Celebrating Black History Month: Sarah Rector, first black millionaire in Oklahoma

Sarah Rector, born March 3, 1902 in Indian Territory near what is now Taft, Oklahoma, was the granddaughter of Creek Indians who were born before the Civil War.  Under the Treaty of 1866, she inherited land. However, the plot of land allotted to her was unsuitable for farming, and about 60 miles from where she and her family lived.

To help allay costs of property taxes, her father leased Sarah's land to the Standard Oil Company in February 1911.  In 1913, oil was discovered, with a daily yield of 2500 barrels of oil, and $300, which would be equivalent to $9,800 in 2023. Sarah became a millionaire before she was 12, the richest little girl in Oklahoma.

Because of her wealth, the Oklahoma Legislature tried to have her declared white, since many white people could not handle the thought of a young, black girl being rich.

After an article about her appeared in The Chicago Defender, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois became concerned for her welfare, and wanted to be sure she was not taken advantage of.  DuBois established the Children's Department of the NAACP, which investigated claims of white guardians suspected of depriving black children of their land and wealth. 

Rector enrolled in the Children's School, a boarding school at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and entered the institute upon graduation. She increased her wealth by owning stocks, bonds, businesses and a 2000-acre piece of land. 

She moved her family to Kansas City, Missouri and lived a comfortable life, entertaining celebrities such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington.  During the Great Depression she lost much of her wealth, but she became involved in the civil rights movement.

She passed away in 1967.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Jesse Chisholm, Cherokee developer of the Chisholm trail

Jesse Chisholm, born around 1805 in present-day Tennessee, was a Cherokee with Scottish ancestry who developed what became known as the Chisholm Trail.  He moved to Indian Territory with his mother, and became involved with a gold-seeking party, who blazed a trail to explore the area around present-day Wichita, Kansas.

He married Eliza Edwards in 1836 and he became a trader, working and serving as an interpreter between the Republic of Texas and local Native American tribes. He also worked between the US government and Native American tribes in Texas after Texas joined the US.  

After the Civil War, he settled near present-day Kingfisher, Oklahoma and traded into Indian Territory.  He built up a military trail into a road capable of carrying heavy wagons for his goods.  

Later, this trail was used by ranchers driving cattle from Texas to Kansas.  They named it the Chisholm Trail.

Jesse Chisholm passed away in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma in 1868.

Celebrating Native American Heritage: The Washita River Massacre 1868

The Washita River Massacre (also the Battle of the Washita River) happened on November 27, 1868 in Indian Territory, near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma. The 7th US Calvary attacked a Cheyenne camp, killing men, women, and children, and taking many captives.  

In October 1867, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes had to relocate from Kansas and Colorado to Indian Territory, by the Medicine Lodge Treaty from the US Congress.  It forced them to move from their traditional hunting grounds where buffalo were plentiful, to the western Oklahoma plains, where buffalo were scarce and the land was infertile.

In November 1868, Black Kettle, a leader of the Cheyenne tribe, had camped with other tribes along the Washita River, which they called Lodgepole River, after the local pine trees.  Black Kettle and other leaders had been pleading for peace between their people and the US Government. However, the younger warriors seemed pleased that peace had not been made. They claimed that the Lakota and other northern bands would come down the following spring to "clean out the entire country." 

Colonel William Hazen, who had been involved in the negotiations, took the young warriors seriously and requested two more companies of the 10th Cavalry to Fort Cobb. Other generals such as Philip Sheridan and George Custer considered the Cheyenne and Arapaho to be "hostile" and planned a winter campaign against the tribes.

On the night of November 26, 1868, Custer divided his force into four parts, surrounding Black Kettle's village.  They attacked at daybreak, catching the village unawares.  The conflict was soon over but Custer had to quell remaining resistance which took longer.  

Black Kettle and his wife Medicine Woman were shot in the back while fleeing.

Estimates of the Cheyenne casualties range from 13 to 150 killed, with dozens of women and children captured.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: David Pendleton Oakerhater, first Native American Episcopal saint

David Pendleton Oakerhater, born in 1847 in Indian territory (Oklahoma), was the first Native American (Cheyenne) to be designated as a saint by the Episcopal Church. He participated in the Native Americans fighting against the European invaders.  He was taken prisoner after the Red River War in 1874-1875. 

He was sent to Fort Marion, near St. Augustine, Florida.  While there he began creating art, along with other Native American prisoners, becoming a prolific artist. He was given the name "Making Medicine" when he was arrested.

In 1877, Mary Douglass Burnham, an Episcopal deaconess, arranged for their release, and Oakerhater was sent to St. Paul's Church in New York.  Reverend J. B. Wicks provided Oakerhater's religious teachings, where he took  the Christian name David and he was baptized in 1878.  He became a deacon in 1881. 

He went to Indian Territory and Dakota Territory.  He encouraged the Cheyenne population near El Reno, Oklahoma to attend Episcopal services. He traveled to Anadarko, visiting and caring for ailing people of different tribes. 

