Marilyn Luper Hildreth, a Living Legend, has been a part of the Civil Rights Movement all of her life. Being the daughter of Clara Luper, the Godmother of Oklahoma Civil Rights, helped to provide a road map for her active involvement. She would tell you that if she could rewrite her life’s story, it would have the same storylines. Having Clara Luper as her mom was the best thing that ever happened to her!
Hildreth became active in the formal setting of the NAACP Youth Council. Traveling with her mom to many Civil Rights events gave her the opportunity to witness history in living color.
A 1964 graduate of Douglass High School and she received her degree from Langston University, her mom’s alma mater. Her career training was in the Allstate Insurance business where she was hired as the African American female sales person in Oklahoma. She later had her own Allstate Insurance Agency excelling in every area.
Hildreth knew the importance of equal rights and without hesitation would engage herself in discussion and/or protest to help make a positive change like her mother. Attending the March on Washington, D. C. on August 28, 1963 and hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his I Have A Dream speech added more fire and purpose to Marilyn’s life.
Under her mother’s leadership, Hildreth is famous for being one of the original thirteen children who led the first sit-in that took place at Oklahoma City Katz Drug Store on August 19, 1958. She made the motion at the NAACP Youth Council meeting for going to Katz and sit until they were served. That was a historical moment. It was one of the first sit-in events that became a model for all other sit-ins that were held in this nation.
She continues today to follow in her mother’s footsteps by delivering inspirational speeches to many school children, civic groups, and churches. She reminds them that we must continue to fight for equality for all people, regardless of race, creed or color. Her mother’s work cannot be in vain and the struggles continues.
She is active on three committees to carry on her mother’s legacy: The Clara Luper Legacy Committee, The Freedom Center Committee, and the Clara Luper Civil Rights Plaza Committee. Hildreth is the mother of three children and the grandmother of three. She is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and Fifth Street Baptist Church, Oklahoma City.
Hildreth has often stated that if we don’t continue to tell the Civil Rights story, we may forget and return to those segregated days and ways. We must continue to move forward and enjoy all the rights that our U. S. Constitution guarantees us as citizens of these United States!
James Osby Goodwin is an icon. He is the Publisher and Owner of Tulsa’s oldest and only black newspaper, The Oklahoma Eagle. He is also an accomplished attorney. The newspaper, started by Jim’s father, E.L. Goodwin, who purchased the rights to the Tulsa Star in 1936 and renamed it, the Oklahoma Eagle. The Tulsa Star, which was the city’s first black newspaper, was one of the many businesses destroyed in the chaos of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. The newspaper
has been family owned since the beginning and remains a strong presence in North Tulsa.
He is an advocate for the city’s reconstruction of the Greenwood District, for its history both before and after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. It’s part of his family’s story, and he is devoted to restoring and revitalizing Greenwood while carving out the massacre’s proper place among not only Tulsa’s but also America’s, history.
Goodwin is one of eight siblings who grew up on a 150-acre farm, purchased by his father, in the community of Alsuma. The pre-statehood community between Tulsa and Broken Arrow, where the railroad tracks, like most areas during that time, separated blacks and whites.
After he finished high school, he attended Notre Dame and graduated in 1961. From there he went straight to law school at the University of Tulsa, where he graduated in 1965. Goodwin has been practicing law for 55 years.
Senator Connie Johnson (retired) served for 33-years in the Oklahoma State Senate, representing Oklahoma City’s predominantly African American “Eastside,” where, as a Senate researcher and Senator, she focused on health/mental health/ human services issues that disproportionately affect the economic and social well-being of the poor, minorities, women, children, and people with disabilities.
As the original author of legislation legalizing medical cannabis, Senator Johnson’s impact on Oklahoma’s economy is unparalleled. Johnson made history as Oklahoma’s first woman and African American US Senate nominee. Senator Johnson served on the full Senate Appropriations Committee and the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. She effectively worked across the aisle on issues affecting people with disabilities, criminal justice reform and cannabis policy reform.
Johnson was the 2014 Oklahoma Democratic Party Veteran’s Committee Legislator of the Year, and served as vice chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party from 2015-2017. She chaired the Oklahoma Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty, where she led an effective statewide campaign against State Question 776, which put the death penalty in the Oklahoma Constitution.
Rozia McKinney-Foster is an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma where she is a prosecutor of Federal Major Crimes. She was born in the historic Boley, Oklahoma and reared in Oklahoma City’s historic Edwards Addition. She attributes much of her preparation for success to her early education at Edwards Elementary and Kennedy Jr. High schools and training at Tabitha Baptist Church. Rozia’s mother, Henry Mae (Pendleton) McKinney died when Rozia was 14 years old, but in 14-years, her mother instilled in her a strong work ethic and deep salt of the earth practical and Godly wisdom.
McKinney-Foster is a 1973 graduate of the historic Frederick Douglass High School, a 1977 cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and a 1980 graduate of the Oklahoma City University School of Law. She served with distinction as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the Western District of Oklahoma when terrorists bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building on April 19, 1995 and she was serving as Acting United States Attorney. McKinney-Foster has been honored in Washington D.C. for her outstanding work as a prosecutor.
A community activist and servant leader, she is a founding member of the Oklahoma City Association of Black Lawyers, (Past President), the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, and the Oklahoma Chapter of NOBLE (National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives) (Chaplain). She is on the Executive Board for Oklahoma City University School of Law.
McKinney-Foster is an Adult Sunday School teacher and Director of Women’s Ministries for Progressive Baptist Church where her husband, Reverend Larry Foster, Sr., is the Pastor. She is active with the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC) on the State, Regional, and National levels.
Theodis Manning Sr. is a native of El Dorado, Arkansas. In May 1981, Manning came to Oklahoma City via the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s Co-operative Education Program and worked two separate semesters at Tinker AFB. In 1983, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where he also had a very successful 4-year football career. Subsequent to graduation and two terms on the University’s Co-operative Education Program while still in college, he was hired as a permanent employee by Tinker Air Force Base in June 1983, where he worked for 12 years until his early retirement in 1993 as a Program Manager for the Air Force One Presidential fleet, KC-10 Air Refuel Tanker and the C-9 aircraft.
