Rentiesville, Oklahoma

There were around 50 all-Black towns in Oklahoma, like Boley-- a town with hotels, dancehalls, schools; 13 of these towns survive today, including Rentiesville, established in 1903 by William Rentie and Phoebe McIntosh on 40 acres of land. It is said that many African descendant children who lived in Rentiesville never experienced racism until they left the town or visited neighboring white communities. The legacy of Oklahoma’s Black Towns are wrought with both tragedy-- as in the grisly, racist eradication of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street-- and small triumphs.