Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen Old Five Mile Cemetery Murray County, Oklahoma
Project Manager: Dr. Maurice Franklin
Nonprofit Chief Executive, Healthcare Executive, Public Policy Consultant/Adjunct Faculty/Fund Developer/DEI Professional.
This cemetery is one of the most historically significant cemeteries in Murray County as it is an African American cemetery that contains the Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen (ex-slaves) and their descendants. The slaves were brought with the Chickasaw and Choctaw people when the U.S. Government removed them from Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Old Five Mile is one of the first cemeteries in Murray County and possibly the oldest as there are many graves marked with only native stones. There are also five graves that are the typical stone monoliths of Chickasaw burials. Descendants of these interred still live in the area known as Jacksonville. Before school integration, there was a county school in the area known as Jacksonville. Before school integration, there was a county school in the area known
as Jacksonville. Before school integration, there was a county school in the area known as Jackson Special School for local black children.
The cemetery has been horribly vandalized with every tombstone, save one, toppled and smashed to pieces. The information on some of the stones could not be pieced together as some of the stones had missing parts. Photos of those I could read may be viewed here. I visited and read this cemetery in Feb of 2004.
Old Five Mile Cemetery 1850s - 1906, Murray County Oklahoma
Honoring the spirits and lives of Indian Territory Freedmen settlers whose ancestors were bought and sold into slavery.
Murray County Oklahoma