In 1994, Manning founded Nationwide Mortgage Company of America where he served as President and CEO until turning full-time Pastor in 2006. In April 2004, he and Felicia, his wife of 23 years, established and founded Divine Wisdom Worship Center Church in Midwest City, Oklahoma where he currently serves as Senior Pastor. Pastor Manning also founded and currently serves as director of five other very active community faith based organizations including:
TASK “Teaching And Saving Kids” At-Risk Youth and Young Adult Program (founded March 2007)
Another Chance Re-Entry and Aftercare Program: (founded October 2005)
Another Chance Recovery Support program (founded May 2001)
Trinity House Ministries (founded October 2005)
Another Chance Counseling Agency “ACCA” (founded September 2013
Pastor Manning is a member of the Citizens for Juvenile Justice Board (Oklahoma County Juvenile Detention Center) and the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Reform Board.
Mary Alexander Johnson also affectionately known as “The Fox” is one of Oklahoma’s great treasures because she has positively touched the lives of countless young, old, vulnerable, and bold people in the state of Oklahoma and beyond. Although her roots are from Washington, D.C. and Laurens, South Carolina most of her adult life has be grounded in Ardmore, Oklahoma where she constantly keeps her radar screen beaming to detect how she can best be of service to others. Perhaps, this is why she is so eloquently known as “The Fox” because she is a warrior for all issues that defy the inalienable rights of others.
Johnson received a B.S. Degree from Allen University, Columbia, S.C, a Master’s Degree in Education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, O.K; she is also certified as a Reading Specialist and Secondary Administration and has graduate credits from Howard University in Washington D.C and the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
“The Fox” has been on the Oklahoma scene since the mid 70’s. Ironically, her first teaching experience began in the Fox Public Schools, in Fox Oklahoma where she taught elementary and high school social studies. She was also an Instructor in psychology and sociology and Academic Minority Counselor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma.
Johnson is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and a committed member of the Mount Zion Baptist Church, Ardmore, OK. Johnson has been recognized by the citizens of Ardmore and the State of Oklahoma to include: A Living Legend in Oklahoma, Inducted into the African American Teachers’ Hall of Fame, Coordinator of the Miss Black Oklahoma Pageant and The Presidents Distinguish Service Award Langston University, Langston, Oklahoma
Most recently she initiated the Langston University Nursing Program to The University Center of Southern Oklahoma and she teaches in the Ardmore City School System.
Pastor Ronald D. Scott, Sr. was born in Geary, Oklahoma and raised in Oklahoma City. He worked at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and retired after 26 years.
In 1990, God gave Pastor Ron a vision to start a ministry to reach out to people suffering from addictions. His humble beginning started with a support group in 1991 under a tree, which later had use of a room at Mary Mahoney Health Center in Spencer, Oklahoma. This support group began what is now known as Serenity Outreach Ministries. Serenity was incorporated by the State of Oklahoma in 1994 and was founded by Pastors Ronald D. and First Lady Wilma J. Scott. They have been pastoring 25 years. Pastor Ron has 32 years of recovery.
The mission of Serenity Outreach is to reach hurting people who are struggling with problems of addiction, compulsions, and co-dependencies in and outside the church. Serenity Outreach believes that addiction is a physical, mental and spiritual disease of the body that affects every area of life. It is unique in its purpose, specializing in providing a two-way bridge between the traditional 12-step Support Group and the Church. Pastor Scott’s knowledge of recovery is immeasurable and he’s been given the privilege of speaking and teaching throughout the State of Oklahoma on Substance Abuse.
He is the Co-Founder & CEO of the Serenity Outreach Recovery Community and provides many Recovery Support Services such as: Sober Living Apartment Complexes which provides Emergency Shelter and housing for Veterans seeking recovery from substance abuse. Recovery Group Meetings include: Overcomers 12-Steps, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Cocaine Anonymous. Counseling Services include: Substance Abuse Counseling, Family, and Financial Counseling.
Pastor Ronald Scott is recognized as a leader in the field of recovery.
Pastor Wilma Scott was born in Boynton, Oklahoma on February 28, 1953 and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a graduate of St. John’s School of Nursing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1996, she was licensed and ordained to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastor Wilma has 35 years of recovery.
God gave Pastor Scott a heart for hurting women looking to be made whole through the power of God. With that gift, she became Founder and Director of Women Following Jesus Christ (W.F. J.C.), Daughters of God Ministry and the Healing Hearts Youth Center (H.H.Y.C.), a youth ministry that serves as a support group for hurting youth.
She serves as Co-Founder & President of the Executive Board of Directors for the Serenity Outreach Recovery Community. In 2008, she co-founded Serenity Outreach Recovery Community’s first Women’s Sober Living Center called, The Unlimited House.
She is a frequent and well-known conference speaker. Pastor Wilma Scott continues to be dedicated and humble servant of God who loves the
Walter J. Edwards was one of Oklahoma City’s most prominent African American entrepreneurs, real estate developer, and philanthropist. In 1907, his father, a tenant farmer in Mississippi left and settled on a farm of his own near Wellston, Oklahoma. 12
A few years later, at age 19, Walter Edwards moved to Oklahoma City and got a job as a laborer in a junkyard at nine dollars a week. Within fifteen years, he owned a baggage hauling company, a carpet business, an iron foundry, and two drive-in gasoline stations. He is said to have built one of the first drive-in filling stations in Oklahoma City.
Losing everything in the Crash of 1929, he recouped his fortune by selling scrap iron via Edwards Scrap Iron and Junkyard, later called American Iron and Metal. His enterprises, which expanded to include a taxi line, an auto repair shop and pharmacies, employed hundreds of persons.
As his business grew, his lack of formal education became more and more of a handicap because he never went beyond the fifth grade. In 1930, he met Frances Gilliam Waldrop. Her training qualified her to help Edwards straighten out his books and put his salvage yard on a businesslike basis. That same year, Edwards married Frances Gilliam Waldrop.
In 1937, Edwards Real Estate Investment Company purchased thirty-three acres in northeast Oklahoma City and had it platted by C.T. Hassman, a white resident of Tuttle, to skirt the segregation ordinance. There the Edwards sold to black homeowners, effectively ending residential segregation. In 1939, Edwards persuaded the Federal Housing Authority to approve mortgage loans for black persons, an unheard-of practice. It was the first FHA-insured housing project ever undertaken by Negroes for Negroes.
The Edwards donated land for a public park and elementary school, built Edwards Memorial Hospital, and created a nearby shopping center. What they accomplished helped make Oklahoma City a better place for people to live, not just for blacks, but for everyone.
Carl Holmes was one of the first twelve African Americans appointed to the Oklahoma City Fire Department in 1951, a class of carefully selected men by the Urban League and the NAACP to join the firefighters’ academy.
