Historical Marker Program

Red Bird

Wagoner County
Location: in community of Red Bird
Coordinates: 35.885676, -95.589588
Material: Other (Interpretive panel)
Sponsor(s): Oklahoma Historical Society
Topics: Civil Rights; Early Statehood, 1907–1941; Ethnic Diversity; Government; Settlement Patterns; Territorial Period, 1861–1907; Urban Development

Red Bird is one of 13 All-Black towns, out of more than 50 that once existed, remaining in Oklahoma. While Tullahassee is reportedly the oldest, most were established between 1889 and 1907 as African Americans sought security and control of their own destiny in a segregated world. Most of the towns began to decline in the 1920s and 1930s as rural African Americans faced economic hardships and began to move to urban areas. Red Bird was established with a post office in June 1902. The Red Bird Investment Company formed to recruit African Americans to settle in the town. I. W. Lane, a Red Bird resident, successfully challenged laws enacted by Oklahoma that sought to prevent African Americans from voting.