#Goodwin family surf series#

Over the years, the Goodwin family opened their home to many famous people passing through Tulsa. It would maintain an effective dialog between the minority community and city hall.īefore the many walls of segregation began to crumble, it was customary for visiting political or musical celebrities to seek out the hospitality of the local owners of minority newspapers when denied accommodations in white hotels. Over the years the paper would serve as the glue of the Greenwood community. His words remain on The Oklahoma Eagle masthead today. His name remained publisher until his death in 1978. On the masthead of the paper he placed the words, “We make America better when we aid our people.” His goal was to give voice to the minority community, a voice not afforded African-Americans by the prevailing media of the time. He purchased the African-American newspaper called the Star and renamed it The Oklahoma Eagle.

The race riot undoubtedly had a profound effect on the younger Goodwin when he embarked on a quest in 1936. Goodwin would later marry Jeanne Osby Goodwin, who passed away at 102 years old in 2006. Edward Lawrence Goodwin Sr., son of James and Carlie Goodwin, came forth to make his contribution to the community. It would most certainly test the Goodwin family’s commitment to remain in Tulsa.īut remain they did and as the slow recovery began the next generation of Goodwins took hold. Many more would lose their life work and this would put the resilience and spirit of a devastated community to the ultimate test. In the space of 16 hours hundreds of African-Americans would lose their lives.

The infamous 1921 Tulsa Race Riot would destroy 35 city blocks of the once prosperous Greenwood area. In such a positive environment the Goodwins could not have seen the impending disaster coming that would dash so many dreams and leave Black Wall Street in shambles. He opened a haberdashery in the Greenwood area and the family of four began forming bonds in the community that would last for generations. Because Tulsa offered so much potential, Goodwin and his family set down roots and began to build a life. So much so that it earned the title Black Wall Street. The communities thrived and Tulsa’s Greenwood area became the cultural and economic focal point of a flourishing culture. All these factors worked to draw a vibrant community of hopeful, resourceful, ambitious African-American families.

The territory hosted the most African-American incorporated townships in the United States adding to the speculation that Oklahoma was to become the first African-American state in the Union. McCabe sent out the call for African-Americans to come to Oklahoma to escape racial bigotry and find a better life.Ĭonsequently, African-American communities sprang up across Oklahoma Indian Territory before statehood. McCabe, founder of the African-American community of Langston and credited with procuring permission from the Territorial Legislature to build a “colored” university in the territory that would become Langston University. They had come as many others at the invitation of Edward P. James Henri Goodwin with his wife Carlie Greer Goodwin left Mississippi and arrived in Tulsa as part of this migration. The exodus continued beyond the turn of the century and much of the migration tracked across Oklahoma and in particular Tulsa. Newly emancipated slaves in search of better freedom headed north to the large industrial cities seeking employment and west in search of the opportunity to own land.

#Goodwin family surf series#

poses proudly in his Greenwood store.Įditor’s Note: This article is the fourth in a Centennial year-long series saluting families who were in Oklahoma about the time of statehood and have contributed to the state’s well-being since.Īfter the Civil War, the failures of reconstruction prompted a mass exodus of African-Americans from the oppressive effects of racism reflected in the persistent Jim Crow laws of the postwar South. OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Edward Lawrence Goodwin Sr.