The city hired the men in exchange for the support of the black community and civil rights leaders in an upcoming bond election. However, this was not a time of celebration. As part of the Jim Crow era, it was in fact, a time of ostracism, racism and discrimination. Holmes and the other men were faced with profound challenges. Change was not easy. When Holmes and the other black firefighters were hired in 1951, there were no black firefighters in Oklahoma.
The “Original Twelve” pioneering black firefighters were James Coffey, Cecil Dixon, Herbert Ford, Melvin A. Franklin, Carl Holmes, Willard Jenkins, Algie Lawrence, Marvin O. Nelson, Edward K. Russell, Bob Summers, Charles Q. Wright and James H. Young.
At first, the black firefighters were segregated from their white counterparts. By 1959, black firefighters were serving in six integrated fire stations.
Carl Holmes rose through the ranks, overcoming hostility and gained the respect of peers and officers. At age 44, he was named deputy chief, making him second in command over 1200 personnel in the Oklahoma City Fire Department and the highest ranking position attained at the time by an African American. After 30 years as an active firefighter Holmes took issue with the training offered to blacks who gained access to the National Fire Academy, yet were seemingly bypassed for promotions. Seeing that change was not in the offing, upon retiring in 1981, Holmes founded the Executive Development Institute (EDI) to provide the necessary leadership skills for advancement.
Carl G. Holmes was known for mentoring thousands of black firefighters in leadership training from 1981 to 2017. He died November 24, 2017.
Lawrence Kuykendall was known as the Handless Wonder. He lost both his hands and arms, up to his elbows, in an accident at age 10. Despite this life altering event, Kuykendall excelled and achieved beyond imagination. He was born in Okeene, Oklahoma and raised on a farm in Anadarko.
It’s been said that people that knew him, remembered him for his athletic exploits rather than what they considered his handicap. He had a love for sports and conquered every sport he tackled. Despite his lack of hands, Kuykendall earned the position of Captain on his high school’s basketball and football
teams. He also played college sports at Langston University and went on to play basketball with the Marquis Haynes Harlem Magicians.
Kuykendall never allowed his handicap to define him, and refused to be pitied by others. He believed, according to his autobiography, that “with God’s help” in spite of the loss, he didn’t need physical hands to do God’s will. Kuykendall lived a life that knew no limits. He ultimately learned to use his arms so expertly, that he could do anything a person could do with hands.
In an effort to be independent and to prove himself to his parents and his friends, Kuykendall took on his first job as a newspaper carrier for the Anadarko Daily News at age 12. You could say this is where it all started. Kuykendall believed that there was no need to let a physical handicap interfere with normal activities or future ambitions, and he didn’t.
Besides being a newspaper carrier, Kuykendall was successful in all his job opportunities. He was employed at Fort Sill in the Drivers Instructional Education Section, as a Certified License Examiner for 16 years.
He was the owner-operator of a successfully run grocery store, that he started with $135.00. A store that he operated in Anadarko, Oklahoma from 1944-1960. He was also the Editor-in-Chief of the Lawton Community Guide, a local newspaper, serving folks in several states and abroad for seven years.
Several highlights of Kuykendall’s life included;
In 1935, at age seventeen, he made Ripley’s Believe It or Not column, as the Armless Basketball Star
In 1969, he was invited to Washington D.C., where he was recognized as the Most Outstanding Handicapped Person in the U.S.A.
He wrote and published his autobiography, The Handless Wonder Conquers the Impossible, in 1979.
Kuykendall credits God and hard work for his successes and urged others to use their talents to the fullest. Lawrence Kuykendall died May 6, 1988 in Lawton, OK. He was 68 years old. A man with no hands and no limits.
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“Where do you start?” Former Senator Connie Johnson throws out the question to the audience gathered at Oklahoma City’s Nappy Roots Books on a Spring evening. “With all the challenges we face, how does anyone decide which one to tackle first?” Senator Johnson went on to explain that the answer to that question is highly individual. People get excited about, get involved in, those causes that strike a chord with them. Sometimes problems have to hit you in the face before you decide to take action.
]]>“Where do you start?” Former Senator Connie Johnson throws out the question to the audience gathered at Oklahoma City’s Nappy Roots Books on a Spring evening. “With all the challenges we face, how does anyone decide which one to tackle first?” Senator Johnson went on to explain that the answer to that question is highly individual. People get excited about, get involved in, those causes that strike a chord with them. Sometimes problems have to hit you in the face before you decide to take action.
Plenty of issues to act upon were presented at a panel discussion entitled “Women’s Triumphs, Women’s Struggles.” Seven panelists gathered in the gallery at Nappy Roots Books, underneath a photographic exhibit by Gay Pasley featuring images from Women’s March 2019. The event commemorated the end of Women’s History Month, celebrated during March.
Senator Johnson, who had a long career as a legislative analyst, served in the Oklahoma State Senate, and was a candidate for governor of the State of Oklahoma, spoke about legislative and electoral justice. “First and foremost, we have to claim our power as citizens, as voters,” she said. “The ballot box is powerful – but only if you make it work for you.” She went on to explain that merely voting is not enough. “We have to become active in the process of choosing candidates who represent our community, who respond to our needs. And after they’re elected, we have to let them know what our needs are, what’s important to us.” People regularly underestimate the power they have. Senator Johnson cited last year’s success of Georgia voters in denying a Senate seat to a Republican candidate...
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The organizational meeting of the Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women, a state-wide affiliated member organization of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, was held in Oklahoma City at the historic Huckins Hotel on Saturday the 10th day of April 1965.
Mrs. Georgia L. Brown, an Oklahoma City community activist who was very involved in the Democratic Party, was certified as a voting delegate at the Federation’s organizational meeting and was the 13th signer of the Constitution & Bylaws adopted at that meeting.
Mrs. Bernice Syrus-Davis founded an Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women’s Club in Northeast OKC in 1968. To honor her friend and mentor, “Sweet Georgia Brown”, Mrs. Syrus-Davis named the club: Georgia Brown Federated Democratic Women’s Club (GBFDWC). In addition to being an organizational member of the Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women. Mrs. Brown founded the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Women’s Club.
Both Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Syrus-Davis were beauticians by profession. Mrs. Brown invited the National Beauty Culturists organization to Oklahoma in 1952 and served as the second Oklahoma State President of Chapter #57. She was a National Beauty Culturist League Trustee and a member of the National Executive Board.