In 1887, he built the Whirlwind Mission in Fay, near Watonga, Oklahoma. He remained there until he retired in 1918.  He moved to Clinton, Oklahoma and then back to Watonga, where he passed away in 1931. 

In 1985, the Episocpal Church designated Oakerhater as a saint, based on his work as a missionary and his ministries.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Moses Yellow Horse, 1920s MLB player

Moses J. Yellow Horse, born January 28, 1898 in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), was a full-blooded Pawnee, who played two seasons in Major League Baseball. He began playing baseball when he attended the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. After leaving Chilocco, he pitched for the Little Rock Travelers, a minor league team in the Southern Association.  He helped the team win its first championship in 1920. 

In 1921, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His MLB debut was on April 15 when he relieved pitcher Peter Hamilton.  The Pirates won the 3-1 over the Cincinnati Reds.  Later that year, he injured his arm and the surgery forced him to sit out for two months.  In 1922, he injured his arm a second time.  In his two years with the Pirates, he compiled a record of 8 wins and 4 losses.

With his major league career over, Yellow Horse moved to the minors, but his career was plagued with injuries and alcoholism.  He played for the Sacramento Senators of the Pacific Coast League. He was traded to Fort Worth but then soon was returned to Sacramento.  They sold him to Omaha.  He pitched his final game May 16, 1926. 

In 1945, he stopped drinking, which had created a divide between him and the Pawnee tribe, and found steady work.

He passed away in Pawnee, Oklahoma in April 1964.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Peter Pitchlynn, Choctaw Ambassador to US

Peter Pitchlynn, born January 30, 1806 in Noxubee County, Mississippi, was a member of the Choctaw Nation.  He graduated from the University of Nashville in 1827 in a graduating class of 12 students. 

Because of his Choctaw and European-American ancestries, he served as an interpreter and liaison between the Choctaw and US Government.  He was relocated to Indian Territory in the 1830s with his family, including his mother, who died there.  Hers is the oldest known grave in Oklahoma.

He was in Washington DC addressing national affairs of the Choctaw when the Civil War started.  He returned to the Choctaw Nation, hoping to stay neutral, but their territory was invaded in May 1861 and were forced into an alliance with the Confederacy.

He became the Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in 1864 and returned to Washington in 1866 to reestablish diplomatic relations with the US.  He hoped to avoid attempts to colonize Indian Territory.  

He met with Queen Emma of Hawai'i at some point, conducting a cultural exchange. It is the only time in history of bilateral relations between the Choctaw Nation and the Hawai'ian kingdom.

Pitchlynn passed away in 1881 in Washington and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.  

Celebrating Black History Month: Boley, Oklahoma, early predominantly black pioneer town 1905

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. 

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Joseph Oklahombi, most-decorated WWI soldier from Oklahoma

Joseph Oklahombi, born May 1, 1895 in Bokchito, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory (east of present-day Durant, Oklahoma), served as a Choctaw code talker in WWI.  He was assigned to Company D, First Battalion, 141st Regiment, 71st Brigade of the 36th Infantry Division. While in France in 1918, he and 23 other soldiers attacked an enemy position, capturing 171 Germans, killing about 79 more.  He was awarded the Silver Star with Victory Ribbon, and the Croix de Guerre from France. The awards made him the most decorated WWI soldier from Oklahoma.

He passed away in April 1960 after being hit by a truck.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Will Rogers, Cherokee entertainer and performer

William Rogers, born November 4, 1897 in the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory near what is now Oologah, Oklahoma, is known as "Oklahoma's Favorite Son".  He made 71 films, most of them silent movies, and in the mid-thirties, was the highest paid actor in Hollywood. Both of his parents were of Cherokee ancestry.

He began his show business in South Africa as a trick roper and later went to Australia where he worked with the Wirth Brothers Circus.  He returned to the US in 1904 and appeared at the St. Louis World's Fair. In April 1905, he was visiting Madison Square Gardens in NYC when a steer broke out and began climbing the viewing stands.  Rogers used his roping skills to catch the animal, which delighted the crowd.  He worked for the next ten years performing with his horse on the Victoria Roof in NYC.

He appeared in his first movie in Laughing Bill Hyde in 1918.  His first sound film came in 1929 in They Had to See Paris.  

In 1935, he asked Wiley Post, another Oklahoman, to fly him through Alaska in search of new material for his newspaper column.  On August 15, after several stops in Alaska, they left Fairbanks for Point Barrow.  About 20 miles south of Point Barrow, Wiley attempted to take off from a lagoon after asking for directions.  The engine failed and the plane crashed into the water, killing both men instantly.  

The international airport in Oklahoma City is named Will Rogers World Airport.  He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: William A. Durant, Choctaw, 1st Oklahoma Legislature

William A. Durant, born March 18, 1866 in Indian Territory, in what is now Bryan County, Oklahoma, He became a lawyer and practiced in the courts of Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, as well as the US federal courts.  He was elected to the legislature of the Choctaw Nation in 1890 and became its speaker in 1891. 

