Notes and Documents section from Volume 87, Number 2, Summer 2009. It includes a document honoring Michael Wallis and Quintus and Mary Herron, who were inducted into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame in 2009. It also includes a document celebrating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth and lists a selection of articles exploring the history of Black Oklahomans in the journey from slavery to empowerment

Blackburn, Bob L.

Sias, Richard

Wilson, Linda D.

Notes and Documents section for Volume 87, Number 2, Summer 2009. It includes a document honoring Michael Wallis and Quintus and Mary Herron, who were inducted into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame in 2009. It also includes a document celebrating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth and lists a selection of articles exploring the history of Black Oklahomans in the journey from slavery to empowerment

Gateway to Oklahoma History

* NOTES AND DOCUMENTSOklahoma Historians Hall of FameMichael Wallis and Quintus and Mary HerronBy Linda D. WilsonSince 1993 the Oklahoma Historical Society has annually honoredup to four individuals, both professional and amateur, in itsOklahoma Historians Hall of Fame. Recipients are selected on thebasis of their contributions to the preservation, collection, interpre-tation, and dissemination of Oklahoma history. This criteria wasfirst published in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, 72 (Summer 1994).Early honorees included Grant Foreman, Joseph B. Thoburn,Muriel H. Wright, Edward Everett Dale, and Angie Debo. In addi-tion to historians, the award has been bestowed on artist CharlesBanks Wilson, Cherokee genealogist Emmet Starr, author John Jo-seph Mathews, and Apache and educator Mildred Imach Cleghorn.The inductees are honored at the Awards Banquet held during theOklahoma Historical Society's Annual Meeting in April each year.In April 2009 Donald Green, Marvin Kroeker, Michael Wallis, andMary Jane and Quintus Herron were inducted into the OklahomaHistorians Hall of Fame. Green and Kroeker were featured in thespring issue of The Chronicles, and Wallis and the Herrons appearin this issue.Michael WallisBorn in 1945 in St. Louis, Missouri, journalist and popular histo-rian Michael Wallis has honed his writing skills since he won an es-say contest as a youngster. His prize included two tickets to attenda St. Louis Cardinal baseball game. He and his father garnered alimousine ride to the game, and Wallis sat in the dugout with "Stanthe Man" Musial. On that memorable day he received two auto-graphed baseballs, one from Musial and the other from Ken Boyer.244NOTES AND DOCUMENTSWallis quickly came to the conclu-sion that "this writing is not a badracket."Wallis's other special childhoodexperiences include shakinghands with television celebritiesHopalong Casssidy and the CiscoKid. As a young boy Wallis peddledb newspapers along a stretch of theMother Road, Route 66, which was(close to his St. Louis home. He at-tended a number of public and pri-vate schools before joining the U.S.Marine Corps. Wallis received hishigher education at numerouscolleges and universities, including the University of Missouri atColumbia. In 1978 he moved to Miami, where he worked as a spe-cial correspondent for Time magazine's Caribbean Bureau. His topstories covered the Cuban refugee exodus, crime, and drugsmuggling.While Wallis developed his writing into a paying vocation, heworked at diverse occupations. He has been a ranch hand, a bar-tender, a hotel waiter, a social worker, a printer, and a ski lodgemanager. As his literary career flourished, he published in nationalmagazines and newspapers such as Time, Life, Smithsonian, TexasMonthly, and the New York Times. He has written at least eighteenbooks and is a contributing editor for Oklahoma's official state mag-azine, the bimonthly Oklahoma Today Representative of his arti-cles published in Oklahoma Today are "Welcome to HamburgerHeaven," "The Museum That Route 66 Built," and "Ride to Live,Live to Ride: The Harley Davidson Experience in Oklahoma."Wallis expresses his love for Oklahoma in his published works aswell as at his public speaking engagements. His books include WayDown Yonder In the Indian Nation. Writing From America's Heart-land and Oklahoma Crossroads. He has written biographies ofprominent Oklahomans Wilma Mankiller, Waite Phillips, FrankPhillips, and Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd. His current home-town has been the focus for Meet Tulsa and Oklahoma Today arti-cles, "The Gilcrease and Philbrook Come of Age: A Pair of WorldClass Exhibits Bring Tulsa's Museums to the Fore" and "SophianChoice." Wallis and his wife Suzanne Fitzgerald have lived in Tulsasince 1982.245THE CHRONICLES OF OKLAHOMAMovie goers, especially those with young children, will recognizeWallis's distinctive voice as the sheriff in Cars, the 2006 Pixar ani-mated film. The front grille of his character was shaped to resembleWallis's distinguishing feature, his moustache. Wallis's life'sachievements include numerous honors and awards. He is a mem-ber of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. For his literary worksthat enlighten others about the Sooner State and his genuine ex-pression of his love for Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Historical Societynames Michael Wallis to the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame.BooksLamy: The Town a Railroad Built. Santa Fe, N. Mex.. Esperanza Publications, 1972.Oil Man. The Story of Frank Phillips and the Birth of Phillips Petroleum. New York:Doubleday, 1988.Route 66: The Mother Road. