Editing Taft, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
This community began as an all-black town on land allotted to [[Creek Freedmen|freedmen]] of the [[Muscogee (Creek) Nation|Creek Nation]]. It was originally named Twine, for [[William H. Twine]], and had a post office by 1902. Mr. Twine moved to Muskogee, and the citizens voted to rename the town as Taft, for President William Howard Taft, who was then Secretary of War in the [[Theodore Roosevelt]] administration.<ref name="EOHC-Taft">.[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TA001 Larry O'Dell, "Taft," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.]  Accessed March 26, 2012</ref>

Educational and correctional facilities have long been the town's leading employers. These have included: W. T. Vernon School (1908), the Industrial Institute for the Deaf, Blind, and Orphans of the Colored Race (1909), Moton High School, and the State Training School for Negro Girls.<ref name="EOHC-Taft"/>

Taft also contains two penitentiaries: Dr. Eddie Warrior Correctional Center, for women, and Jess Dunn Correctional Center, for men.<ref name="EOHC-Taft"/>

In April 1973, [[Lelia Foley]] was elected as Mayor of Taft, becoming one of the African-American women elected as mayor in the United States.<ref name="Jet-Foley-21Jun1973">{{cite journal |editor1-first=John H. |editor1-last=Johnson |editor1-link=John H. Johnson |date=June 21, 1973 |title=Once on welfare, black woman now mayor of her hometown in Taft, Okla. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qK8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18 | access-date=November 18, 2018 |journal=Jet |volume=45 |issue=13 |page=18 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. |location=Chicago, Illinois }}</ref><ref name="OHS-Foley-Davis">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FO001.html |title=Lelia Kasenia Smith Foley-Davis (1942-) |author=O'Dell, Larry |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |access-date=October 16, 2010 |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306215429/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FO001.html |archive-date=March 6, 2009}}</ref>

A [[mass shooting]] incident occurred at an outdoor Memorial Day event in Taft, shortly after midnight on May 29, 2022. Seven people were reported to be injured, with a 39-year-old woman killed.<ref>[https://kfor.com/news/local/multiple-people-shot-during-outdoor-festival-in-taft-authorities-confirm/   "Multiple people shot during outdoor festival in Taft, authorities confirm" ''KFOR'' (May 29, 2022)]</ref><ref>Withrow, Brooke [https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-bureau-investigates-people-shot-event-taft/40135459 "OSBI investigates after multiple people shot, one killed at event in Taft" ''KOCO.com''  (May 29, 2022)]</ref><ref>Huggins, Caitlin [https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/one-killed-seven-injured-in-shooting-at-festival-in-taft "One killed, seven injured in shooting at Memorial Day weekend festival in Taft" (May 29, 2022)]</ref><ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taft-oklahoma-shooting-woman-killed-memorial-day-festival/ "39-year-old woman killed in Oklahoma shooting at Memorial Day festival; 7 people injured" ''CBS News'' (May 30, 2022)]</ref> Media accounts say that this incident was one of at least 12 mass shooting events that occurred over the [[Memorial Day]] weekend across the United States. 26-year-old Skyler Buckner was charged in connection with the shooting.<ref>Helmore, Edward [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/31/mass-shootings-us-memorial-day-weekend-taft-chattanooga "US Memorial Day weekend marked by even more mass shootings" ''The Guardian'' (May 31, 2022)]</ref><ref>Timsit, Annabelle [https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/30/mass-shootings-memorial-day-weekend-taft-chattanooga-uvalde/ "U.S. marks Memorial Day weekend with at least 12 mass shootings" ''Washington Post'' (May 31, 2022)]</ref>