General Convention of Oklahoma Indians [wrapper title]

Tulsa, 1924. Very good.. 23pp., plus halftone portrait frontispiece and a plate reproducing a letter by S.J. Soldani at rear. Original red pictorial wrappers, stapled. Minor rubbing and soiling to front wrapper. Light marginal dampstain to lower corner, else internally clean. A rare pamphlet containing the proceedings and a fair amount of the text of the speeches (or excerpts thereof) made at the General Convention of Oklahoma Indians, held at the Brady Hotel in Tulsa on February 26, 1924. The convention resulted in the founding of the short-lived Society of Oklahoma Indians. According to the front wrapper, the object of the convention was "To protect the civil, social, educational and financial rights of Indians of the State of Oklahoma." The convention began with an invocation presented "first in English by A.A. Taylor, a mission worker of Muskogee, then in the Creek language by Rev. Yarhola." One of the first actions during the convention was a reading of the call for the meeting, which went out by "the undersigned members of the Cherokee, Creeks, and Osage Indian tribes" who asked for "a meeting of representative members of our tribes." The speeches were made by a variety of the leading citizens of Oklahoma, mostly Native American delegates, but also some white officials and others. The speeches begin with a welcome address by W.T. Brady, and include a short speech on progress by C.H. Drew of the Creek Nation, a speech on the history of Anglo-Indian relations by C.P. Cornelius, attorney for the Night-Hawk Cherokees, and remarks by Miss Alice Robertson, a former Congresswoman, among others. The afternoon session also included short speeches by two Native American women, as well. The text also prints committee lists and activities, most importantly the Committee on Permanent Organization's submission of a "plan for permanent organization of the Society of Oklahoma Indians," which is essentially the founding constitution and by-laws for the group. The frontispiece is a halftone portrait of Sylvester J. Soldani, the President of the Society of Oklahoma Indians. The plate at rear reproduces a letter by Soldani, dated March 26, 1924, and calling for the next general convention to be held in June of 1924.

"In 1924 Indian organizers created the Society of Oklahoma Indians to protect the ‘civil, social, educational and financial rights’ of Oklahoma Indians. Annual meetings beginning in 1924 in Tulsa and Pawhuska, alternately, attracted hundreds from within Oklahoma and well-known Indian leaders from outside the state. The organization's earliest members included such diverse individuals as Lone Wolf, Joseph Bruner, and its first president, Sylvester J. Soldani, all Oklahomans. Surprisingly, the society was short lived and accomplished little, and by 1928 internal problems destroyed it" - The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, "Pan-Indian Movements."

OCLC records a total of just seven institutional copies, at Yale, Newberry, SMU, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, the University of Tulsa, the University of Oklahoma, and the American Philosophical Society. (Inventory #: 5002)