Tullahassee Historic Town

Tullahassee is one of Oklahoma's historically Black towns and has roots that reach back into the Creek Nation period of Indian Territory. The community became closely associated with African American residents, including Creek Freedmen and their descendants, and developed schools, churches and local institutions that served Black families in the region. Education was especially important. Tullahassee Mission and later schools in the area played major roles in the history of Black education in Indian Territory, connecting the town with the broader story of Freedmen communities after the Civil War. The present-day town is small, and much of its historical significance is not immediately obvious from a quick drive through. Churches, cemeteries, old road patterns and historic markers help reveal the community's past. Tullahassee is particularly meaningful when visited alongside Rentiesville, Boynton, Clearview and other historically Black towns, because together they show the diversity of Black settlement in Oklahoma and the strong links many communities had to the Five Tribes and Freedmen history.