The trusted slave of legendary Texas independence leader and later governor, Sam Houston, Joshua Houston, after Emancipation, succeeded in business and politics, founded numerous institutions, and became a symbol of racial autonomy and progress. Born a slave in 1822 and later willed to Margaret Lea … Read MoreJoshua Houston (1822-1902)
Jesse Franklin was an influential African Creek politician and minister who lived in the Creek Agency settlement in the years after the Civil War. Franklin was born about 1817 as a slave in the Creek Nation in Alabama. He emigrated to the Indian Territory in … Read MoreJesse Franklin (1817-1882)
James Milton Turner was an African American Missourian who was a prominent politician, education advocate, and diplomat in the years after the Civil War. Turner was born a slave in St. Louis, Missouri sometime in 1840. His father, John Turner (also known as John Colburn), … Read MoreJames Milton Turner (1840-1915)
James Everett Chase, businessman and politician, was born the youngest of seven children in Wharton, Texas in 1914. He attended high school in Ballinger, Texas. During the Great Depression, Chase became an enrollee at a Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp in El Paso. Upon completion … Read MoreJames E. Chase (1914-1987)
James Coody Johnson was an African Creek lawyer, politician and entrepreneur, and a leading voice for inclusion of African Americans both before and after Oklahoma statehood. Johnson was the son of Robert Johnson, the African Creek interpreter for the Seminole nation and Elizabeth Davis (Johnson), … Read MoreJames Coody Johnson (1864-1927)
Island Smith was a celebrated African Creek native healer (or root doctor) who practiced his art in the hinterlands southwest of Okmulgee in the years after Oklahoma statehood. Smith was born outside of Taft, Oklahoma in 1877 to Hannah (later Robinson) and Isaac Smith. His … Read MoreIsland Smith (1877-?)
On August 14, 1944, African American soldiers “rioted” against Italian prisoners of war (POW) at Seattle’s Fort Lawton, an Army staging area for combat in the Pacific. American officers and POW’s under their guard were severely beaten. The next morning, one of the POW’s, Guglielmo … Read MoreFort Lawton (Seattle) “Riot” and POW Lynching, 1944
The First Indian Home Guard Regiment was a tri-racial Union regiment first organized in Kansas in May 1862. The regiment was made up of Creek and Seminole Indians, African Creeks and African Seminoles with white officers commanding the unit. Though their numbers were few, the … Read MoreFirst Indian Home Guard Regiment (1862-1865)
On August 4, 1865, the Loyal Creek Council formally declared that African Creeks would be considered full citizens of the Creek Nation. African Creeks soon designated August 4th “Emancipation Day” and organized celebrations, including picnics, parades and speakers beginning as early as 1867, which continued … Read MoreEmancipation Day (August 4th)
Born in 1892 in post-Reconstruction Marshall, Texas, activist-journalist Clifton Richardson, Sr., founded two newspapers and advanced the “New Negro” philosophy. The son of former slaves, Richardson studied at Bishop College in Marshall. Richardson and his wife, Ruby, whom he married in 1909, moved from Marshall … Read MoreClifton Richardson Sr. (1892-1939)
