Territorial Justice: Oklahoma and the Battle for Educational Rights: AERA Sessions, 11:58 AM

• In Event: e-Lightening Ed-Talk Session 12

Abstract

This legal history explores previously unstudied and undiscovered court challenges for educational access brought by Black settlers during Oklahoma’s territorial period (1889-1907). Through examining these local cases, my work addresses broader questions we have about educational rights and access. In Oklahoma Territory, Black pioneers had equal rights to land under the Homestead Act and the territory’s Organic Act. They had historic access to integrated education in other states, in neighboring Indian Territory, and on military posts. Yet racist forces were determined to deny access to Black children. Their families fought against a narrowing of their rights. These families found sympathetic judges in the territory’s courts. As a result, Oklahoma courts heard more challenges than in any other state. This history has a broader significance. This was a pivotal time for the law and for public education, and a defining period for Black citizenship. As such my research sheds new light on the question: is there a federal right to education? It further considers: What is the role of the federal government in protecting the rights of all its citizens to educational access? How is racial hierarchy upheld by negating this history of rights claims as it pertains to education?

Author

• Sara Doolittle, University of Central Oklahoma