In 1969, Mrs. Brown was honored by the Oklahoma City Federation of Colored Women’s Club for “her continuing work in elevating the status of beauticians and also for securing the first Negro page at the State Capitol.” In 1973 Oklahoma Governor David Hall appointed Mrs. Georgia L. Brown to the Oklahoma State Board of Cosmetology
Learn more inside the latest publication of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 4 (Digital)
Since 1991, Anita Arnold has served as Executive Director of BLAC, Inc. Arnold is a former executive of the U.S. Postal Service where she had responsibility for national information systems for Real Estate and Buildings of the Postal Service. She was the second-highest level female Postal Service executive in the country.
]]>Since 1991, Anita Arnold has served as Executive Director of BLAC, Inc. Arnold is a former executive of the U.S. Postal Service where she had responsibility for national information systems for Real Estate and Buildings of the Postal Service. She was the second-highest level female Postal Service executive in the country.
Arnold is a retired district manager of AT&T Consumer Products where she managed a $1.6 billion product line of purchased data products. She counts among her many business experiences, Owner of Investment Brokerage Company, Inc., a real estate company and Argos Property Management Company.
In 1991, following 7 years of service as a board member of BLAC, Inc., she assumed the role of Executive Director. She has served in this capacity for 28 years and been recognized for her many accomplishments in the non-profit field. They include numerous “firsts” including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Partners’ in Education program to Oklahoma. She is the recipient of the coveted Governor’s Arts Award and the Pathmakers of Oklahoma City/County Award. She was a member of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Advisory Committee for three years. She received the 2010 Oklahoma Human Rights Award.
Arnold received an Associate Degree in Computer Programming from Oklahoma State University, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Memphis State University in the field of Production Management with a major in Computer Science and Mathematics. She has also done post-graduate work in Engineering Management at the University of Oklahoma.
She is the author of six cultural history books, Charlie and the Deuce, Legendary Times and Tales of Second Street.
Learn more inside the latest publication of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 4 (Digital)
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Photography by Elrey Carr
Jana Harkins, President, OK Federation of Democratic Women’s Club , guest and Kitti Asberry , President, Georgia Brown Democratic Women’s Club
Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, Chair, Black Lives Matter, Florence Jones, Chef/Owner Florence’s Restaurant and Thelma Parks, Former Educator
Willa Johnson, Former Oklahoma County Commissioner, District One
Judge Aletia Timmons, OK Judicial District 7
Anastasia Pittman, Former State Senator, District 48 and Ajay Pittman, (daughter) State Representative, District 99
Nikki Nice, Ward 7 City Councilwoman and Espaniola Bowen, MWC Ward 3
Espaniola Bowen, Aletia Timmons, Merleyn Bell (State Representative, District 45),Anastasia Pittman, Kitti Asberry, Nikki Nice, Kendra Coleman, Ajay Pittman, Marsha Jefferson, Sheri Dickerson and Thelma Parks.
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Oklahoma Historical Society Marks Juneteenth with Acclaimed Journalist Carmen Fields.
OKLAHOMA CITY —On Tuesday, June 18, at 7 p.m., the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) will celebrate Juneteenth by hosting an evening with acclaimed journalist Carmen Fields at the Oklahoma History Center. This “Inside the Actors Studio”-style interview will be conducted by Oklahoma City journalist Joyce Jackson. The event is free to the public, but donations will be accepted to benefit the Shirley Ballard Nero Endowment. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Tulsa native Carmen Fields earned a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University and studied at Boston University and Harvard University. As a reporter and columnist for the Boston Globe, she was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Boston’s school desegregation. As a broadcaster, she has been nominated for six regional Emmy awards and has won two, one for a story on the Ku Klux Klan in Boston. In addition to her own media and public relations consulting, Fields currently is the producer and host of a monthly public affairs program on Boston’s Channel 7 called “Higher Ground.” She has taught journalism at Boston University, Pine Manor College and Northeastern University in Boston. Fields wrote and produced the PBS documentary “Goin’ Back to T-Town” (1993) about the Greenwood community in Tulsa. Fields is the daughter of famous big band leader Ernie Fields and the sister of musician Ernie Fields Jr.
Joyce Jackson, the first female African American newscaster in Oklahoma City, will interview Fields on stage. They will talk about Fields’s childhood in segregated Tulsa and the impact of Jim Crow on the musical careers of her father and brother. Jackson and Fields also will discuss their stories of breaking into broadcasting and the making of “Goin’ Back to T-Town.”
Juneteenth is the Texas and Oklahoma regional celebration of the emancipation from slavery following the US Civil War. US General Gordon Granger proclaimed the end of slavery in Texas at Galveston on June 19, 1865. This news and celebration spread to Indian Territory slaves that summer.
The Shirley Ballard Nero Endowment focuses on funding projects related to Oklahoma’s African American experience, especially related to the All-Black towns in the state. You can donate to this fund at the Oklahoma History Center or by contacting Angela Spindle at 405-522-0317 or aspindle@okhistory.org.
The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
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Also Online Registration for this event is found at https://www.scoutingrocks.tv/content/71399/2019-Adventure-on-the--River
]]>Justice For Julius was written by John Thompson, an award winning historian, an award-winning inner city teacher and author. Now retired.
In 1999, the Edmond businessman, Paul Howell, was murdered in a botched carjacking in his driveway. The tragic death of Mr. Howell and the trauma of the family he left behind, are deserving of justice. But the panic prompted by this cruel murder resulted in an unfair trial and it threatens the life of my former John Marshall student, Julius Jones.
The federal public defender’s office has presented a powerful case that Julius did not commit the murder for which he has been condemned to Death Row. Many more Oklahomans, and people across the nation and overseas, have watched ABC News’ three-hour documentary, The Last Defense. A worldwide audience, including the Congressional Black Caucas, is following the case, looking with fresh eyes at the Jones conviction, and concluding that he did not receive a fair trial. And The City Sentinel reports:
The National Law Journal, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan wrote that the Julius Jones case “presents an important opportunity for the U. S. Supreme Court to address racism in the criminal justice system and in application of Oklahoma’s death penalty head-on.” Kogan added, “The court should insist, at the very least, that Jones receives a hearing where all the evidence, including that of racial bias, can be heard. Fairness requires it
If the prosecution’s files in this flawed case could be opened, and/or if appeals court judges reviewed the full body of evidence, and it is likely that Julius would receive a new trial.
