Finding a home and a community in early Oklahoma
On Nov. 25, 1923, The Oklahoman told the story of a former slave who made Oklahoma history.
“To win a home when the Cherokee Strip was opened with a horse race in 1893, to fight later to hold the claim and finally have the prospects of extensive wealth as the result of an oil test being drilled on the farm that he fought to save is the experience of Julius Lowery, the only negro in Kay county who won a claim in that memorable race thirty years ago and who still lives on the land and tills the soil.”
“… During the years that came after the opening there was sentiment against a negro homesteader in their midst. Lowery was a good farmer and won a reputation for that fact, and there were many neighbors who soon were not assuming in particular unfriendliness toward him.”
“There were some, however, who would have been glad to dispossess him, and there were many such attempts made. The United States government stepped in, made it known that he was a legal, rightful homesteader and gave him whatever protection he needed in holding his claim.”
“That Lowrey has won a permanent friendship among the farmers and other citizens of the county was demonstrated recently when he and his wife celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary. The neighbors assembled at his house and assisted in making the event a memorable one in that community.”
The Newkirk Herald Journal published Lowery’s obituary Nov. 15, 1928, mentioning the anniversary celebration:
“Neighbors from far and near, irrespective of color or creed, came to help them celebrate and to cheer them on the second lap of their century journey through life together. He numbered his friends by his acquaintances for his was a man in every sense that the word implies. His word was his bond.”
Julius Lowery’s daughter, Lena Lowery Sawner, was a pioneer too. She was a teacher and principal in Chandler for 32 years. In 2016 she was inducted into Oklahoma African American Educators Hall of Fame.
From her biographical sketch: “Mrs. Sawner served as Douglass School Principal where she distinguished herself as a master educator, activist, humanitarian and elegant role model. She demanded that the quality of education received at Douglass be equal to or better than that provided in the segregated white school system.”