Carrie Barefoot Dickerson (May 24, 1917 – November 17, 2006) was an American activist who led citizen efforts to stop construction of the proposed

Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant The Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant proposed by the Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) in May 1973. It was cancelled in 1982. History The facility was to be built approximately 3 miles southwest of downtown Inola, O ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Life

Dickerson was born in

Okmulgee, Oklahoma Okmulgee is a city in the Tulsa metropolitan area and the county seat of Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, Okmulgee County in Oklahoma, United States. The name is from the Muskogee language, Muskogee word ''okimulgi,'' which means "boiling waters".Bambu ...

, in 1917 to a pioneering family. She attended the Rocky Hill and Nuyaka Mission schools. At

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

she studied home economics education and nutrition, earning BS and MS degrees. She married

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

er (and fellow OSU graduate) Charles Robert Dickerson in 1938. They established a farm east of

Claremore, Oklahoma Claremore is a city in and the county seat of Rogers County, Oklahoma, Rogers County in northeastern Oklahoma, United States. Its population was 19,580 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, a 5.4% increase over the 18,581 recorded in ...

. The couple had four children. In 1943, Dickerson began teaching at the German-speaking Mennonite Pleasant View community school near

Inola, Oklahoma :''Inola'' is also a spider genus (Pisauridae). Inola is a town in Rogers County, Oklahoma, United States. It is included in the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area (TMSA). The population was 1,788 at the 2010 census with a 12.5 percent increas ...

. She later taught in several area schools before retiring in 1957. She then opened a home-based bakery. In 1964 she and her husband opened Aunt Carrie's Nursing Home (later called ''Wood Manor'') in Claremore. After her husband died in early 1981, Dickerson operated a

health food store A health food store (or health food shop) is a type of grocery store that primarily sells healthful foods, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selectio ...

in Claremore. She closed the store in 2002. Carrie Dickerson died at Claremore in 2006.

Opposition to nuclear power plant

In 1973 the

Public Service Company of Oklahoma American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is an American domestic electric utility company in the United States. It is one of the largest electric utility companies in the country, with more than five mi ...

(PSO) announced plans to build the Black Fox

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

near Inola. When Dickerson read the news, she began researching the health and environmental risks that could be posed by the power plant. Her findings were largely based on environmental damage caused by effluent from the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

. She and another activist, Ilene Younghein, of nearby

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, formed CASE (Citizens' Action for Safe Energy), to educate the public about the potential dangers. Following Dickerson's lead, other anti-nuclear organizations were formed in the area, and citizens from all walks of life and ethnic groups joined in the battle. Finally, on February 16, 1982, PSO announced the cancellation of the proposed project.

Legacy

The ''Carrie Dickerson Lifetime Achievement Award,'' presented by the Oklahoma Sustainability Network, is named in her honor. She wrote the autobiography "Aunt Carrie's War Against the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant", which was published in 1995.

Life

Opposition to nuclear power plant

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading