Education in Indian Territory’s early days was a patchwork system set up by the various tribes and by different mission organizations and churches. From the beginning, schools were generally segregated, often even separating boys and girls.

Schools for Native American students were first established by the missions of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist congregations. Some, such as the Union Mission near Mazie, operated as early as the 1820s. The Union Mission offered school first to the Osage and then to Cherokee and Creek students.

By the 1830s, as the removals were completed, all of the Five Tribes had established schools for their own tribal members. Mission schools continued to be established throughout the Three Forks region at places such as Tullahassee, Park Hill, Koweta, and Nuyaka.

Following the Civil War, some of these mission schools began to teach the children of freedmen. Tullahassee Mission became one such school for Creek freedmen. The Union Agency building, which now houses the Five Civilized Tribes Museum, was used as Evangel Mission, a boarding school for African American children.

Schools for non-tribal children were scarce at first. As towns began to develop along the rail lines in the 1870s, and more and more white and black settlers moved into Indian Territory, the need for schools for their children became acute.

In towns such as Muskogee, subscription schools were started for both black and white students. Parents could pay a "subscription" or tuition for their children to attend. The tuition averaged around $1.50 per child. In rural areas, education was often neglected altogether. Children were either schooled at home, walked for miles to the nearest subscription school, or received no education at all.

In 1898, with the passage of the Curtis Act, towns in Indian Territory could finally incorporate, elect a city government, raise taxes and establish public services such as schools. Muskogee residents elected their first school board in July 1898.

The school board rented and renovated a building located on South Second Street between Okmulgee Avenue and Boston. It had originally been a Presbyterian school and then had housed Alice Robertson’s Minerva Home for Girls and later Henry Kendall College.

This was to be a graded school for white students. A principal and four teachers were hired. So many students wanted to attend the school, the board had to offer a morning school and an afternoon school. Even then, some students had to be turned away.

A suitable rent facility could not be found for black students so the school board spent $2,000 erecting a new frame building at the corner of Sixth and Market Streets. Four teachers were hired for this school as well, and it too was quickly swamped with students wanting a free public education. Immediate plans were made and sites were chosen to establish more schools in each of the city’s wards.

In 1955, Oklahoma’s new governor, Raymond Gary, proposed an amendment to the Oklahoma constitution in response to the Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education. The amendment would change the way schools were funded in Oklahoma, thus opening the door for desegregation. Oklahomans supported the amendment as State Question 368, called the “Better Schools Amendment,” in April 1955. Desegregation of schools in the region began quickly in some communities and continued until the early 1970s.

Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita@netscape.com.