
Edward P. McCabe (October 10, 1850 – March 12, 1920), also known as Edwin P. McCabe, was a settler, attorney and land agent who became one of the first
African Americans
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
to hold a major political office in the
American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
. A
Republican office-holder in
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
, McCabe became a leading figure in an effort to stimulate a black migration into what was then the territory of
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 ...
, with the hopes of creating a
majority-Black state that would be free of the white domination that was prevalent throughout the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
. In pursuit of this goal, McCabe founded the city of
Langston, Oklahoma.
Early life
McCabe was born in
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is located on the western edge of the county, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River just northeast of the capital city of Albany, New York, Albany. At the ...
, on October 10, 1850. As a child, he moved from Troy to
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...
,
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, and
Bangor, Maine
Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...
. When his father died, he left school and began to work.
Eventually, he moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, where he worked on
Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
. Finding no avenues for promotion beyond clerk and porter in New York, he then moved to Chicago in 1872, where he worked as a clerk for
Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer (May 20, 1826 – May 4, 1902) was an American businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street (Chicago), State Street in Chicago. Born in Albany County, New York,[Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...]
, office of the U.S. Treasury Department (Taylor).
Life in Kansas
Meanwhile, proposals were already being made at least by 1866 to use the land that is now Oklahoma as a settlement area for African Americans.
In that year, U.S. Rep.
William Lawrence, an Ohio Republican, introduced a bill creating the Territory of Lincoln from that land.
[ (This is not to be confused with the State of Lincoln proposal made in 1869 for southern Texas, nor the Lincoln proposed for the Pacific Northwest.) Lawrence reintroduced the bill in 1867.][ The proposal was that all territorial officers and voters would initially be "American citizens of African descent," and the territorial legislature could later choose to change eligibility.][ Neither bill got out of committee, but the seeds of the idea were planted.][
McCabe traveled to Nicodemus, Kansas, in 1878 where he was an attorney and land agent. After two years of residing in Nicodemus he was appointed ]county clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keepin ...
of the not long established Graham County, and the next fall he was elected to a full term as county clerk. At age 32, McCabe was elected Kansas State Auditor, and became the highest-ranking African-American officeholder outside of the Reconstruction South (AAME). He served two terms as the state auditor and failed to win a third nomination.
Life in Oklahoma
He then moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, where he fruitlessly lobbied for an appointment for governor in the new Oklahoma Territory
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...
, from President Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...
(Taylor). Even though he was not appointed, he moved to the Oklahoma Territory in 1890 still looking to make a difference.
He was soon appointed the first Treasurer of Logan County, Oklahoma
Logan County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 49,555. Its county seat is Guthrie, Oklahoma, Guthrie.
Logan County is part of the Okl ...
, and assistant territorial auditor by the Oklahoma territory's first governor, George Washington Steele, who was made governor on May 22, 1890. McCabe supported the idea of making Oklahoma into an all black state, and wanted to help with the efforts of the idea.
Black settlement efforts
McCabe was also one of three founders of Langston, Oklahoma. "By 1881, several Negro leaders were planning for the potential resettlement of twenty or thirty thousand freedmen in Oklahoma".[Philip Mellinger, ''Discrimination and Statehood'', published in ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol 49 (1971), p. 340-78, 343.] McCabe "acquired a tract near Guthrie, Oklahoma
Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. Its population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7% increase from 9,925 in the 2000 census. First known as a railroad st ...
, which became the town of Langston about 1892". The city was an all-black area ten miles northeast of Guthrie. The city was named after John Mercer Langston, a black Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
Congressman who had pledged his support for a black college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
in Langston City (Taylor). Finally in 1897, a Colored Agricultural and Normal School was opened, this was later called Langston University.
The city was founded on the idea to help stop racial persecution. It was part of a program to create more than twenty-five new “black settlements” within the Oklahoma Indian Territory.
McCabe had personal ambitions tied into this endeavor, hoping that he would be appointed governor or secretary of the Oklahoma Territory
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...
. "The opportunity for progress through prosperity and the chance to escape racial discrimination were the two drawing attractions promoted by Oklahoma black newspapers. The newspapers emphasized one or the other at random in 1905 and 1906."[Philip Mellinger, ''Discrimination and Statehood'', published in ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol 49 (1971), p. 340-78, 346.] The efforts of McCabe and others "achieved impressive results. The black population of Oklahoma continued to grow until statehood in 1907".[Philip Mellinger, ''Discrimination and Statehood'', published in ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol 49 (1971), p. 340-78, 349.]
Between 1900 and 1906 the black population at least doubled. "Black Oklahomans owned fairly large farms and even controlled whole towns",[Philip Mellinger, ''Discrimination and Statehood'', published in ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol 49 (1971), p. 340-78, 350.] and were "behaving in a manner directly contrary to the hopes and expectations of the whites. Past 1900 large numbers of Negroes began moving from the South and East sections to the interior part of the state. They left farming and the Oklahoma coal mines, and took urban service jobs".
Despite these gains, a black majority was not realized in Oklahoma, nor was McCabe able to secure any higher political office. Even though this never happened, McCabe played a big role in taking a stand for African-American rights in a time where there was a great deal of racial persecution.
Death
McCabe died on March 12, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, and was buried in Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...
.
Sources
*Mellilnger, Philip. "Discrimination and Statehood", ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 49:3 (June 1971) 340-378.
*
From Sodom to the Promised Land: E.P. McCabe and the Movement for Oklahoma Colonizaton
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Edward P.
1850 births
1920 deaths
African-American people in Kansas politics
African-American people in Oklahoma politics
Anti-Indigenous racism in Oklahoma
Kansas Republicans
Oklahoma Republicans
People from Graham County, Kansas
Politicians from Troy, New York
Washington, D.C., Republicans
20th-century African-American people
Members of the National Academy of Medicine