19th century: Black people in the "Twin Territories" of June 1921|alt=Staff at the American Red Cross disaster relief headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after the Tulsa race massacre of June 1921 Black slaves came with their
Native American slave owners during the
Trail of Tears to their new territorial home in Oklahoma beginning in the 1830s. New York-born
Edward P. McCabe, who founded the town of
Langston, led a movement to create a Black-majority state in Oklahoma, and pushed for settlement in both the "
Twin Territories" of
Oklahoma Territory and
Indian Territory. McCabe described the region as a "mecca" for Black Americans seeking freedom from oppression. The
Land Run of 1889 led to a sizable increase in African-American settlers in the
Indian Territory. Prior to this migration, around 8,000 freedmen lived in the Indian Territory. The increase in Oklahoma's Black population during the Land Run of 1889 was preceded by
a similar migration of African Americans to Kansas. Oklahoma is believed to have had the highest population of
Black homesteaders of any state. Miscegenation between white and Black Oklahomas was made a felony subject to five years imprisonment, with a 1921 law banning marriage between Black Oklahomans and Native Americans. In response to increased oppression, around 1,000 Black Oklahomans chose to migrate to the Canadian provinces of
Saskatchewan and
Alberta between 1905 and 1911.
Racial violence On May 25, 1911, the
lynching of Laura and L. D. Nelson, an African-American mother and her child, occurred in
Okfuskee County. The Nelsons were among the 75 documented victims of
lynching in Oklahoma that took place between 1877 and 1950. In 1921, members of Tulsa's
Greenwood District (nicknamed "Black Wall Street"), home to a large number of African-American businesses, was targeted in the
Tulsa race massacre. In the aftermath of the massacre, over 6,000 Black Oklahomans were detained by
National Guard agents in internment camps.
1958-present: Civil Rights era and post-segregation period During the
civil rights movement, activists including
Clara Luper led stage-ins to protest segregation, with Luper leading the 1958
sit-in movement in
Oklahoma City.
Desegregation would begin in the 1960s, with the Oklahoma City government banning businesses from discriminating on the basis of race in June 1964, a month before the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. The predominantly African-American
Deep Deuce neighborhood of
Oklahoma City was bulldozed in the 1980s to make way for construction of the
I-235. Following the end of segregation,
Oklahoma City Public School District would remain under court order to institute
busing until 1991. In 1990, Republican
J. C. Watts would be elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, becoming the first African-American to win statewide office. In 2013, Republican
T. W. Shannon would become the first African-American to serve as
Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Tulsa race massacre recognition efforts Beginning in 2002, the Tulsa race massacre (known as the "Tulsa Race Riot") became permitted to be taught in Oklahoma public schools. This marked a shift with the state's approach in past decades, which prohibited its instruction in public schools. However, an investigation found that many Oklahoma students graduated without learning of the massacre, even after 2012 state standards required more specific language surrounding the event. == Economic conditions ==