatoes, turnips, peas, melons and beans. Black farmers also raised hogs for pork. They planted large orchards of peach, plum, apricot and apple trees. As tehy became more established, Black farmers produced enough eggs, butter, fruits and vegetables to sell to grocers in nearby towns. Peaches grew well in the area around Langston, and some Black farmers took advantage of new markets, both local and national. Other commercial crops were wheat, oats, hay and cow peas.

Edward P. McCabe went on to have some success in the politics of the new state, but he did not remain in Oklahoma. He sold his holdings and left for Chicago in 1908.

More Red Dirt Groundbreakers

Books

Durham, David Anthony, Gabriel's Story, Doubleday, 2001. (Young Adult)

Set in the 1870s, the novel tells the tale of Gabriel Lynch, an African American youth who settles with his family in the plains of Kansas. Disatisfied with the drudgery of homesteading and growing increasingly disconnected from his family, Gabriel forsakes the farm for a life of higher adventure.

Gunderson, Jessica, and Jerry Acern, Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin, Capstone, 1007. (Grades 1-7)

Uses comic book-style word balloons and sophisticated vocabulary to tell the story of Eli Whitney and the invention of the cotton gin. Explores the impact the cotton gin had on the Civil War and the ultimate emancipation of the slaves. Includes a timeline of advances made by Whitney, a glossary and a recommended reading list.

Hamilton, Virginia, The People Could Fly: The Picture Book, Knopf/Random House, 2005. (Grades 3-5)

A group of African slaves working in coton fields in America escape an abusive overseer through magic recalled from Africa.

Schlissel, Lillian, Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West, Simon and Schuster for Young Readers. (Grades 4-7)

Photographs and pictures dating from 1852 to 1948 show Black men prospecting for gold, riding bucking broncos and serving in the military.

Woodson, Jacqueline, and Hudson Talbott, Show Way, Putnam, 2005. (Grades K-5)

A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and metaphor in this picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the story is of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom.

December Page

Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.