The Freedmen of Oklahoma were Black people, both enslaved and free, who had been living among the Indian nations. After the official abolition of slavery in 1866, they forged an identity as their own people as they faced the challenges of the western frontier. By 1906, before Oklahoma statehood, more than twenty thousand people had been classified as "Freedmen" from the Five Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations. For decades, their descendants have been rediscovering their family history and restoring its place in the larger narrative. Angela Walton-Raji has complied this collection of stories, told by descendants from all five tribes, to ensure that the Freedman of Oklahoma claim their vibrant part of the state's heritage.
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