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990.Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd. New York: St. Martin'sPress, 1992.Way Down Yonder In the Indian Nation. Writing From America's Heartland. NewYork: St. Martin's Press, 1993.With Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis. Route 66 Postcards: Greetings From the MotherRoad. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.With Wilma Mankiller. Mankiller. A Chief and Her People. New York: St. Martin'sPress, 1993.Beyond the Hills: The Journey of Waite Phillips. Oklahoma City- Oklahoma HeritageAssociation, 1995.With Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis. Songdog Diary: 66 Stories From the Road. Tulsa,Okla.. Song Dog Books, 1996.With David Fitzgerald. Oklahoma Crossroads. Portland, Ore.. Graphic Arts CenterPublishing, 1998.The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West. NewYork: St. Martin's Press, 1999.With Jack Parsons. Heaven's Window: A Journey Through Northern New Mexico.Portland, Ore.. Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 2001.With Marian Clark. Hogs on 66: Best Feed and Hangouts For Road Trips on Route66. Tulsa, Okla.. Council Oak, 2004.With Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis. The Art of Cars. San Francisco: Chronicle Books,2006.One Step Over the Line "Billy the Kid." Santa Fe: New Mexico Tourism Department,2007With Brian Gomsak. Meet Tulsa. Greensboro, N.C.. Pace Communications, 2007With Michael Williamson. The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast From Times Squareto the Golden Gate. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2007Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008.246NOTES AND DOCUMENTSSelected Articles"Welcome to Hamburger Heaven [a guide to Oklahoma's best hamburger joints] "Oklahoma Today 45 (April/May 1995)."The Museum That Route 66 Built." Oklahoma Today 46 (March 1996)."The Gilcrease and Philbrook Come of Age: A Pair of World Class Exhibits BringTulsa's Museums to the Fore." Oklahoma Today 48 (January/February 1998)."Ride to Live, Live to Ride: The Harley Davidson Experience in Oklahoma."Oklahoma Today 49 (January/February 1999)."The Mother Road Turns 75: A Contemporary Portrait of Oklahoma's Route 66."Oklahoma Today 51 (May/June 2001)."Sophian Choice." Oklahoma Today 51 (July/August 2001).Quintus and Mary Jane HerronNative-born Oklahomans Quintus and Mary Jane (Hinkel) Herronhave spent their lives contributing to the economic and civic growthof the southeastern part of the Sooner State. In 1946 QuintusHerron, his father Leonard, and his brother Joseph founded HerronIndustries in Idabel. The husband and wife team organized Idabel'sMuseum of the Red River in 1974.Quintus Herron was born in Idabel in 1923. Ten years later hisfamily moved to Stillwater where he graduated from highschool in1941. That fall he enrolled at Oklahoma A&M College (nowOklahoma State University), but the advent of World War II inter-rupted his higher education. He went to work at Consolidated Air-craft in San Diego, California, in 1942, and enlisted in the U.S.Army Air Corps in 1943. Herron served as an aviation navigationinstructor in the corps until 1945. The following year he marriedMary Jane Hinkel in Stillwater. In 1951 he graduated fromOklahoma A&M College with a degree in forestry.Herron returned to Idabel and worked for fifty-six years to de-velop Herron Industries into a successful corporation. During hislifetime he established the Herron Research Foundation for archae-ological research in 1974. This organization has gradually evolvedto offer educational support and cultural learning to the citizens ofMcCurtain County. In 1976 Quintus became chair of the board ofthe newly organized Forest Heritage Center. With his wife's helpand the board's support, he has guided that center into the ForestryHistory Center in Beavers Bend. In 2007 he resigned as chair butremains as an active board member. He remains active at theHerron Industries' office, at the Museum of the Red River, in the de-247THE CHRONICLES OF OKLAHOMAvelopment of the MHH CommunityConference Center, and the plan-ning and design of the MaryHerron Pedestrian Nature Park.His life partner, Mary JaneAHinkel, was born in 1926 inStillwater. She was the daughter ofFlorence and John W Hinkel andthe granddaughter of Nell andJohn P Hinkel, land rush pioneersand publishers of the StillwaterDaily Press Like her husband,Mary Jane Herron also graduatedfrom Oklahoma A&M College.With a fine arts degree, she worked as a county bookmobile librar-ian for the southeastern region of Oklahoma and as the women'spage editor for the McCurtain Gazette She and her husband werefounding members of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Idabel.Mary Jane Herron is best remembered for her daily work at theMuseum of the Red River, which expanded from 4,000 square feet to17,000 square feet. The facility became a major tourist attraction insoutheastern Oklahoma and gained a national reputation