Historical Marker Program

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Taft

Muskogee County
Location: at City Hall in Taft
Coordinates: 35.761912, -95.549480
Material: Other (Interpretive panel)
Sponsor(s): Oklahoma Historical Society
Topics: Early Statehood, 1907-1941; Ethnic Diversity; Government; Recreational/Service; Settlement Patterns; Social/Culture; Territorial Period, 1861-1907; Urban Development

Taft 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. Initially named Twine after resident W. H. Twine, the town name changed to Taft in 1904 to honor William Howard Taft, secretary of war and later president of the United States. Taft was home to several state-operated facilities for the state’s African American population, including the Industrial Institute for the Deaf, Blind, and Orphans of the Colored Race, State Training School for Negro Girls, and State Hospital for the Negro Insane.