Editing Tullahassee, Oklahoma

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Tullahassee, Oklahoma
|settlement_type          = [[Town]]
|nickname                 = 
|motto                    =

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|image_skyline            = 
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = 
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               =

<!-- Maps -->
|image_map                = OKMap-doton-Tullahassee.PNG
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location of Tullahassee, Oklahoma
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             =

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Oklahoma]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Oklahoma|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Wagoner County, Oklahoma|Wagoner]]

<!-- Government -->
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = Mayor
|leader_name              = Keisha Currin<ref name=MORE>Eaton, Kristi. [https://dailyyonder.com/a-small-all-black-community-in-oklahoma-is-examining-reparations/2021/10/13/ "Small, Historically Black Town in Oklahoma Joins a National Coalition Studying Reparations: Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity includes representatives of some of the nation's largest cities. It also includes the mayor of Tullahassee, Oklahoma, which has a population of under 150,"] ''[[Daily Yonder|The Daily Yonder]]'' (October 13, 2021).</ref>
|leader_title1            = 
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|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 4.71
|area_land_km2            = 4.71
|area_water_km2           = 0.00
|area_total_sq_mi         = 1.82
|area_land_sq_mi          = 1.82
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 83
|population_density_km2   = 17.63
|population_density_sq_mi = 45.65

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = -6
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -5
|elevation_footnotes      = 
|elevation_m              = 189
|elevation_ft             = 620
|coordinates              = {{coord|35|50|16|N|95|26|21|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 74454
|area_code                = [[area codes 539 and 918|539/918]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 40-74650<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|accessdate=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref>
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 1099007<ref name="GR3">{{cite web|url=http://geonames.usgs.gov|accessdate=January 31, 2008|title=US Board on Geographic Names|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]|date=October 25, 2007}}</ref>
|website                  = 
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
}}

'''Tullahassee''' is a town in [[Wagoner County, Oklahoma|Wagoner County]], [[Oklahoma]], United States. The population was 106 in both the 2010 and the [[United States Census, 2000|2000 censuses]].<ref>[http://censusviewer.com/city/OK/Tullahassee CensusViewer:Population of the City of Tullahassee, Oklahoma]</ref> It was the location of [[Tullahassee Mission Site|Tullahassee Mission]], an [[Indian boarding school]] that burned in 1880. Because their population in the community had declined, the Muscogee Creek gave the school to [[Creek Freedmen]], paying to replace the main building, and relocated with their families to the area of Wealaka Mission.

Tullahassee is considered the oldest of the surviving all-black towns in former [[Indian Territory]]. By 1880 Creek Freedmen and their descendants dominated the community population.<ref name="EOHC-Tullahassee">O'Dell, Larry. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' "Tullahassee."{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TU002.html |title=Tullahassee |access-date=May 17, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104055326/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TU002.html |archive-date=November 4, 2012}}</ref>

==History==
The town began in 1850, when the [[Creek Nation]] approved the Tullahassee Mission School at this site on the [[Texas Road]]. It was founded by [[Robert McGill Loughridge]], a [[Presbyterian]] minister who had been serving in the Creek Nation since 1843 and had founded another mission that year.

In the years before the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], many Creek citizens of the town had Black slaves.<ref name=MORE /> In the early 1880s, the population of [[Creek Freedmen|freedmen]] had increased in the area, while the number of Muscogee Creek had declined. The freedmen were formerly enslaved African Americans and their descendants who were emancipated and granted citizenship in the Creek Nation after the [[American Civil War]]. Some also had Creek ancestry.

After a destructive fire at the school, the Creek Council decided to relocate most of their people, and transferred the Creek children to Wealaka Mission. They gave the school and community of Tullahassee to the freedmen in 1881.<ref name=Reboot>{{cite web|url= https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/tullahassee-leaders-drive-revitalization-in-oklahoma-s-oldest-surviving-all-black-town/article_36e71072-43f6-11ec-a7aa-cf1fea690f2c.html |title= Tullahassee leaders drive revitalization in Oklahoma's oldest surviving all-Black town|date= November 15, 2021|publisher=Justin Ayer, Tulsa World, November 15, 2021|accessdate=November 16, 2021}}</ref> The Creek paid to have the school's main building replaced.

