JIM CROW IN OKLAHOMA CITY It ain’t a pretty picture. But, it is a part of our history that should be remembered and not forgotten. In this article, the story is told of our ancestors, black and white, beginning before statehood. How is it that whites and blacks were forbidden to marry, that we came to have racially segregated schools, churches, movie theaters, dance halls, assembly halls, public drinking fountains, different places to sit in trains, trolleys and buses, different public parks? |
 How was it that such a cartoon would appear on the Oklahoman’s front page? |
With overlap on both dates, this article mainly focuses on events leading to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, travels through Oklahoma City’s 1916 and 1933 Jim Crow ordinances, and ends with the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s determination that Oklahoma City’s residential Jim Crow ordinance was unconstitutional in 1936 and just a bit beyond including a summary of barriers not then overcome by our black citizens but which would eventually occur in the 1960s.
So, how is it that Deep Deuce and its surrounding area ever came to exist?
Also, see Steve Lackmeyer’s nice article on Roscoe Dunjee which summarizes this topic at OkcHistory.com.