3 All-Black Towns in Oklahoma: Forgotten Archaeologies and The Power of Membered Storytelling

Abstract

Oklahoma's history books make little mention of the sociocultural significance and impact of all-Black towns within the state. There is scant information in Oklahoma's historical and archaeological records that discuss the roles of women in all-Black communities. The town of Dorason was an all-Black town settlement in Western Oklahoma. It was nestled between two all-Black towns within an American Indian tribal district. Miles away, the bustling railroad town of Elwat would later become home to many descendants from the all-Black towns we discuss in this chapter. Very little remains in these mostly forgotten spaces and places. Through a process of ethnohistorical investigation and several trips to field sites, our research places descendant community narratives within Black Feminist archaeological scholarship. Our purpose in privileging narratives is two-fold: 1) to fill in the gaps between the archaeology of storytelling and space and place literature; and 2) to illustrate the ways in which storytelling situated within archaeological frameworks is empowering. The inclusion of these narratives creates an understanding of empowerment through all-Black town space and placemaking. We argue that intimate space, storytelling within spaces, and strong social networks are and were critical elements of self-empowerment and emancipatory practices in contentious spaces.