REDBIRD, Okla. — 2 News Oklahoma's coverage of Black History Month continues with a small, Wagoner County all-black town, Redbird.
Redbird is one of 13 surviving black communities in Oklahoma, which, at the turn of the 20th century, had over 50.
Redbird is about one square mile in size. Roughly 175 people live there now. There's no industry, stores, or merchants. It was settled before 1903, and its history runs deep.
Delma Smith was born in Redbird. At 91, Smith remembers her hometown having eight juke joints, seven churches, four grocery stores, and one roaring cotton gin.
"Right around the railroad was Jeff McHenry's," Smith reminisced. "That's where we would go and dance and have a good time. Then there was another one - Mr. Mitchell Oliver. He was across the railroad tracks behind the cotton gin over to the side. We'd go down there."
Redbird was the ultimate party town in the mid-20th century, even though only a few hundred people lived there.
Today, it still has three churches. Smith goes to Shiloh Baptist.
Her career brought her to a handful of bigger cities, but she moved back in 20-16 to her grandmother's land. Her grandmother purchased the land in 1912. Her grandson, Darryl Moore, is the mayor of Redbird.
I.W. Lane's headstone is in Redbird, too. Lane registered to vote in 1934, but because he was black, he was excluded. His discrimination case went to the Supreme Court – paving the way toward equal voting rights.
A lot happened in Redbird during those times for a town with little going on now.
"We'll continue," Smith said confidently.
Despite dilapidated structures and street signs leading to overgrown grass, Smith would be the first to say Redbird's atmosphere and people are second to none.
"I learned to love. I learned to respect each other here," Smith said. "I learned to have just a rounded helping and love for each other."
But in the same breath, her grandson, Mayor Darryl Moore, says Redbird has to be able to give more than the community to thrive in the future.
"If you keep it small, you're not going to grow. In today's world, you have to have innovation. You have to have something to feed the town," Moore said.
The town's only sources of income are natural gas and water, which they purchase and sell to residents. They also have a town center – which they'll occasionally rent out.
Moore's not giving up hope.
"I would love to see redbird flourishing," he said. "I would love to see more - any -businesses come out here."
Smith says hope is always alive in Redbird.
"Redbird is home," she said.
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