February is African American Heritage month. One African American in particular, Edward P. McCabe, figures prominently with T.B. Ferguson. McCabe, born in 1850 in New York, was trained as a lawyer in Chicago. He moved to Topeka, Kansas in 1878. In Kansas, he was twice elected as state auditor.
He was caught up in the “Exoduster” dream to establish All-Black towns. The Oklahoma Immigration Association in Topeka encouraged territorial Black settlement, and McCabe arrived in Guthrie in 1890.
“For a while, it appeared that there would be a large contingent of Black settlers in Oklahoma and that McCabe would be their leader. The prospect generated hate and fear among white settlers and many American Indians. There was concern Oklahoma would become a “Black State”.
In 1890 McCabe, in partnership with a white land developer, Charles H. Robbins, helped establish the township of Langston. He had launched the Langston City Herald in October to promote his plans, but he seemed far more interested in promoting further expansion through the Afro-American Colonization Company of Guthrie” Okhistory.org/. In 1897, the legislature passed the Colored Agricultural and Normal College of the Territory of Oklahoma, later Langston University.
“McCabe served as assistant auditor of the territory under governors Barnes, Thompson Benton Ferguson, William Menkins and Frank Frantz, but lost his position, never to regain it, when the Democrats seized power at the 1907 statehood. Segregation immediately became state law.” OKhistory.org Through McCabe’s work, a number of All-Black towns were established. Three established in Blaine County are no longer in existence. One of the All-Black towns was originally Salton, located one mile west and two miles north of Hitchcock within view of Salt Creek. See July 2023 Ferguson Feature for more details on this town which changed its name to Ferguson in honor of T.B. Ferguson who served as Territorial Governor from 1901 to 1906.
Thank you to many who have become members and especially those who have provided additional donations for renovations. The membership campaign is still underway and applications are available on the door of the Ferguson Home Museum.