Articles

The history of Silicon Valley’s technological and cultural revolution during the birth of the commercial internet includes names such as Tim Berners-Lee, Linus Torvalds, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos. However, one name is notably missing: Emmit…

In the spring of 2021, the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa (ahha) exhibited No Parking Studios artists Antonio Andrews and Alexander Tamahn’s “Revisionist Future,” a collection of works by the two Black artists that challenged visitors to “strive to…

In December of 2019, the Oklahoma Eagle issued a scathing editorial against the Tulsa Development Authority (TDA). After a long series of objections from community members during a City Council meeting in March of that year, the Council voted unanimously…

A painting (by Norman artist Mike Wimmer) of Amos T. Hall, Thurgood Marshall, and Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, the first woman of color to be admitted to the University of Oklahoma Law School, hangs in the halls of the Oklahoma…

The surname “Bate” is likely not well-known in Oklahoma, but it’s most certainly recognized in Tennessee. Humphrey Bate was born in Castalian Springs, Tennessee, on May 25, 1875. He spent his teenage years collecting pocket change playing harmonica on steamboats…

Jimmie Lewis Franklin wrote in Journey Toward Hope, “No discussion of Black political life in Oklahoma could ignore the tenure of Representative Ben [H.] Hill of Tulsa. …His careful reasoning often left both Black militants and white racists uncomfortable. He…

“I remember so well when George Monroe, a playmate of mine, who was in the [Massacre] and who hid under the bed, he was five years old. And a white hoodlum stepped on his fingers and he didn’t even cry,…

Photograph of Ellis Walker Woods courtesy of the Tulsa Historical Society & Museum. Ellis Walker Woods was born on June 29, 1885, in Winston County, eastern Mississippi, the son of a freed slave. The names of his parents are unavailable…

Photograph of Otis Clark courtesy of M.J. Alexander In a sense, the life of Otis Clark is reminiscent of the parable of the prodigal son. Squandering his education, he found success as a bootlegger before the age of 18. After…

Photo of S.M. & Eunice Jackson (right) courtesy of the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Princetta R. Newman Often mentioned alongside John and Loula Williams and E. L. and Jeanne Goodwin…