Jones was arrested in a rush to judgment when the late Bob Macy was the district attorney and the public was terrified by supposed "Superpredators." Society’s fears resulted in a severe overreaction in terms of reducing the rights of the accused, and extreme over-incarceration. Today, however, bipartisan reforms in Oklahoma and across the nation are redressing the wrongs of that sad time.
We have also learned much more about the ways that snap judgments made in the first hours of investigations often result in wrongful convictions, especially in capital cases. Moreover, due in part to legislation passed in the 1990s. appeals judges tend to review the specific evidence that is brought before them. They mostly avoid connecting the dots and evaluating how each mistake fits into the larger narrative.
The courts have noted specific errors in Julius’ case, but decided that they do not merit a reversal or modification of Jones' sentence. If appeals judges could look anew at the full story, each one could be seen within a new context. If the criminal justice system was tasked with presenting a new case against Julius. a very different verdict would likely be reached.
If Julius were retried today, what evidence could now be considered?
The testimony of four family members on what Julius was doing at the time of the murder was not provided to the jury. Neither did the jury hear statements by two inmates who said that co-defendant Christopher “Westside” Jordan (another student of mine) bragged about the killing and the deal he made to get out of prison in 15 years. Jordon, in fact, was released 15 years into his 30-year sentence.
The jury heard Jordan’s testimony, but they were not shown how much his statements contradicted themselves, and how he seemed to be coached by detectives, who improperly kept his attorney at bay. Julius’ inexperienced public defender acknowledged that he did a “terrible job” of cross-examining the key witness who repeatedly contradicted himself when fingering Julius as the murderer.
The jurors heard the evidence provided by two longtime police informants, who had years of experience as felons and who were in danger of being incarcerated for decades for their latest crimes. The jury couldn’t know that one would never be charged for his crime, and the police detective who led the murder investigation would go to bat for the other, helping to get a possible 40-year sentence reduced to four years.
The only eyewitness testified that the shooter, like co-defendant Jordan who had cornrows, had up to an inch of hair sticking out from his hat, but the jury wasn’t shown contemporary photographs of Julius’ close-cropped hair.
A juror now reports a fellow juror saying, “Well, they should just take that n—– out back, shoot him and bury him under the jail.” The juror was not removed, perhaps because the judge was not told that the N-word was used. Under today’s law, a different ruling by the trial judge would be likely.
No DNA evidence linking Jones to the crime was presented to the jury. But, the jury foreman told ABC that, in a case like that one, you “go with your heart more than anything else.” The juror trusted “what you felt in your gut.” When delivering the verdict, the juror “felt right.”
Nearly two decades after the crime, a DNA test was conducted, and here is why the new findings, when viewed as a part of the overall case, do not implicate Jones
The DNA test linked the murder weapon, wrapped in a red bandanna, to the Jones’ family home where it was hidden, and where it would likely come in contact with Julius’ DNA. Since the co-defendant had spent the night (without Julius’ knowledge) in the house and thus had the opportunity to hide it there, the bandanna and gun do not link Jones to the murder. To believe that the bandanna links Julius to the crime, one has to believe that he, an honors student who consistently impressed his peers and teachers with his intellect, was dumb enough to hide the murder weapon in his home.
However, saliva was not found on his bandanna. The shooter was seen yelling, and that means that its DNA should have been found on the bandanna he was wearing. If appeals judges could consider the lack of Julius’ saliva being found, within the context of the other miscarriages of justice in his case, a new trial would be more likely.
Today more prosecutors are opening their files so that the transparency that justice requires can be assured. If the current district attorney would open his files, potential deals between 1990s prosecutors and their professional informants could be disproven or proven. Such openness would also be likely to provide insights into how and why high profile capital cases in the 1990s brought out the worst in the criminal justice systems in Oklahoma and many other states.
Oklahoma is #1 in incarcerations, and prosecutors are still resisting the voters’ desire for a smarter and more humane criminal justice system. The state is still being seen within the context of John Grisham’s novel and the movie The Innocent Man, based on the true case of an innocent Oklahoman sentenced to death, as well as The Last Defense. The last thing we need is to be caught up in sweeping the worst of our past under the rug. Now is the time to look with fresh eyes at the entirety of the evidence in the Julius Jones case.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, Wednesday, May 15, 2019 – The 28th Annual Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) Awards Dinner & Meeting will feature as this year’s keynote speaker Innocence Project’s senior attorney Vanessa Potkin. There will be a tribute to honor longtime board member and former chair, Jim Rowan.
The event will take place Saturday, June 8, 2019, at the Capitol View Event Center, 5201 N. Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City. Registration and a cocktail reception will begin at 5 p.m., with a buffet dinner at 6 p.m., and program at 7 p.m.
Potkin is Director of Postconviction Litigation for the Innocence Project. She is also an Executive Producer of the ABC documentary “The Last Defense,” which examines the case of Julius Darius Jones, who has served over 19 years on Oklahoma’s death row.
Potkin joined New York City’s Innocence Project in 2000 as its first staff attorney; it was founded by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Potkin has helped to pioneer the model of postconviction DNA litigation used nationwide to exonerate wrongfully convicted persons. Potkin has represented and exonerated over 30 innocent individuals.
“We are excited that Vanessa Potkin will be talking to us about the important work that the Innocence Project is doing,” said Rev. Don Heath, OK-CADP chair. “We also are looking forward to hearing her insights about the Julius Jones case.”
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1973 there have been 165 people exonerated from death row in the United States – 10 in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma has had a moratorium on the death penalty since October 2015 after the wrong drug, (potassium acetate instead of potassium chloride, the drug approved as a part of the state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol) was nearly used to execute Richard Glossip.
In 2018 the State of Oklahoma announced that implement future executions by nitrogen hypoxia, a mode of execution that has not been used in the United States. Attorney General Mike Hunter says that Oklahoma has been unable to obtain a device that would “appropriately introduce nitrogen into an individual’s system,” and has been forced to “develop the machine themselves.”
Heath said, “It violates the Hippocratic oath for doctors to do harm, and reputable businesses don’t want anything to do with executions. Nitrogen hypoxia has the same issues as lethal injection.”
During the program, OK-CADP will elect its at-large board members and three awards will be given out during the Abolitionists Awards ceremony.
The Lifetime Abolitionist award will be given posthumously to honor attorney James Thomas Rowan (May 25,1944 – May 6, 2019), who served as an extraordinarily dedicated OK-CADP board member for nearly two decades.
