Historical Marker

Red Bird

Wagoner County · Oklahoma

After Guinn v. United States struck down the grandfather clause in 1915, a 1916 law registered everyone who had voted in 1914 and gave everyone else twelve days, April 30 to May 11, to register or lose the vote for good. I. W. Lane, born in Alabama and living in Red Bird since 1908, tried to register in 1934; the registrar said he had been told not to register Black applicants. Lower courts ruled against Lane, but in Lane v. Wilson (1939) Justice Felix Frankfurter found the scheme invalid under the Fifteenth Amendment.

What the plaque says

All-Black Towns of Oklahoma The All-Black towns of Oklahoma represent a unique chapter in American history. No where else, neither the Deep South nor the Far West, did so many African American men and women come together to live in and govern their own communities. By 1920, Oklahoma had more than 30 towns considered All-Black. All-Black towns grew after the Civil War when the former slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes settled together for mutual protection and economic security. When the lands of the tribes were allotted to individuals, most Indian "freedmen" chose land next to other African Americans. This created prosperous farming communities that could support towns. When the land run of 1889 opened yet more land to non-Indian settlement, African Americans from the Old South rushed to the new territory for free land. Edwin McCabe founded Langston and encouraged African Americans to settle in his All-Black town. He even had a vision for an All-Black state. Although his dream was never realized, many All-Black communities were established on the rich topsoil of the new territory and state. The All-Black towns of Oklahoma prospered until the 1920s but gradually declined under the pressure of Jim Crow laws that denied African Americans the right to vote, the Great Depression, and population flight from farm to city after World War II. Today, a few All-Black towns still survive, but all are remembered, a legacy of economic and political freedom. Redbird The Barbers and Ruffins settled in this area before 1900 and other families soon followed. A post office opened in 1902, with A. A. White as the first postmaster. E. L. Barber, one of the developers for the town, organized the First Baptist Church in 1899, the largest church in Red Bird. He also became Red Bird's first Justice of the Peace and served as an early mayor. The Red Bird Investment Company formed to recruit African American families to settle in the newly established town. The company sent agents throughout the South to encourage settlement. More than six hundred people attended the grand opening at Red Bird, August 10, 1907. In 1919, Professor J. F. Cathey planned the Miller Washington High School that flourished until 1959, when it closed for lack of students. The high school and Red Bird City Hall are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sharp's Grocery/ Masonic Hall and the Red Bird drugstore, both constructed in 1910, are the two commercial properties in the town listed on Oklahoma's landmark inventory. I. W. Lane of Red Bird successfully challenged the laws passed by the Oklahoma Legislature to make it difficult for African Americans to vote. In 1907, Red Bird had a population of 140 people, in 1930, the population was 218. By 1990, the population had declined to 166

Where it stands

35.88568, -95.58959 · Directions

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