The residents opened a post office in 1899, and the town was incorporated in 1902. The Tullahassee Town Site Company was established to aid developing the town, and it both platted the town in 1907<ref name=Reboot/> and recruited black residents from throughout the post-Reconstruction South, where [[Jim Crow]] oppression was increasing. A. J. Mason served as president and L. C. Hardridge as secretary. This is now the oldest of the 13 surviving all-Black towns in the state, which were established during the period of [[Indian Territory]]. At one time there were 50 all-black towns.<ref name="EOHC-Tullahassee"/>

The A. J. Mason Building is listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]] (NR 85001743). [[Carter G. Woodson]] School, named for a prominent black historian, is listed in the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory, and noted for its link to African-American history.<ref name="EOHC-Tullahassee"/>

In 1914, the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]] (AME) opened Flipper-Key-Davis College, also called Flipper-Davis,<ref name=Reboot/> in the former Tullahassee Mission building.<ref name="EOHC-Junior College">{{cite web|url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=JU005 |title=Junior College Movement| last=Everett| first=Dianna| date=n.d. |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref> It was a period when private, municipal and state junior colleges were being founded. Flipper-Davis College was then the only private, higher-level education institution for African Americans in Oklahoma. This junior college closed in 1935 during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name="EOHC-Tullahassee"/>

In June 2021, Tullahassee Mayor Keisha Cullin was one of 11 mayors to form MORE ([[Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity]]), a coalition of mayors who promised to create reparation pilot programs in their municipalities.<ref name=MORE /> Other members of MORE included the mayors of such large cities as [[Los Angeles]], [[Denver]], [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], and [[Kansas City, Missouri]].<ref name=NPR>[https://www.npr.org/2021/06/18/1008242159/11-u-s-mayors-commit-to-developing-pilot-projects-for-reparations "11 U.S. Mayors Commit To Developing Pilot Projects For Reparations,"] ''Associated Press'' (June 18, 2021)</ref>
 
==Geography==
Tullahassee is located at {{coord|35|50|16|N|95|26|21|W|type:city}} (35.837758, -95.439295).<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> It is {{convert|5|mi|km}} northwest of [[Muskogee, Oklahoma|Muskogee]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|0.5|sqmi|km2}}, all land.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1920= 189
|1930= 164
|1940= 200
|1950= 209
|1960= 199
|1970= 183
|1980= 145
|1990= 92
|2000= 105
|2010= 106
|2020= 83
|align-fn=center
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+'''Tullahassee town, Oklahoma – Racial and ethnic composition'''<br><small>{{nobold|''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.''}}</small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(''NH = Non-Hispanic'')</small>
!Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>{{Cite web|title=P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Tullahassee town, Oklahoma |url=https://data.census.gov/table?g=160XX00US4074650&tid=DECENNIALSF12000.P004|website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date= }}</ref>
!Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>{{Cite web|title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Tullahassee town, Oklahoma |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=p2&g=160XX00US4074650&tid=DECENNIALPL2010.P2|website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date= }}</ref>
!{{partial|Pop 2020}}<ref name=2020CensusP2>{{Cite web|title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Tullahassee town, Oklahoma |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=p2&g=160XX00US4074650&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date= }}</ref>
!% 2000
!% 2010
!{{partial|% 2020}}
|-
|[[Non-Hispanic or Latino whites|White]] alone (NH)
|30
|23
|style='background: #ffffe6; |20
|28.30%
|21.70%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |24.10%
|-
|[[Non-Hispanic or Latino African Americans|Black or African American]] alone (NH)
|71
|67
|style='background: #ffffe6; |27
|66.98%
|63.21%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |32.53%
|-
|[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] or [[Alaska Native]] alone (NH)
|1
|9
|style='background: #ffffe6; |17
|0.94%
|8.49%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |20.48%
|-
|[[Asian Americans|Asian]] alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.20%
|-
|[[Native Hawaiian]] or [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islander]] alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|[[Race and ethnicity in the United States census|Other race]] alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|[[Multiracial Americans|Mixed race or Multiracial]] (NH)
|4
|7
|style='background: #ffffe6; |17
|3.77%
|6.60%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |20.48%
|-
|[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] (any race)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.20%
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''106'''
|'''106'''
|style='background: #ffffe6; |'''83'''
|'''100.00%'''
|'''100.00%'''
|style='background: #ffffe6; |'''100.00%'''
|}

===2000 census==
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2" /> of 2000, there were 106 people, 39 households, and 24 families residing in the town. The population density was {{convert|200.4|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 49 housing units at an average density of {{convert|92.6|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the town was 66.98% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 28.30% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.94% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], and 3.77% from two or more races.