Jim tried 40 capital cases in his 35 years of service as a public defender in Oklahoma County and for the Capital Trial Division of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS) in Norman.
In 2013, Rowan, along with former OK-CADP chair Lydia Polley and Randy Bauman, former supervisor of Oklahoma’s Federal Capital Habeas Unit, co-founded the OK-CADP Bob Lemon Capital Defense Attorney Scholarship Fund. This essential program commits financial aid for capital defense attorneys to attend national training events in order to further their professional development in the areas of trials, mitigation, appeals, and victim outreach.
Among his numerous awards, Rowan received the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Lord Erskine Award in 2002 and the OK-CADP Phil Wahl Abolitionist of the Year in 2008.
“Jim Rowan cared for the least of these,” Heath said. “His life’s calling was to defend ‘the worst of the worst.’ We all owe a debt of gratitude to Jim for helping to save dozens of lives.”
Recipients of the 2019 Opio Toure Courageous Advocate award are Dale Baich and Amanda Bass, attorneys for the Federal Public Defender’s Capitol Habeas Unit in the District of Arizona, legal representatives for Julius Jones. Cece Jones-Davis, founder of Sing for Change, Inc., and tireless advocate for Jones, will be honored with the Phil Wahl Abolitionist of the Year Award.
Individual tickets for the OK-CADP 28th Annual Dinner are $50, $15 for students, and sponsorships for tables of ten are available for $500.
For more information or to purchase tickets online, visit okcadp.org. To order tickets by mail, send checks, along with guest’s names, to: OK-CADP, P.O. Box 713, Oklahoma City, OK 73101-0713. Please indicate “annual dinner” in the memo line.
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Making A Difference was written by Reginald Hines, President of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ) and retired criminal justice professional.
Alberta Fitzpatrick, a 71-year-old African American female has been incarcerated since 1981 a total of 37 years in the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison for females in McLoud, Oklahoma. Alberta is serving time for robbery, she does not dispute the crime, but serving a total of 37 years for a crime in which she said she had only taken $1,500 dollars. Is this a good use of taxpayer’s money? At a cost of $30,000 dollars a year the state has spent over one million dollars to incarcerate her and counting. There will be no return for the state of Oklahoma on this investment.
At the age of 71, data indicates that the possibility of her committing another crime is very small. Why is she still incarcerated and taxpayers are paying the bill? The Oklahoma Chapter of National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ) and Attorney Kenneth Watson have been working to get Alberta release out of prison. Reginald Hines, NABCJ President first met Alberta in 1981, when he was her case manager. He retired from the Department of Corrections in 2015.
Reginald was at Mabel Bassett for a prison ministry program in the fall of 2017 and noticed Alberta at the program. After talking with Alberta, he could not believe that she was still incarcerated. He presented Alberta’s story to the Oklahoma Chapter NABCJ and the Chapter decided they would work to get Alberta out of prison. The members of the organization did research on her cases and decided the best approach would be to ask the Pardon and Parole Board and the Governor of Oklahoma for a commutation of her sentences.
The Chapter approached Attorney Kenneth Watson with Alberta’s story and he agreed to complete the Commutation Packet and represent Alberta. The Commutation Packet was completed and submitted to the Pardon and Parole Board. The Board reviewed Alberta’s case during their November Docket 2018 and voted unanimously to commute her sentences with NABCJ President Reginald Hines and members Annette and Norman Barber speaking on her behalf.
The day before the Governor was to sign Alberta’s commutation and release her, officials from the Department of Corrections discovered a parole revocation case from 1974 that was not included in the Commutation Packet. Alberta was not released from prison. The Governor did sign her commutation for the other cases. Alberta is now currently serving a 5-year sentence from 1974. Another Commutation Packet has been submitted by Attorney Watson for the 5-year sentence.
Attorney Watson and NABCJ is hopeful that Alberta will be released in 2019. Are there other offenders in the system with similar circumstances? Who will help them?
JAMES T. SMITH, Chief of Police - Lawton Police Department
James Smith became the Chief of Police for the Lawton Police Department, September, 2012. He has over 30 years of comprehensive law enforcement experience that dates back to 1982. His last assignment was with the Louisville Metro Police Department, where he served as the Special Operations Division Commander. The full article is located on page 14.
GERALD MCCAULEY, Chief of Police - Arcadia Police Department
Gerald McCauley joined the Arcadia Police Department in 1993. Today he serves as the Arcadia Chief of Police, a position he has held for 24 years. The residents of Arcadia was his motivation for joining the department, not long after completing a 25-year career in the military. He recalls that one of his first challenges was … just getting people to realize that the town actually had a “lawman” now representing the community. The full article is located on page 15.
REGGIE COTTON, Deputy Chief - Muskogee Police Department
Reggie Cotton started working for the Muskogee Police Department in 1993. He was motivated to get into law enforcement by his older brother, who is a captain with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and an older cousin who worked for the Midwest City Police Department at the time. They both encouraged him to explore his options when he attended Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma). He graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. The full article is located on page 15-16.
LAMONT HILL, Corporal - Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office
LaMont Hill started with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office in 2001. He said he got into law enforcement because he grew up feeling a responsibility to protect others, whether it was other kids in the neighborhood, at school, or his own brother and sister. So when he got old enough to figure out how to make a difference in the world was when he knew that law enforcement would be his calling. The full article is located on page 16-17.
LATEKA ALEXANDER, Trooper - Oklahoma Highway Patrol
Lateka Alexander started with the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety in October 2001, as the first African-American female Trooper with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
She graduated from Midwest City High School in 1997. Alexander attended college as a student-athlete at Redlands Community College and Langston University. She earned an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice in 1999 and received a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Criminal Justice/Corrections from Langston University in 2001. The full article is located on page 18.
JERRY N. CASON, First African American OHP Chief (ret) - Oklahoma Highway Patrol Division (OHP) - Oklahoma Department of Public Safety
Jerry Cason always wanted to be a police officer. After his military career ended, he realized that getting into law enforcement was not as easy as he envisioned. He applied to several agencies in Oklahoma, to include the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, before he was accepted. His goal was to do three years in the military and go home to Columbus, Ohio and become a police officer. However, when he applied, the city of Columbus was under a hiring freeze due to a discrimination lawsuit. Cason said because he had a family to support, he took the first opportunity that came along. The Lawton Police Department in Oklahoma was his opportunity. The full article is located on page 18-19.
To learn more about each officer, check out pages 14-19 in our latest edition of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3.
