Wealthy Black Communities 1920s

 

This rare and unique film collection documents the daily lives of Guthrie, Muskogee, and Langston, Oklahoma - all successful middle class  African American towns thriving in the aftermath of the infamous Tulsa Riots of 1921 illustrating a little known piece of history.  

The footage shows these successful black communities visiting one another's country homes, parading through downtown Muskogee in some two dozen Packards,  going to church,  a National Baptist Convention, European vacations, black cowboys riding horses amidst oil derricks on their ranches, various sporting events including rare footage of the 1928 Los Angeles to New York "Great American Foot Race" in which three of the finishing runners were black Americans. 

 

Click here to view clips from this collection

 

Return to Footage Collections