African Americans in Oklahoma Before 1954
African American Churches
The importance of the church to African American communities in Oklahoma cannot be overstated. During the allotment period, missionaries from the Baptist and Methodist denominations found success in organizing congregations of Freedmen throughout Indian Territory. Organized Black churches began around the turn of the century in the larger cities and the All-Black towns. The church offered congregants a place for worship, community, purpose, and the chance to work toward non-religious goals, such as civil rights, in an organized way. Religious leaders supported their communities by offering space, raising funds, working with other groups, and endorsing causes. Church leaders had long ago established services for vulnerable members of the community. They provided the safety net for Black residents that state and local governments provided for white communities. The Black churches have often been a target for vandalism and arson for those hostile to African American communities.
Dr. Haywood and his wife worked in the music ministry of Avery Chapel AME. Photograph by Bob Albright, February 17, 1960 (2012.201.B0285.0486, OPUBCO Collection, OHS).
Some of the oldest churches in Oklahoma continue today. There were several churches to choose from in Muskogee, where the Black residents represented over 30 percent of the town’s population at statehood. The oldest, First Baptist, grew out of an 1870s mission school and was organized in 1890. The historic brick building’s cornerstone was laid in 1904. With roots reaching back to 1889, Avery Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church formally organized in the 1890s in Oklahoma City. The church grew rapidly before statehood and changed locations three times during that period. With statehood, the church constructed a brick building. The church would remain in this building for over fifty years. Dr. W. L. Haywood, Zelia Breaux, and Ralph Ellison attended this church. In Tulsa, Reverend J. E. Roy organized Vernon AME Church in 1905. It grew slowly, until it had 71 congregants at statehood. A brick building was in the process of being constructed beginning in the 1910s. The white mob that attacked the Greenwood neighborhood during the Tulsa Race Massacre destroyed thirteen churches, including Vernon AME. The congregation rebuilt quickly after the massacre, and their numbers increased to 400 members.
Vernon AME, Tulsa (image courtesy National Historic Register of Places).
