Editing Boley, Oklahoma (section)

===Black self-sufficiency===
[[File:Boley Main Street Looking North undated.png|thumb|left|Main Street, facing north.]]
[[Booker T. Washington]] visited Boley in 1905, and was so impressed that he included Boley in his speeches; black-towns like Boley embodied "the path of advancement," as they provided opportunities for self-governance, moral upliftment, and the development of useful leadership and industrial skills.<ref name="crockett">{{cite web |last1=Crockett |first1=Norman L. |title=Witness to History: Booker T. Washington Visits Boley |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2031618/ |website=The Gateway to Oklahoma History |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |access-date=12 February 2025}}</ref> However,  he also worried that separation from whites, if carried to the extreme, would be detrimental to black communities in the long-run. [[George Washington Carver]] once called Boley "the most progressive black town in the U.S."<ref name="horcher" />

Boley became notorious for its [[sundown town]] signage, subverting whites-only norms, for reading, "White man, don't let the sun set on you here."<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 2, 1925 |title=Seek Cause of Death of Three Near Okfuskee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/592415527/ |location=[[Okemah, Oklahoma]] |newspaper=Drumright Weekly Derrick |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> The sign was removed by federal agents in 1924.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1924 |title=Loses "Welcome" Sign |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/838765589/ |location=[[Henryetta, Oklahoma]] |newspaper=The Oklahoma Courier |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>