There were 39 households, out of which 17.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.5% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 20.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.40.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 22.6% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $14,750, and the median income for a family was $13,750. Males had a median income of $21,875 versus $12,500 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $8,537. There were 42.3% of families and 58.9% of the population living below the [[poverty line]], including 94.0% of under eighteens and 22.2% of those over 64.

=== 2022 American Community Survey ===
According to the most recent [[American Community Survey]], the racial makeup of the town was 27.40% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 22.6% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 6.16% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], and 43.84% from two or more races.<ref>[https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/tullahassee-ok-population Tullahassee, Oklahoma Population 2022], World Population Review. Retrieved June 2, 2022.</ref>

== Education ==
Students are zoned to [[Porter Consolidated Schools]].<ref>"[http://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st40_ok/c40145_wagoner/DC10SD_C40145_001.pdf SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Wagoner County, OK]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160128171815/http://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st40_ok/c40145_wagoner/DC10SD_C40145_001.pdf Archive]). [[U.S. Census Bureau]]. Retrieved on September 11, 2015.</ref>

=== Tullahassee Manual Labor School ===
The Tullahassee Manual Labor School, located in Tullahassee, Oklahoma was originally used as a Creek boarding school and became a school for [[Creek Freedmen]] to gain education beyond an elementary school level.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Zellar |first=Gary |date=2007-01-30 |title=Tullahassee Manual Labor School (1850-1924) • |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/tullahassee-manual-labor-school-1850-1924/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |language=en-US}}</ref> The institution was one of very few designated for Creek Freedmen and operated as such from 1883 to until it was sold to [[Wagoner County, Oklahoma|Waggoner County]] in 1914.<ref name=":0" />

Tullahassee Manual Labor School opened initially in 1850 as a school for Creek children, the school began operation in 1850 until a fire destroyed the building in 1880.<ref name=":0" /> The fire created an opportunity for the Creek children to be transferred to a different school, leaving the dilapidated building along with its 100 acres to be offered to the Creek Freedmen population in the area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tullahassee {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TU002 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=Oklahoma Historical Society {{!}} OHS |language=en-us}}</ref> Tullahassee Manual Labor School was reopened in 1883 primarily serving Creek Freedmen in Tullahassee. After Oklahoma gained statehood, it was owned by the government until 1914 when it was sold to Waggoner County and became Flipper Key Davis College, an institution primarily serving African Americans.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Freedmen Schools {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=FR017 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=Oklahoma Historical Society {{!}} OHS |language=en-us}}</ref> As of today, Flipper Key Davis College is no longer in operation.

==See also==
* [[Boley, Oklahoma|Boley]], [[Brooksville, Oklahoma|Brooksville]], [[Clearview, Oklahoma|Clearview]], [[Grayson, Oklahoma|Grayson]], [[Langston, Oklahoma|Langston]], [[Lima, Oklahoma|Lima]], [[Redbird, Oklahoma|Redbird]], [[Rentiesville, Oklahoma|Rentiesville]], [[Summit, Oklahoma|Summit]], [[Taft, Oklahoma|Taft]], [[Tatums, Oklahoma|Tatums]], and [[Vernon, Oklahoma|Vernon]], other "All-Black" settlements that resulted from the [[Land Run of 1889]] in Indian Territory.<ref name="eohc">{{cite encyclopedia | url= http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AL009.html | title= All-Black Towns | first= Larry | last= O'Dell | publisher= [[Oklahoma Historical Society]] | encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture | access-date= August 19, 2012 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121103020841/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AL009.html | archive-date= November 3, 2012}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Wagoner County, Oklahoma}}
{{NRHP in Wagoner County}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Wagoner County, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Towns in Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Muscogee (Creek) Nation]]
[[Category:Populated places in Oklahoma established by African Americans]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1850]]
[[Category:1850 establishments in Indian Territory]]