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, he was elected to the state legislature and served in the first six regular sessions of the Oklahoma Legislature.  He became the only Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives to serve simultaneously as the Speaker of the Choctaw Nation.

Durant was appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation until his death in 1948.

He died in August 1948.   

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Alexander Posey, Creek poet and journalist

Alexander Posey, born August 3, 1873 in Indian Territory, near what is now Eufaula, Oklahoma, was a poet, journalist, politician, and satirist in late 19th century and early 20th century.  He grew up speaking Muscogee as their first language but later, his father insisted he and his siblings speak English.  

Posey attended Bacone Indian University in Muskogee, Oklahoma where he studied writing. In 1901, he founded the Eufaula Indian Journal, the first Native American daily newspaper.  He wrote a series of letters which were published in the Eufaula Indian Journal from a fictional persona, Fus Fixico, satirizing the political climate between Indian Territory and the US government.  When the Dawes Act and the Curtis Act of 1898 were enacted to dismantle tribal governments to make way for statehood for Oklahoma, the Five Civilized Tribes met to draft a constitution, which Posey wrote, to establish an indigenous-controlled State of Sequoyah.  The proposal was rejected by the US Government and President Theodore Roosevelt.

Posey drowned while trying to cross the flooded North Canadian River in April 1908.  

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Clarence Tinker, first Native American major general in the US Air Force

Clarence Tinker, born November 21, 1887 in Indian Territory, near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, was a member of the Osage Nation and the first Native American to achieve the rank of major general in the United States Air Force.

He was raised Osage and spoke the language.  Tinker received his commission as a lieutenant in the US Army in 1912 and was transferred to the Army Air Service in 1922. In 1940, he became a brigadier general.  After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was named Commander of the Seventh Air Force in Hawaii to reorganize the air defenses.  He was promoted to major general in January 1942.

In June 1942, he led a force against the Japanese Naval forces.  His died when his plane crashed into the sea.  

In October 1942, the Oklahoma City Air Depot was renamed Tinker Field in his honor.  It is now known as Tinker Air Force Base.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Jessie Elizabeth Moore, first Native American woman to hold state office in Oklahoma

Jessie Elizabeth Moore, born 1871 in Panola County, Indian Territory in the Chickasaw Nation, in what is now southeastern Oklahoma, is the first Native American woman to hold state office in Oklahoma.  

She was appointed Deputy Supreme Court Clerk in Oklahoma City in 1914, and admitted to the bar in 1923.  In 1924, she was appointed Assistant Commission of Charities and Corrections for Oklahoma.  During the Great Depression, she served as director of the Women's Division of Emergency Relief in Oklahoma County. 

She was elected to serve as a law clerk of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Criminal Court of Appeals in 1926.

She passed away in 1956.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Alice Brown Davis, first female Chief of the Seminole tribe

Alice Brown Davis, born September 10, 1852 in Park Hill, Indian Territory, near what is now Tahlequah, Oklahoma, became the first female Principal Chief of the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma.

She was appointed at 70 in 1922 by President Warren G. Harding.  She served until her death in June 1935 in Wewoka, Oklahoma.  

Celebrating Black History Month: O.W Gurley, Founding Father Of Black Wall Street

O. W. Gurley, a wealthy black landowner from Arkansas, traveled to Indian Territory to participate in the 1889 Oklahoma Land Run.  He had just resigned from a presidential appointment under President Grover Cleveland.

In 1906, he moved to Tulsa and purchased 40 acres of land which he declared was only to be sold to other black people.  He opened a rooming hosue on Greenwood Avenue, and it became very popular for blacks fleeing oppression in Mississippi.  In Gurley's building they could escape the racial persecution.

Gurley, J. B. Stradford, and several other prominent black people pooled resources and created a self-sustaining exclusive black enclave, which later became known as "Black Wall Street".  Unfortunately, Gurley lost everything in the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921. 

His fate is not know because he vanishes from history after that. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Bass Reeves, first African-American deputy US Marshall west of the Mississippi

Bass Reeves, born July 1838 in slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas, was the first black deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi, mainly in Arkansas and Oklahoma Territory.  He and his family were slaves of Arkansas state legislator William Reeves.

When the Civil War began, he joined the Confederate Army with his owner at the time George Reeves.  At some point he managed to gain his freedom but there are different accounts of how that happened.  It is know he stayed in the Indian Territory, learning their languages until he was freed by the Thirteenth Amendment.

He was appointed deputy US marshal by James Fagan, a US marshal, who had heard about Reeves and his ability to speak several Native American languages.

He worked for 32 years in Indian Territory, bringing in some of the most dangerous outlaws then and never received any wounds.  He even had to arrest his own son for murder. 

When Oklahoma became a state, he became a Muskogee Police Department officer.  That is where he died in January 1910.