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The review was written by Donna Gourd
D.C. Minner and his wife Selby have, over the years, been the subject of many feature articles, news stories, and other publicity associated with their careers as Blues artists and music festival producers. Everyone in the region has heard of Rentiesville’s annual Dusk ‘Til Dawn Blues Festival, and if one is at all interested in Blues music, Oklahoma history, and the sort of rich storytelling that makes people and places come to life from unique circumstances amid universal challenges, the new book that chronicles the life story of this Blues Man extraordinaire is well worth the read.
Mama Said This Boy Is Gonna Be Somebody, The Untold Story of Oklahoma Blues Legend D.C. Minner was written by La Nelda Hughes from recollections of Selby Minner, the transcript of personal videotaped interviews conducted with D.C. by Dr. Harold Aldridge, Jr., and various published articles and anecdotes from others who were fortunate enough to have known and spent time with the man. It is, at best, D.C. in his own words—words from an insightful human being who never forgot who he was or where he came from even as he set about the business of transforming himself from a “fat Black kid” to a spiritually grown mentor of Blues guitar and Godfather of the Rentiesville roadhouse that has nurtured talent and friendships of all ilk for over 80 years.
Minner tells listeners that his life took him “from a house of shame to the Hall of Fame;” but his family history—and his own memories of the spot in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, that is now best known for the DTD festival—tell the tale of a life well-lived, despite its hardships, by a truly kind man with a deep understanding of the decisions that brought his ancestors to Rentiesville and unearthed the cornerstone of his career as a musician.
The full article can be found on pages 24-28 of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3. Get your copy today!
About the Author: Donna Gourd is a writer who is retired from the Cherokee Nation having authored numerous documents and materials ranging from grant proposals to tribal history curricula. She has also worked as a publicist in the entertainment field, coordinated and produced special events in music, theater, education, and community service. Gourd is a graduate of Northeastern State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
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Anthony Daniels is the son of a career Air Force Senior Non- Commissioned Officer. Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, he lived all over the United States and overseas. His family is originally from Albany, Georgia and Miami, Florida. His father retired from the Air Force at Tinker Air Force Base in the early 1980’s. He finished high school and college in Oklahoma. His dream was to be a dentist or a politician. However, he found out very early in life that he didn’t have the patience or temperament to do either. He grew up as the middle child of three, with two sisters. His position in birth never hindered his position in life.
To learn more about Lt. Col. Daniels, grab the latest copy of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3. You can find Lt. Col. Daniel's article on pages 10.
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Sherri Galloway is a veteran who has served in the military for 31 years. In February, 2015 she made history as the first African American female in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, to be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Galloway joined the military at the age of 17 and has served in numerous positions to include Public Affairs Officer, Human Resource Officer, Equal Opportunity Adviser and as a Selective Service Officer where she currently serves as the representative for the Oklahoma Army National Guard.
To learn more about Lt. Col. Galloway, grab the latest copy of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3. You can find Lt. Col. Galloway's article on pages 9.
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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and is transmitted through contact with infected blood and bodily fluids. Such contact can occur through unprotected sex, through sharing of needles or other drug injection equipment, through mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy or breastfeeding. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. Once an individual contracts HIV, he or she has it for life.
HIV/AIDS surveillance began in 1982 in the state of Oklahoma. Like many other diseases, African Americans has been disproportionately infected and affected by HIV/ AIDS. While the Frontier Strip states may not be commonly associated with high HIV incidence (with the possible exception of Texas), two-thirds of Oklahoma’s population resides in just two metropolitan areas: Oklahoma City and Tulsa. These densely populated cities resemble metro regions along the nation’s coasts, with high traffic of incoming residents and visitors, and economically disadvantaged minority populations. In these two metro areas, HIV/AIDS has long impacted African-Americans disproportionately. In 2017, the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area had the highest rates of HIV infection in the state.
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), as of December 31, 2016, there were approximately 5,954 people living with HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma.
The full article on this highly important topic can be found on page 21 of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3. Stay informed! Get your copy today!
]]>The photographs can be found on page 5 of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3.
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The photographs from this event can be found on page 20 of Shades Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3. Grab your copy today!
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HANNIBAL B. JOHNSON
“For many African Americans, it is less about abject, in-your-face racial bigotry and more about the death-by-a-thousand-cuts agony wrought by institutions and systems seeped in racism”
Gross manifestations of white supremacy and Neo-Nazism like the recent demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, challenge who we are and what we are becoming as an American democracy. Troubling as they may be, such flagrant displays cause less worry than the persistent disparities and inequities they overshadow and too often mask. For many African Americans, it is less about abject, in-your-face racial bigotry and more about the death-by-a-thousand-cuts agony wrought by institutions and systems seeped in racism. The grotesqueness of overt white power parades, brazen and bombastic racism gone viral internationally, obscures something more profound: the underlying, embedded white supremacy that manifests in less aesthetically offensive, more easily overlooked, ways. What the overwhelming majority of us readily condemn—these choreographed dances with the devil—represent only the attention-grabbing opening act. What lies beneath matters more—the stage on which such performances play out. The rallying of those crafty cretins, the Tiki torch-carrying, foaming-at-the-mouth bigots in Charlottesville, pales in comparison to what those same folks likely do in the light of their normal days. When the cavalcade ends, to what real-world lives do they return? Will they return to their jobs in human resources, making hiring and firing decision based on their racial preferences? Will they put back on law enforcement or firefighter uniforms and make race-based decisions about those whom they are duty-bound to serve and protect?
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Will they sit on juries, deciding the fates of young persons of color? Will they teach rainbow tribes of babies in kindergarten classes? Will they pass judgment on the home loan of an immigrant? Will they negotiate insurance claims of those to whom they feel superior? Will they steer a prospective home buyer away from a “bad” neighborhood? Will they work to restrict voting rights for the already marginalized? The realization that monsters—ardent, incorrigible racists— live among us should frighten us all. So, too, should the fact that ghouls and goblins sometimes don plain clothes, living among us undetected and undetectable as ordinary Dicks and Janes. Most of us revile and reject those who darken our boulevards in fire-lit spectacles like erstwhile Klan nightriders; who spew their white supremacist venom, further poisoning the national conversation on race we perennially pledge to undertake. We may pity them, too. But it is not just about them. It is also about those normal, establishment types who, through position and power, impose their prejudices and passions on those of us birthed outside their chosen tribe; who decide for and about us in ways minor and grand. Racist drama draws attention and near-universal revulsion, but the mundane—routine policy and practice--wreaks havoc on the day-to-day lives of the people of color. |
HANNIBAL B. JOHNSON, a Harvard Law School graduate, is an author, attorney, consultant, and college professor. He writes and lectures about the history of the Greenwood District. His books include: Black Wall Street, Up from the Ashes, and Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District. The National Black Theatre Festival selected Johnson’s play, Big Mama Speaks—A Tulsa Race Riot Survivor’s Story, for its 2011 line-up.
