The Down Home Blues Club, childhood home of legendary blues guitarist D.C. Minner in Rentiesville, OK - one of Oklahoma's many historic All-Black Townships.

The Down Home Blues Club, childhood home of legendary blues guitarist D.C. Minner in Rentiesville, OK – one of Oklahoma’s many historic All-Black Townships.

The following guest post is Part V in a series written by Rachel Jackson who is Global Exchange’s ‘Radical Oklahoma’ Reality Tours Trip Leader, which is happening now.

From Tulsa, we headed to Rentiesville to visit the Down Home Blues Club and visit with Selby Minner. Generations ago, family members ran a thriving business out of the home selling corn whiskey and Choc beer (a type of beer attributed to the Choctaw). Today, the same home is now the site of the Down Home Blues Club and a yearly festival. We were honored by an impromptu performance by Selby, a couple of her students, and her new partner Dan “Oklahoma Slim” Ortiz.

Selby Minner sings her heart out for GX Tour Participants. Dan "Oklahoma Slim" Ortiz tears it up on the guitar in the background.

Selby Minner sings her heart out for GX Tour Participants. Dan “Oklahoma Slim” Ortiz tears it up on the guitar in the background.

Just outside of Rentiesville sits the site of the historic Battle of Honey Springs, an 1863 Civil War battle in Indian Territory.  What makes this battle so radical is that it was the first battle of the Civil War in which African Americans fought.  The First Kansas Colored Infantry fought for the Union army alongside the First, Second, and Third Indian Home Guards.  Native and African Americans fought together against the Confederacy for their own freedom and autonomy.

Our day did not end there.  We continued from Rentiesville to Okemah for the first night of the 2013 Woody Guthrie Festival.  A gentle storm rolled over eastern Oklahoma as we drove, and brought the temperature down considerably.  We spent a relaxing and enjoyable evening in the Pastures of Plenty, all freshly mowed and spreading out under the Oklahoma nightsky, swaying to the music of Ramsey Midwood, the Red Dirt Rangers, and Butch Hancock.

Memorials commemorating the participating military units of both the Union and Confederate armies in the Battle of Honey Springs, the pivotal, historical Civil War Battle in Indian Territory. P.S. The Union boys - red, black, and white - won this one.

Memorials commemorating the participating military units of both the Union and Confederate armies in the Battle of Honey Springs, the pivotal, historical Civil War Battle in Indian Territory.

It was a proper kick-off to an event that over the course of 16 years has become a microcosm of all that’s good and right in Oklahoma.  And the party’s just getting started.

TAKE ACTION!

The following guest post is Part IV in a series written by Rachel Jackson who is Global Exchange’s ‘Radical Oklahoma’ Reality Tours Trip Leader, which is happening now.

The last two days we’ve been living on Tulsa time. Today we rolled into the Brady Arts District where the brand new Woody Guthrie Center is located.  The Center is an interesting collection of biographical information, historical & geographical context, archival material, commentary on Woody’s life and work, and – of course – Woody’s music.  The crowning jewel of the Woody Guthrie Center is his archives, purchased from the Guthrie family by the George Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa.

The entry way to the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, OK.

The entry way to the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, OK.

Unfortunately, there is some local controversy surrounding the Woody Guthrie Center’s location in the Brady Arts District.  The arts district itself is a hip area of Tulsa that has been recently developed and is home to a wide variety of restaurants, bars, art galleries and coops, concert space, and museums.  The trouble is, it’s named after Tate Brady, a “founder” of Tulsa who happened also to be a leader of the local Klan.  What an irony that the Woody Guthrie Center, built in honor of a man who spent his life dedicated to unionism and civil rights, should have an address on Brady Street.  Here’s the good news: there is a strong coalition of determined folks urging the Tulsa City Council to get the name changed.

The Tower of Reconciliation by artist Ed Dwight.

The Tower of Reconciliation by artist Ed Dwight.

Adding fuel to the fire is that part of the Brady Arts District is located within the boundaries of the historic Greenwood District, a thriving African American portion of the city proudly built while Jim Crow still reigned supreme.  The Greenwood District was utterly decimated in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, referred to by Greenwood residents who lived through it as the Race War.  It was a massacre.  Tate Brady was front and center as racist whites organized into militias, killing many hundreds of African Americans, looting property, and burning homes and businesses to the ground.  It’s a shameful, painful part of Tulsa’s past.

Thursday’s tour stops were devoted to understanding Oklahoma’s African American history, the Greenwood District and All Black Townships, the 1921 Race War, and the state and city’s efforts at reconciliation.  We started in the morning with a stop at Reconciliation Park, located in the Greenwood District, just a few blocks north of Brady Street and the Woody Guthrie Center.  In the midst of the ugly facts of the 1921 Race War, this patch of earth offers reassurance that humanity can confront its mistakes, admit painful truths, and move forward having learned from them.  The park is a result of the Oklahoma legislature’s Tulsa Race Riot Commission findings, and the hard work of many committed politicians, historians, activists, and artists.

GX Tour participants, with Jef Kos (Secretary of the John Hope Franklin Center of Reconciliation Board), feeling deeply satisfied after lunch.

GX Tour participants, with Jef Kos (Secretary of the John Hope Franklin Center of Reconciliation Board), feeling deeply satisfied after lunch.

Much of the work uncovering the truth about the “Tulsa Race Riot,” is inspired by the life and work of pioneering African American historian, Dr. John Hope Franklin. We were fortunate enough to get to visit with Jef Kos, the Secretary of the Board for the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, and former student of Dr. Franklin’s.  After our time in the park, he accompanied us on a leisurely tour through the Greenwood Cultural Center, and then to lunch at Dr. Franklin’s favorite barbeque joint in North Tulsa – Oklahoma Style BBQ.  Yum.

TAKE ACTION!

Woody Guthrie Festival posterAttention Woody Guthrie fans, Oklahoma expats/descendants of expats, folk music fans and history buffs:  Global Exchange invites you to join us on a “Radical Oklahoma” tour culminating in the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, OK, from July 7 to July 14.

Spend some time learning about the tumultuous events of the early twentieth century that shaped Woody’s politics and united white tenant farmers, native tribes, and African-Americans in a series of uprisings in the forested hills of eastern Oklahoma.  Then relax and enjoy 3-4 days of music at the folk festival. We’ll stay in pretty lakeside cabins in a nearby state park.

OK Red Flag copy

Oklahoma’s original state flag, banned 1917. redflagpress.com

The 46th state has a reputation for being perhaps the most conservative state in the union.  In fact, it has a radical past unmatched for activism and racial solidarity – an activism exemplified in its most famous native son, Woody Guthrie, the radical Dust Bowl troubadour.  The “Okie” diaspora peaked during the Dust Bowl migration to the West Coast in the 1930’s, but it was also prompted by attacks on Wobblies and other radicals in the early 20th century who fled the state.  This diaspora of the left (and eventually of the right, as descendants became more conservative) has had a major impact on politics and culture throughout the US but most particularly in eastern California, eastern Oregon, and other regions where Okies settled.

Join us in exploring this forgotten history, meet some modern Oklahoma radicals, and celebrate with music on the weekend!