“There are great stories behind each of those people,” said Fisher, the newest member of the Capitol Preservation Commission. “There’s just not enough interpretation. You see the piece there, but you don’t know why it’s there. Every piece there has a historical significance. It’s not just art for art’s sake.” Chief Justice Tom Colbert of […]
African-American
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Remembering segregation
In those days, I was a teenager working as a waitress in the bus station in Checotah. When African Americans got off a bus and came up front to the restaurant section of the bus station for food, I had to tell them, “No.” They had to eat at a counter in back, behind the […]
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The cannabis justice system
Credit: Brad Gregg Black-and-white because some believe its medicinal benefits outweigh the stigma. Others want to nip that conversation in the bud. Green all over because Oklahomans both black and white use the drug at comparable rates. But — and here’s the punch line — black citizens in the state are arrested nearly three times […]
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Zoning out
Residents of the targeted 20-block area had fought the rezoning application until the city’s turnabout late last week. Still, many residents in the predominantly African-American neighborhood believe the city will try again. J.J. Chambless, head of the city’s development services department, told Oklahoma Gazette that the rezoning application officially will be withdrawn when the Oklahoma […]
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What would J.C. do?
Credit: Brad Gregg It might make sense for Republicans to be pondering a change in light of the party’s unpopularity among African- Americans and Hispanics. In the Nov. 6 election, President Barack Obama won 93 percent of the African-American vote and more than 70 percent of the Hispanic vote. Watts, who is African-American and long […]
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Crown Jewel
Arthur Hurst and Valerie Hart Credit: Mark Hancock An Oklahoma City landmark that entertained generations of moviegoers in the city’s black community is crumbling, but organizers of an upcoming music festival hope to help. On Saturday, the Jewel Foundation Blues Festival will feature Grammy-winning recording artist Clarence Carter and national blues act Mel Walters, as […]
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Poised for progress
The election of an African-American president to an organization with its roots in slavery is being heralded as a milestone in racial reform. The Southern Baptists broke off from Northern Baptists in 1845 in support of slavery. Having supported Jim Crow and resisted integration for more than a century, the organization officially apologized in 1995. […]
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The Split / The Slams
Proof positive comes in DVD debuts of The Split and The Slams, both from Warner Archive. More popular entries exist on his filmography, but these two are important all the same, for putting a black man front and center, above the title, in pictures meant for mass consumption. Both also sound alike in title and […]
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The color of law
“We were not allowed to sit with our classmates,” Fisher said in an interview recorded before her death in 1995 at the age of 71. “They moved all the white students to the first three rows. They left three or four blank rows. Then behind that last row, a large wooden chair with a big […]
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Capitol gains
Wedged between the Adventure District and the state Capitol, business owners in the Capitol Chamber of Commerce have watched drivers pass by their stores and take their money to other parts of the city. In an effort to convince shoppers to stop and sample the rich history and unique culture of the largest African- American […]