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Boley, Oklahoma: One of the Last All-Black Towns Still Standing

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During the decades when Black people were being suppressed and subjugated by racist laws, many fought to carve out their own place in a segregated society. The results were black-owned businesses, churches and clubs. Some led the way to establish their own neighborhoods, organizations and newspapers. They built their own banks, schools and parks. And these became legacies of their fight and their success. But many of these legacies have been neglected and forgotten. For Black History Month, TheVillageCelebration will look at some of these abandoned legacies.

Henrietta Holloway Hicks can still remember the stories her family told her about Boley. When her uncles, who looked white, were chased out of their Black Louisianna neighborhood for being friendly with white girls, the family sought refuge in the small Oklahoma town.

They became one of the original settlers of the predominantly Black town that would soon see a population numbered in the thousands and become known by many for its prosperity.

It was the early 1900s and the Fort Smith & Western Railroad was still using steam engines that had to be filled with water for at least every six miles. It made a stop in Oklahoma. And two men, one a manager for the railroad, saw a few black families living in the area.

At that time, “There were shotgun houses and dugouts, log cabins people threw up just to have a place to live in,” said Hicks, who at 85 is considered the town’s historian.

The men decided to build a town and Boley was officially opened for settlement in 1903 in Creek Nation, Indian Territory.  The group that founded Boley: Lake Moore, a white attorney; John Boley, the white manager for the railroad; and Thomas M. Haynes, a black farmer and entrepreneur from Texas, began by buying property from a child.

With the help of James Barnett, a Creek Freedman, they purchased the land of Barnett’s 12-year-old daughter, Abigail, to establish Boley’s base, Hicks said. At that time, Native Americans had slaves who, after they were freed, were given land, Hicks said.

The men then reached out to Black people who came from all over, Hicks said.

“They brought in this man, planted the town and invited other Blacks who were running away from segregation. They came by the droves. They came by the carload. They came by the train-load.”

If You Build It…

Many in search of freedom and better opportunities flocked to Boley and the town grew to become the largest predominantly black town in the United States. During the early part of the 20th century, it was one of the wealthiest Black towns in the nation, according to online reports.

 It boasted two banks, including the first nationally chartered bank owned by Blacks, three cotton gins and its own electric company and water system.

It had people of all professions including seven physicians and a hospital, three dentists, lawyers and architects, Hicks said. It had a car dealership; grocery stores; hotels; restaurants; nightclubs; churches and fraternal clubs. Its Masonic Lodge was reportedly called “the tallest building between Okmulgee and Oklahoma City,” before it was destroyed by an arsonist.

Boley had a railroad depot, a post office, a telephone company, and a power plant.  It had a black tuberculosis hospital and the State Training School for Negro Boys.  All who visited Boley, including Booker T. Washington, marveled at the ambition and vigor of the townspeople, according to Blackpast.org.

By 1911, the town had more than 4,000 residents, and was home to two colleges: Creek-Seminole College, and Methodist Episcopal College, according to online reports.

“Our schools were equal to none,” Hicks said. When her mother went to school, she said, “they used to teach Latin. They taught everything they thought Black people needed to learn.”

The schools were so well known that at least five yellow buses would bring in students daily from the outlying areas to attend the schools.

“We had our own schools. We had our own everything. But when integration came, it changed things,” Hicks said. “People just migrated and left.”

After Oklahoma’s statehood in 1907, the citizens of Boley, like all Blacks in Oklahoma, struggled for their civil rights. 

“Although the day to day effects of segregation were muted in Boley, most people in the town were disfranchised in 1910 when the grandfather clause became law,” according to Blackpast.org. “However, Boley was an important location for all Blacks in the state as they worked to fight disfranchisement for the next two decades.”

In addition to political turmoil, the town also faced financial problems that plagued most small towns in the United States at the time.

After World War I, a fall in agricultural prices and the bankruptcy of the railroad helped lead to Boley’s failure. And it went bankrupt in 1939 during the Great Depression.

Before World War II, Boley’s population had declined to about 700. And by 1960 most of the population had left for other urban areas.

The younger generations, after finishing school, left to find work, said Hicks, who also left when she was in her 20s before returning almost two decades later. Many of the farmers also left after the boll weevil began destroying their cotton, she said.

“Then, of course, the government came along, saying you can only grow a certain amount of acres of cotton,” Hicks said. That caused more people to leave, she said.

Now there are about 500 residents left in the town and about 800 to 900 inmates in the state’s minimum-security prison that’s housed in the building that was once used for training incorrigible Black boys, Hicks said.

