"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : Attorney BUCK COLBERT FRANKLIN

: "Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that controls "TWO-THIRDS" of the government and that party can’t keep "THE PROMISE" that it made to you during election time and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party, you’re not only "A CHUMP," but you’re a traitor to your race! -Malcolm X Recently, I read an article online that mentioned, in the 2020 Presidential Election, reportedly 61% of the Citizens of Monroe, Louisiana & Ouachita Parish overwhelming voted for the Republican candidate! Also, presently in the state of Louisiana, the political makeup of the Louisiana State Congress is overwhelmingly Republican. Presently, in both the Louisiana Senate and the Louisiana House of Representatives, the Republican Party Members currently controls between 71% - 73% of the majority vote. Which brings me back to the Malcolm X quote that I started this article with,"Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that controls "TWO-THIRDS" of the government and that party can’t keep "THE PROMISE" that it made to you during election time and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party, you’re not only "A CHUMP," but you’re a traitor to your race!" - Malcolm X So, without further ado, let's get on to this week's Black Pioneer. Buck Colbert Franklin was born on May 6, 1879 in Pontoloc County, Oklahoma.Buck is best known for being a survivor of the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Massacre, and for being one of the Colored lawyers who represented the other Colored People involved in the Massacre that occured in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921.His father, David Franklin, was a runaway slave who fought in the union military, and his mother, Millie Franklin was part Negro & part Choctaw Indian. In 1856, his parents moved from Mississippi to a 300 acre farm located in Indian territory on communal land of the Chickasaw Indian Nation. Being raised on a farm added considerably to his childhood learning. Before Buck entered formal school, his mother died suddenly from something unknown. Eventually, Buck attended Dawes Academy Boarding School near Springer, Oklahoma, where he was introduced to the famous educator, John Hope Bryant. After leaving Dawes Academy, he enrolled at Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee. However, before he graduated from Roger Williams University, his father died.In 1900, Buck was invited by his former teacher, John Hope, to travel with him to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Atlanta Baptist College, which is now Morehouse College, where John Hope had just been hired. At Atlanta Baptist College, Buck meet a classmate, Mollie L Parker, who would later become his wife. After they were married in 1903, the couple ended up moving to Ardmore, Oklahoma. In Ardmore, Buck secured a teaching job, while he apprenticed with several Colored lawyers to become a lawyer. Once Buck was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 1907, he practiced law in Ardmore, up until moving on to Rentiesville, Oklahoma in 1912. While in Rentiesville, he founded the Rentiesville Newspaper. As far as his lawyer work was concerned, Buck specialized in defending the land and mineral rights of Indians, and the rights of Colored People in the area. After hearing about the recent land run and the establishment of the new Colored settlement in Oklahoma, Buck decided to move to Tulsa. He established a law practice with I.H. Spears and T.O. Chappelle at 107 North Greenwood Avenue, in the Greenwood District known as "BLACK WALL-STREET." Well, during the bombing and massacre, his law office was destroyed, and he had to endure the terrible ordeal that followed the brutal destruction of Greenwood! The lawyer firm of Franklin, Spears, and Chappelle set up a makeshift tent as their office, and went to work on preparing to defend the victims of the massacre. Also, after the city government tried to block them from rebuilding Black Wall-Street, the lawyer team filed a lawsuit, Tulsa County Case # 15730, Joe Lockard vs Mayor T.D.Evans, the city commissioner, and others in the city government. The final result, by a three-judge panel of Tulsa County judges, found that the city government was wrong in its attempt to deny the property rights of the Colored citizens of Greenwood without due process.Thankfully, the Greenwood district was rebuilt ; mainly due to the efforts of these 3 amazing Colored lawyers! On September 24,1969, Buck Colbert Franklin died in Tulsa, Oklahoma.