John C. Leftwich (1867-1923)

March 08, 2007

John Leftwich

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John Carter Leftwich was born on June 6, 1867 in Forkland, Alabama. The first son of Frances Edge and Lloyd Leftwich, one of Alabama’s last black Reconstruction Era state senators, John graduated from Selma University in 1890. As a young man, Leftwich held a deep admiration for Booker T. Washington, and wrote to him constantly for aid and advice. In 1897, possibly with Washington’s support, Leftwich was appointed Alabama’s Receiver of Public Money by President William McKinley. During this time Leftwich also founded an all-black town named Klondike. In 1902, however, Leftwich lost the support of Washington. Later that year Alabama blacks were disfranchised. These events led Leftwich to migrate to Oklahoma Territory to begin anew.

In Oklahoma Territory, Leftwich founded a newspaper, the Western World, and corresponded with Governor T.B. Ferguson, hoping to resume his bureaucratic career. He also stumped for the Republican Party and in support of industrial education for African Americans. His efforts to regain a position in government failed.

In 1904 Leftwich accepted the presidency of Sango Baptist College in Muskogee, Indian Territory. This commenced Leftwich’s almost twenty-year career educating African American, Freedmen, and some Native American children in Oklahoma. In 1905, he established the Creek-Seminole College in the all-black town of Boley. Financial difficulties plagued Leftwich, and within a few years he moved the school to Clearview, another all-black town. Later, he established the Bookertee Agricultural and Mechanical College in the all-black town of Bookertee. In 1921, the school admitted children displaced by the Tulsa Race Riot.

Throughout this time Leftwich constantly sought financial assistance for his endeavors from Oklahoma governors and wealthy white patrons. To continue currying their favor, Leftwich joined the Democratic Party in 1910 even though Oklahoma blacks were disfranchised via the grandfather clause. Leftwich’s efforts met with limited success, however, and money troubles continued to haunt him, ultimately leading to his death. On July 14, 1923, John Carter Leftwich was shot to death by a schoolteacher whom he had dismissed without paying.

About the Author

Author Profile

Melissa Stuckey

Melissa N. Stuckey has been assistant professor of African American history at Elizabeth City State University since 2017. She teaches a variety of courses, including North Carolina African American History and Black Women’s History. Her research interests center on the role of African American institutions in the struggle for Black freedom and civil rights. In 2019, Dr. Stuckey won over $500,000 from the National Park Service and the Institute for Museum and Library Services to help fund the rehabilitation of ECSU’s Rosenwald School building and Principal’s House. The long-term goal is to create within these historic structures an institute to collect, preserve, and share the histories of African American life and educational pursuits in Northeastern North Carolina. She is also leading several local African American history and historic preservation projects in Elizabeth City, in Old Oak Grove Cemetery, and the historic Sheppard Street-Road Street neighborhood that borders ECSU’s campus.

A specialist in early twentieth-century Black activism, she is author of several articles and book chapters, including “Boley, Indian Territory: Exercising Freedom in the All Black Town,” published in 2017 in the Journal of African American History and “Freedom on Her Own Terms: California M. Taylor and Black Womanhood in Boley, Oklahoma” published in This Land is Herland: Gendered Activism in Oklahoma, 1870s to 2010s (University of Oklahoma Press, 2021). Dr. Stuckey is currently completing her first book, entitled “All Men Up”: Seeking Freedom in the All-Black Town of Boley, Oklahoma, which interrogates the black freedom struggle in Oklahoma as it took shape in the state’s largest all-black town.

Committed to engaging the public in important conversations about African American history, Stuckey is also a contributing historian on the NEH-funded “Free and Equal Project” in Beaufort, South Carolina which interprets the story of Reconstruction for national and international audiences and is senior historical consultant to the Coltrane Group, a non-profit organization in Oklahoma committed to helping these towns survive in the 21st century.

Dr. Stuckey earned her Ph.D. from Yale University and her A.B. from Princeton University.

Categories:
African American History People in African American History

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CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Stuckey, M. (2007, March 08). John C. Leftwich (1867-1923). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/leftwich-john-c-1867-1923/

Source of the Author's Information:

Melissa Stuckey, “‘All Men Up’: Race, Rights, and Power in the All Black Town of Boley, Oklahoma, 1903-1939” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, 2007).