Films gave view of Oklahoma black history
BY SHEILA STOGSDILL
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Published: March 5, 2009
LANGSTON — A collection of 29 vintage film reels detailing the lives of blacks living in Oklahoma during the 1920s was the rarest historical artifact Currie Ballard ever owned.
Currie Ballard poses in this file photo with 29 cans of film he purchased from a collector. The reels were auctioned last week for $60,000. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON
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After selling a copy of the collection to the
Oklahoma Historical Society, Ballard allowed his most treasured possession to be auctioned. The reels brought $60,000 last week during an auction at
Swann Auction Galleries in
New York City.
Ballard, a historian and assistant secretary to the state Senate, said the films were in a category by themselves.
The buyer wished to remain anonymous, but Ballard said the films were purchased by an
Ivy League university. "My agent said there was extreme activity,” Ballard said.
The six hours of silent films were made by
S.S. Jones, a well-known Baptist circuit preacher during the 1920s and ’30s.
Among Jones’ subjects were a funeral procession in Hugo, the 1925 graduation ceremony at
Langston University, footage of downtown Boley, a spelling contest at
Calvary Baptist Church in
Oklahoma City, children playing outside a country church, a parade in
Muskogee; a family’s oil well near Bristow and high school boys and girls basketballs games.
The collection also has footage of travels to
California,
New York,
Europe, the
Middle East and
Africa.
"This has been the high point of my 30 years collecting African Americano,” Ballard said.
The films document the lives of black Oklahomans in the years after the deadly
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 that decimated the city’s Greenwood district.
"The films show by 1927 Greenwood had been rebuilt,” Ballard said. "That is the most stunning — it showed the resilience of the black communities and the black people of Oklahoma.”
People were working and prospering, he said.
The film collection had been tucked away for decades. The films were discovered by a relative of an artifacts dealer while remodeling.
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