Encyclopedia

This interactive encyclopedia offers teachers and students access to terms, people, and events related to the history of Slavery in America. Many entries include reference material and some of the biographies on prominent figures contain suggestions for teaching as well as links to related sections of this site. The encyclopedia will continue to grow throughout the course of this project.

Oakwood College: Founded in 1896 as a manual training school for blacks by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, this school did not offer advanced studies until the 1930s. It is located in Huntsville, Alabama, a city of more than 160,000, nestled in the Tennessee Valley at the foothills of the Appalachians. In the early days, the school boarded all students where they attended class in the morning and did manual work in the afternoon.

Oakwood is recognized nationwide as one of America's premier colleges in preparing African Americans for medical school and health science careers. Offering a total of 52 majors and a member of the College Fund/ UNCF, Oakwood is committed to providing its students access to educational opportunities and excellence. It boasts a cosmopolitan student body and faculty, consisting of individuals from 39 states and 22 foreign countries and territories. Enrollment numbers total 1,335 students, hailing from all over the South and the nation.

Oglethorpe, General James: James Oglethorpe was born December 22, 1696, in Godalming, Surrey in England. Oglethorpe was born to a large, wealthy family, and he began military service when he was 16 years old. After serving in Italy and Hungary, Oglethorpe returned to England, killed a man in a fight, and served five months in prison. He was elected a Member of Parliament for Haslemere in 1722 and was re-elected for 32 years. Oglethorpe served on the Prison Discipline Committee. When a friend died in debtor’s prison, he dedicated himself to establishing a debtor’s colony in America. Oglethorpe was one of 21 trustees to receive a grant from King George II on June 9, 1732, for a colony along the southeastern seaboard. The trustees named the colony, which lay between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, Georgia after the king.

After stopping in Charleston in January 1733, Oglethorpe selected the site for the settlement of Savannah, which was established on February 12. Although there were no debtors among the 116 settlers, they set up tents and a palisade, and then built up their lots according to a city plan; by 1738 Savannah had 1,100 residents. During the War of the Austrian Succession (the War of Jenkins Ear), Oglethorpe invaded Florida and besieged St. Augustine from May to June of 1740 until reinforcements from Cuba drove him out. Two years later, on June 9, 1742, Oglethorpe and his Georgians defeated a large Spanish invasion force at the Battle of Bloody Marsh. In 1743, Oglethorpe attempted, again unsuccessful, to capture St. Augustine. Oglethorpe banned liquor and slavery in 1735, but by 1743, his settlers (tenants and not owners) wanted rum and slaves. Having lost the support of the trustees and the settlers, Oglethorpe was replaced by William Stephens. James Oglethorpe returned to England in 1743 and married Lady Elizabeth Wright the following year. He died on June 30, 1784, at the age of 88 at Cranham Hall, Essex, England.

Okra: Abelmoschus esculentus, also called guibo and guimyombo, originated in what geo-botanists call the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) center of human food zones. It is still cultivated in present-day Ethiopia on the plateau portions of Eritrea, and in parts of the Sudan. It also became the essential ingredient of Louisiana gumbo.

Osceola: Osceola was a leader of the Seminole resistance to their removal from Florida during the Second Seminole War. His name is corrupted from the Seminole name, Asi Yahola, meaning the Black Drink Singer. He was born around 1804 in Alabama to a Creek mother. His stepfather was a Scottish man, and Osceola was called William Powell as a child. Although he claimed no "foreign blood" ran in his veins, he was the great-grandson of Scotsman James McQueen. His mother traveled with relative Peter McQueen's Red Stick refugees to Florida during the Creek War. Osceola emerged as a leader of the Seminole resistance to removal in 1834. According to legend (although not reported by contemporary witnesses), he stuck a knife through the removal treaty and declared, "The only treaty I will sign is this."

Osceola's murder of Indian Agent Wiley Thompson, along with his defeat of General Clinch at the Battle of Withlacoochee, helped set off the Second Seminole War. At least one of Osceola's wives was the daughter of a slave, and he refused to abandon the Black Seminole to slavery. While negotiating under a white truce flag in October 1837, General Hernandez took Osceola captive, by order of General Jesup. The U.S. Army kept Osceola in a cell in Ft. Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St. Augustine. He was ill and did not escape with other Seminole leaders that Fall. In December, he and two of his wives were sent to Sullivan's Island along with 200 other Seminole. Osceola developed a severe throat infection associated with malaria; a shaman performed rituals. Osceola painted his body in preparation for death and died at 6:20 p.m. on January 30, 1838. His army doctor, Frederick Weedon, was Wiley Thompson's brother-in-law, and he removed Osceola's head prior to burial. Osceola's remains were buried with military honors and marked with a gravestone that read "Patriot and Warrior." His skull was lost in a fire at New York University Medical School in 1866. When the grave was tampered with in 1966, the National Park Service conducted an archaeological dig that confirmed the skeleton remained undisturbed.

Owens, Jesse: (1913-1980) A world-class runner and the first Olympian to win four gold medals. Owens was born to an Alabama sharecropping family, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and became a talented runner at Ohio State University before competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany. At these games, determined to debunk the Nazi vision of a super Aryan race, he accomplished his unprecedented gold medal wins. Adolf Hitler stomped out of the stadium and refused to acknowledge Owens' victory. Afterwards, Owens fell out of favor with many militant black Americans because of his conservative position on the Civil Rights Movement sweeping the nation in the 1950s and 1960s.