CONNIE JOHNSON ANASTASIA PITTMAN
Candidate for Governor Candidate for Lt. Governor:
DEVYN DENTON AJAY PITTMAN
Candidate for House District 39 Candidate for House District 99
SHAY WHITE CHRISTINE BYRD
Candidate for Tulsa House District 77 Candidate for Senate District 48
JUDGE ALETIA TIMMONS KENDRA COLEMAN
Candidate for Judicial Seat Candidate for Judicial Seat
]]>Written by Dr. Clarence Wiley, Sr.
I know you were expecting “Why Black Women are Going Bald: Part II which will focus on the scarring alopecias (scarred hair loss disorders) as Discoid Lupus Erythematosus. However, a recent young female patient has motivated me to skip ahead to the issue of hair loss in Black children. See More
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Written by:
Lee Roland
Author, Adjunct Professor Southern Nazarene University and Retired Principal of Tulakes Elementary.
Just recently, as an invited guest, I spoke to an audience of mostly academics at the University of Oklahoma. My topic was, “Wake Up Everybody!” If you are old enough, this title probably strikes a chord, as it was also the title of a hit song by Harold Melvin and Blue Notes, featuring Teddy Pendergrass in 1975. The song was fundamentally a charge to the world, especially America to wake up and take notice of the ubiquitous poverty, hate, inequality, and suffering all over the land and to be the change we hope to see.
Thus, my message focused on what was occurring in our country in and around 1975, but more importantly and tragically is still all too common in 2018. Yes, with all the advancements in technology, science, and more, our tribulations have seemingly only changed in name and appearance, but have largely remained the same. Teddy Pendergrass is now deceased, but I think it is safe to say that he would be terribly dismayed and disappointed, especially if he knew what was going on in the great state of OKLAHOMA and especially as it pertains to public education.
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Written by: Anita Arnold
Look no further than Frederick A. Douglass High School back in the day and present day Wilson Elementary School (now known as Wilson Arts Integration School) to see two outstanding models of education among public schools. Yes, Wilson is a public school; contrary to the belief held by some that it is a charter or private school.
Having just completed the writing of Oklahoma City’s African American Education, and continuing my 23 years of education experiences with Wilson, I have a few words to say about public education in Oklahoma City. Yes, I hold a strong opinion about excellence in public school education. It is possible and it is for everyone. Though I looked through the lens of Douglass High School many years ago and experienced life at Douglass as a student who graduated from “dear old Douglass” and now, experience excellence in an elementary school that was failing back in 1994 but rose to the top tier of excellence in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma in 1996, I can see that these two schools have a lot in common.
I propose that an excellent education, then and now, share and reflect foundational threads that are basic. In short, these threads of excellence can be found in all schools that have a reputation of educating their students, producing high achievers and graduates that can compete in life and do well in any field of interest they pursue.
]]>Learn more about past and present Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Muskogee Councilmen and Councilwomen in the latest issue of Shades Magazine.
John A. Pettis, Jr.Oklahoma City Councilman Ward 72013-Present
Vanessa Hall-HarperTulsa City Councilwoman District 12016-Present
Ivory Vann
Muskogee
Councilman Ward 3
2014-Present
Derrick A. ReedMuskogee
Councilman Ward 3
2011-Present
Dr. Marion J. Coleman, Th.D.
Muskogee Councilman Ward 4
2012-Present
Learn more about past and present Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Muskogee Councilmen and Councilwomen in the latest issue of Shades Magazine.
The Oklahoma City YWCA Stand Against Racism (SAR) campaign, StandOKC Stand Against Racism is a signature campaign of YWCA USA to build community among those who work for racial justice and to raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities. This campaign is one part of a larger national strategy to fulfill the mission of eliminating racism. The theme of SAR this year is Women of Color Leading Change. The purpose of this event is to Connect, Recognize and Honor this year’s Social Justice Activators.
Kate Dodoo is a wife, mother and an attorney. She devotes her time to enhancing educational opportunities for at-risk and special needs youth in the foster care system, delinquent system, and the community, generally. As Co-Chair of the Education Work Group of the Oklahoma Children’sCourt Improvement Program, Kate’s team has facilitated educational training opportunities statewide.
Christine Price Allen is a wife, mother, grandmother, and the first African American female elected as City Councilwoman in Midwest City. Councilwoman Allen has assisted with the development of businesses, disadvantaged schools, relationships with community leaders for a better ward and Midwest City entirely.
BY DR. CLARENCE WILEY, SR.
To pretend that there is not a hair loss issue in Black (African American) women is like pretending there is no Global Warming contributing to the climatic changes the world is increasingly experiencing. Acknowledging that there are those who will deny Global Warming even up to the point where all the glaciers melt and Oklahoma City is the coastline for the country, let me review “Why (in my opinion) Black Women Are Going Bald”.
When I started my dermatology residency training at Barnes Hospital, Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri, in June of 1978, I had no idea that 39 years later I would be writing an article to try to impact an epidemic problem in our culture, “Baldness in Black Women”. Over those 39 years, I have evaluated or treated a spectrum of hair disorders in all ethnicities. However, the Alopecia (hair loss disorders) especially the scarring group continue to increase in number and severity in black women. On a regular workday, I continue to see a sad procession of black women with hair loss.
As early as 1981, when I started my practice in Oklahoma as the first Black Dermatologist in Oklahoma when the Jheri Curl was popular, I began to see the immediate and long term damaging results of these styles. I spoke to the Oklahoma State Board of Cosmetology warning them about my experiences. I have spoken to church groups, schools, Chamber of Commerce, health fairs and more and in recent years at Oklahoma Naturals and Women of Color and basically anyone that would listen about this epidemic. So why, Dr. Wiley, are black women going bald? Well,I’ll give you a “little” hint – Black Culture! Let me clarify.
FOR THE FULL STORY
Dr. Clarence Wiley, Sr. is a board-certified dermatologist who offers skin treatments and hair restoration for patients of all ethnicities at his Oklahoma City, OK, practice.