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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/184379157
Horace Brooks, born into slavery in 1856 in Georgia, was a man of remarkable resilience and strength. Not much is known about Horace’s parents and siblings as of this storyline. As for Horace, he lived through some of the most tumultuous periods in American history, including the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, World War I, Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. Despite facing discrimination and hardships throughout his life, Horace never lost his courage and determination.
Shortly after marrying Margaret Blackshear in 1880, they settled in her hometown of Abbeville, Alabama. For a time, it was good. Although farming in 1880 for blacks in the South was a difficult and oppressive occupation, he tried to live a simple life, farming with his father-in-law, Alfred Blackshear, a successful farmer, and blacksmith, during a period of reconstruction after the Civil War.
But there was a growing struggle for survival and dignity. Despite their hardships and injustices, many black farmers tried to acquire land, form cooperatives, join unions, or participate in political movements. As social, political, and economic tensions grew, they were forced to give up their farmland under threat by racially charged groups as they aimed to restore white dominance in the South.
Their entire family, including Margaret’s father, mother, and brothers, were forced to move during the early 1890s. He traveled across Louisiana and Mississippi with his wife and young son (Millard Brooks, born 1890) and eventually settled in Mount Vernon, Franklin County, Texas, near the Oklahoma border. Nearly all his in-laws, the Blackshear family, made it to this area of Texas except for Alfred, who settled in Houston. A heartbreak for his wife Margaret to see her mother and father separated after so many years.
By 1903, hearing of the growing Black towns and a call for Oklahoma to become a Black state, Horace moved with his wife, son, and first daughter, Ora Lee, to Boley, Oklahoma, which became one of the most prosperous and prominent All-Black communities by 1920. Horace and Margaret were among a large and diverse population of black people who came to the territory as slaves of Native American tribes, free settlers, soldiers, cowboys, and refugees from racial violence in the South.
At the end of WWI in 1918, Ora Lee and Mary Etta (Horace’s oldest daughters) moved West in search of better opportunities to eventually settle in Bakersfield, California, with their husbands. The was at the beginning of the Roaring 20s was a period of cultural, artistic, and social dynamism for Black Americans, but also one of racial violence, discrimination, and segregation. Features of this time included The Great Migrations, Harlem Renaissance, The Jazz Age, Black Nationalism, and The Red Summer.
The Red Summer was a series of violent race riots that erupted in 1919 just as Ora Lee and Mary Etta left and headed West, perhaps at the urging of their father and mother (Horace and Margaret). This period was sparked by racial tensions, economic competition, and social unrest. Some of the worst incidents occurred in Chicago, Washington D.C., Omaha, and Tulsa. His wife died in the Winter of 1920 under suspicious circumstances at age 57 during a period of racial discord, especially near prospering Black towns. The Tulsa race massacre would occur the following year, 1921, just 65 miles down the road. After Margaret’s death, Horace struggled to manage the farm and eventually moved to the urban area of Oklahoma City. Sadly, tragedy struck again when Horace's second eldest daughter, Hazel, died in 1926, leaving behind a child, Margaret Brooks. He remarried and lived in a boarding house with his youngest daughter and granddaughter.
Yet, another significant event would happen, the stock market crash of 1929. This event devastated Horace and his family, as it did so many others. Once again, tragedy struck when his eldest daughter, Ora Lee, died the same year from complications of epidemic tuberculosis. It is worth noting that, during the 1920s, alcoholism rates among black Americans increased despite prohibition, which may have been due to the social and economic conditions of the time.
Despite these challenges, as I look back, Horace remains an inspiration to me, his great-grandson, Bruce Thompson, MD. Horace's life story is a testament to Black Americans' resilience, courage, and perseverance. Despite facing institutionalized racism during the period spanning from 1880 to 1920, Horace never gave up. He continued to overcome obstacles throughout his life, and his story serves as a reminder of the challenges that Black Americans have faced throughout history and their unwavering strength in overcoming them.
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