List of freedmen's towns
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A historically African-American municipality, known in various areas as "freedmen's town", "freedom towns", or "all-Black towns", are municipalities which were established by or for a predominantly African-American populace.[1] Many of these municipalities were established or populated by freed slaves[2] either during or after the period of legal slavery in the United States in the 19th century.[3]
In Oklahoma before the end of segregation there existed dozens of these communities as many African-American migrants from the Southeast found a space whereby they could establish municipalities on their own terms.[4] Chief among them was Edward P. McCabe, who envisioned so large a number of African-Americans settling in the territory that it would become a Black-governed state. In Texas, 357 such "freedom colonies" have been located and verified.[5]