for its ex-tensive collections and diverse exhibits. She actively supported theIdabel Regional Arts Council and its performing and visual artsprograms. She raised purchase funds for art to enhance the publicarea of th E. T. Dunlap Higher Learning Center and was instrumen-tal in establishing an endowment fund for the Oklahoma MuseumsAssociation.Herron actively participated in state and regional organizationsby serving on boards, presenting papers, taking part in museumsymposia, and counseling young professionals. In 1998 theOklahoma Museums Association presented her the coveted LauraMcDonagh Streich Award. She and Quintus have received theKiamichi County Heritage Award, the Distinquished HistorianAward from the McCurtain County Historical Society, the IdabelChamber of Commerce Citizens Award, the Stanley Draper Distin-guished Service from the Oklahoma Heritage Association, and theGovernor's Excellence in Arts Award. Mary Herron died at ageeighty-one on April 22, 2007, but her legacy continues with the com-pletion of the Mary H. Herron Community Conference Center inFebruary 2009. The Herrons' son lives in Idabel, and their daughter248NOTES AND DOCUMENTSresides in Tucson, Arizona. They have grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.For the Herrons' lifetime of establishing and promoting statemuseums and for improving the educational and cultural facilitiesin southeastern Oklahoma, the Oklahoma History Society namesQuintus and Mary Jane Herron to the Oklahoma Historians Hall ofFame. In accepting the award on the behalf of himself and his latewife, he commented that she "was responsible for at least half of ev-erything we did. It was the pleasure of our lives to do these things."Lincoln's Legacy in OklahomaBy Richard Sias and Bob L. BlackburnThe State of Oklahoma joins the rest of the nation in celebratingthe legacy of Abraham Lincoln during the bicentennial of his birthon February 12, 1809. Through educational programs, speeches,publications, and performances, we hope to raise awareness of Lin-coln's impact on our history and the relevance of his message forour lives today. Black Oklahomans represent a significant aspect ofthe state's history. The earliest were slaves who arrived with theFive Tribes during their Removal from the American South. Afterthe allotment of Indian lands in the second half of the nineteenthcentury, freedmen became farmers. Migrating from other parts ofthe United States, other African American settlers also took upfarms and made homes in Oklahoma Territory during and after theLand Run of 1889 Within only a few years, more than fiftyAll-Black towns existed, and the Tulsa and Oklahoma City blackcommunities thrived. Thirteen of the All-Black towns still exist.From Slavery to Freedom in The Chronicles of OklahomaBallenger, T. L. "The Colored High School of the Cherokee Nation," 30 (Winter1952-53): 230-44.Bender, Norman J. "'We Surely Gave them an Uplift' Taylor F. Ealey and the Mis-sion School for Freedmen," 61 (Summer 1983): 180-93.Billington, Monroe. "Black Slavery in Oklahoma Territory- The Ex-SlaveNarratives," 60 (Spring 1982): 56-65.249THE CHRONICLES OF OKLAHOMABogle, Lori. "On Our Way to the Promised Land: Black Migration from Arkansas toOklahoma, 1889-1893," 72 (Summer 1994): 160-77Carney, George O. "Historic Resources of Oklahoma's All-Black Towns: A Preserva-tion Profile," 69 (Summer 1991): 116-33.Crockett, Norman L. "Witness to History Booker T. Washington Visits Boley," 67(Winter 1989-90): 382-91.Darcy, R. "Constructing Segregation: Race Politics in the Territorial Legislature,1890-1907 " 86 (Fall 2008): 260-89.Gray, Linda C. "Taft: Town on the Black Frontier," 66 (Winter 1988-89): 430-47Halliburton, R., Jr. "Origins of Black Slavery Among the Cherokees," 52 (Winter1974-75): 483-96.Hamilton, Kenneth Marvin. "Townsite Speculation and the Origin of Boley,Oklahoma," 55 (Summer 1977): 180-89.Kremer, Gary R. "For Justice and a Fee: James Milton Turner and the CherokeeFreedmen," 58 (Winter 1980-81): 377-91.Mellinger, Phillip. "Discrimination and Statehood in Oklahoma," 49 (Fall 1971):340-78.Miller, Diane, "Frontier Freedom: Seeking the Underground Railroad in OklahomaTerritory," 87 (Spring 2009): 76-93.Rampp, Lary C. "Negro Troop Activity in Indian Territory, 1863-1865," 47 (Spring1969): 531-59.Roberson, Jere. "Edward P McCabe and the Langston Experiment," 51 (Fall 1973):343-55.Savage, Rosalind, comp. "The Black Experience in Oklahoma from Territorial Sta-tus to 1980: A Selected Bibliography," 58 (Winter 1980-81): 465-67Shepard, R. Bruce. "North to the Promised Land: Black Migration to the CanadianPlains," 66 (Fall 1988): 306-27Smith, Joy McDougal. "Alice Lee Elliott Memorial Academy A School for ChoctawFreedmen," 72 (Fall 1994): 264-79.Wickett, Murray R. "'The Fear of Negro Domination' The Rise of Segregation andDisfrancisement in Oklahoma," 78 (Spring 2000): 44-65.Williams, Nudie E "The African Lion: George Napier Perkins, Lawyer, Politician,and Editor," 70 (Winter 1992-93): 450-55.. "The Black Press in Oklahoma: The Formative Years, 1889-1907 " 61 (Fall1983): 308-19.. "They Fought for Votes: The White Politician and the Black Editor," 64(Spring 1986): 19-35.Wilson, Walt. "Freedmen in Indian Territory During Reconstruction," 49 (Summer1971): 230-44.250

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