Many of the buildings are old and have been left abandoned in the small town by citizens who never returned, Hicks said. Still, life in the town saunters on and Boley remains one of the state’s few remaining historic African American towns. At one point the state of Oklahoma had about forty Black towns, Hicks said. Now, she said, there are about thirteen and all of them have only a handful of residents or more.

Boley, home to many descendants of the town’s original settlers, still has the largest population. It still has a fire chief, a police chief and four reserve officers as well as a judge, a mayor and its trustees. The post office is also still there.     

Often, tourists come to visit the town and a rodeo every Memorial Day weekend brings in thousands to the community.

“Boley was a very prosperous town, but times bring about change,” Hicks said. Still, she wants people to know the history of the town and its worth.

“People feel like there is a bit of freedom when they come here,” Hicks said.

Black History

Trump Signs Executive Orders That Will Impact HBCUs and Black Schoolchildren

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and establish a White House Initiative on HBCUs to “deliver high-quality education to a growing number of students.”

According to the White House, the Initiative will help develop private-sector partnerships, institutional development and workforce preparation in technology, health care, manufacturing and finance. 

The president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Dr. Harry L. Williams said, “Today’s executive order serves as strong reaffirmation of President Trump’s support of investment of historically Black colleges and universities. This executive order should serve as a call-to-action for corporations, foundations, members of Congress and state lawmakers to redouble their efforts to support HBCUs and their students. TMCF looks forward to continued engagement with the administration and Congress to deliver results for HBCUs and the students they serve via appropriations and other legislative actions.”

On the same day, Trump signed another executive order that removes safeguards for African American schoolchildren by eliminating an Obama-era initiative to protect Black schoolchildren from excessive disciplinary action.

During the Obama administration, the first Black president’s administration created guidelines that sought to prevent school discipline from having a disproportionate effect on minority students. Trump revoked the civil rights initiative during his first term and Biden did not formally restore it. 

At his signing today, Trump said his decision was especially important to the current Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who held the signed order.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, schools were forced to consider equity and inclusion when imposing discipline,” McMahon said in a statement. “Their policies placed racial equity quotas over student safety – encouraging schools to turn a blind eye to poor or violent behavior in the name of inclusion.”

She added, “Disciplinary decisions should be based solely on students’ behavior and actions.

Studies show that Black students are punished more often than their white counterparts.

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Black History

President Jimmy Carter Appointed the First Black Woman to Lead a Federal Agency

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President Jimmy Carter advanced opportunities for African Americans throughout his life,
advocating for justice and peace consistent with the Christian values he embraced. Since his
death on December 29 at age 100, Mr. Carter’s praises have been sung from his home state of
Georgia to points around the globe. And while the former president’s one-term in the White
House is dismissed by some political pundits for a lack of policies or accomplishments that
changed the course of history, his character and integrity set him apart.


Carter became the first president to appoint a Black woman head of a federal agency. He chose
Patricia Roberts Harris to lead the Housing and Urban Development when he took office in
1977.


Harris said, “I feel deeply proud and grateful this President chose me to knock down this barrier, but also a little sad about being the ‘first Negro woman,’ because it implies we were not
considered before.”


Senator William Proxmire questioned Carter’s choice, saying Harris came from too much wealth and influence to be an effective leader. But Carter stood by his decision, and Harris stayed in the position for two years.


The 39th president’s name is also included on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.


Civil rights activist, Rev. Al Sharpton recalled a conversation he shared with Carter.


“It was very significant, I was talking there at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, and I was talking to President Clinton and President Carter,” Sharpton recalled. “And when Clinton and I finished talking, President Carter touched me on my arm and said, ‘How are you doing with your ministry, Al? I see you out there with your activism. Don’t leave your ministry … keep your prayer life going.’ And you could tell he sincerely meant it. He was not one who talked about his religion as a political kind of something you could say to voters.”


President Joe Biden declared January 9, 2025, a national day of mourning. Millions watched the former president’s funeral on television as he was remembered as a man of honesty,
compassion and faith – which included championing the rights of Americans who knew firsthand the struggle of injustice

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Black History

The Congressional Black Caucus Prepares for “Important” Work

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The Congressional Black Caucus started the 119th Congress with its largest membership. There were 62 members sworn in today.

“On behalf of the entire Congressional Black Caucus, congratulations to the members of the Executive Committee of the 119th Congress. 53 years after our Caucus’ founding, our work to improve the lives and conditions of Black people in America is more important than ever before,” said CBC President Steven Horsford.

Photo Credit: Ron Busby, U.S. Black Chambers Inc.

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