Boley, incorporated in 1905 in what is now Oklahoma, is a predominantly black pioneer town in Okfuskee County, west of Oklahoma City. When it was established, people with Native American ancestry were also among its citizens. That area of Indian Territory was settled by Creek Freedmen, who ancestors had been held as slaves of the Creek at the time of the Indian Removal in the 1830s. The US government negotiated treaties that required tribes to emancipate their slaves and give them tribal membership.
The Fort Smith & Western Railroad approved a station stop at an ideal location for a township, where the land was used for agricultural purposes. Boley, Creek Nation, Indian Territory was incorporated in 1905, named for a railroad official J.B. Boley.
In the early 20th century, Boley was one of the wealthiest black towns in the nation, including two banks, three cotton gins, an electric company, and two colleges: Creek-Seminole College and Methodist Episcopal College. By 1911, its population was over 4000.
After WWI, the railroad went bankrupt, and since Boley was dependent upon it, the town went bankrupt in 1939 during the Great Depression.
Today, its population is around 1100 people and is still one of the state's few remaining historic African-American towns. Pumpsie Green, born in Boley, Oklahoma, was the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox.
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