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If you’ve lived in Oklahoma City for more than a minute, you should know the name Clara Luper, mother of the state’s civil rights movement who in 1958 with her young students demanded they be served at downtown’s Katz Drug Store. She inspired a national sit-in movement that desegregated lunch counters throughout the South.
Luper was a visionary who had the audacity to dare a system to desist in its disenfranchisement of Black people at eating establishments.
See the stories of Oklahoma Trailblazers
Not so well known are numerous other African Americans, past and present, who have haggled with lawmakers and other decision-makers to change laws and reform systems that created a path of representation and participation for all people. These men and women stood toe to toe with people who considered some of them unworthy as they challenged established norms.
In this last week of Black History Month, we’ve selected a handful of Oklahoma trailblazers who have made their mark on state history. The Oklahoman wants to recognize these history makers who worked either in the judiciary, legislative or law enforcement areas of government. Some are long gone, not knowing if better days were ahead for African Americans.
There’s a longing for the day when being “first” is a thing of the past, for systems and institutions that fully embrace equity and inclusion to the point where the notion of “first” becomes unnecessary. We’re not there yet. Too many “firsts” are not in the distant past, so we celebrate them as groundbreaking pathfinders whose courage and selfless pursuits inspire generations.
Imagine the tenacity of Green I. Currin, a Tennessee slave who moved to Kansas after emancipation and developed an interest in politics. The Oklahoma Land Run would bring him to the territory, and he staked a claim near Kingfisher, where he received support to gain a seat in the first Territorial Legislature. Currin knew it would take legislative action to get protections for Black people, so he introduced Oklahoma’s first civil rights legislation. It failed by one vote.
Currin’s political career ended in the Territorial Legislature, but in 1908, Albert Comstock Hamlin won a seat in the Oklahoma Legislature. After one term, Hamlin lost his seat as the only African American to serve in the Oklahoma Legislature when a constitutional amendment that prevented most Black residents from voting ended his political career. It wasn’t until E. Melvin Porter was elected to the Senate in 1964 that another African American was in the Legislature.
Amos T. Hall was one of Oklahoma’s most significant civil rights lawyers. He worked with famed civil rights attorney-turned U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on the landmark case Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, which sought to prevent the university from denying Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher access to the law school. Hall also represented the Association of Negro Teachers and led the fight for equal salaries for teachers in the case of Freeman v. Oklahoma City School Board (1948). He later was appointed as a special judge in Tulsa and became the first African American to be elected a judge in the state.
Hannah Diggs Atkins once was described in these opinion pages as “the antithesis of class and humility.” Not unlike Luper, she, too, got things done, but in her own distinctive way. Leaving her role as a state librarian in 1968, she was motivated by Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination to seek elected office. During her 12 years in the Legislature, Atkins fought for child welfare, health care, and tax and mental health reforms. And, yes, she had a few “firsts” behind her name, including the first woman to chair a House committee in the Oklahoma Legislature. Republican Gov. Henry Belmon appointed her to serve as Oklahoma’s secretary of social services and secretary of state. And President Jimmy Carter appointed her a delegate to the United Nations.
Luper and Atkins had different leadership styles, but both women commanded respect. When they spoke, everyone listened. People who knew them well say the women were more alike than not — strong women who supported each other. Even their children joined one another in Luper’s sit-in activities.
I’ve never believed in waiting until people are dead to honor them. Too many have died not knowing how much they’ve inspired others to continue the work that would change the system of racism and improve outcomes for future generations. So today’s tribute also includes three who are still with us: Vicki Miles-LaGrange, M.T. Berry and J.C. Watts. Each was the first African American in their role: Miles-LaGrange as the first female U.S. attorney in Oklahoma and first African American judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; Berry served as the first Black police chief in Oklahoma City (no person of color has served in that role since); and Watts was the first Black congressman from Oklahoma, rising to Republican leadership roles to serve on key committees.
Like those who’ve gone before, these three demonstrated courage to take a step and lean into leadership roles, aspiring to make a difference in the lives of Oklahomans and for all Americans.
All of these stories are not only Black history — they’re Oklahoma history, part of a heritage that all Oklahomans should know and appreciate.
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