Edward P. McCabe, American Politician

Edward P. McCabe, American Politician

Edward P. McCabe (October 10, 1850 - March 12, 1920), also known as Edwin P. McCabe, was an African-American settler, attorney, and land agent who became one of the first African- Americans to hold a major political office in the American Old West. A Republican office-holder in Kansas, McCabe became a leading figure in an effort to stimulate a black migration into what was then the territory of Oklahoma, with the hopes of creating a majority-black state that would be free of the white domination that was prevalent throughout the Southern United States. By 1881, several Negro leaders were planning for the potential resettlement of twenty or thirty thousand freedmen in Oklahoma. In pursuit of this goal, McCabe founded the city of Langston, Oklahoma. The city was founded on the idea to help stop racial persecution. It was part of a program to create more than 25 new black settlements within the Oklahoma Indian Territory. Despite these gains, a black majority was not realized in Oklahoma, nor was McCabe able to secure any higher political office. Even though this never happened, McCabe played a big role in taking a stand for African-American rights in a time where there was a great deal of racial persecution. He died in 1920 at the age of 69. No photographer credited, undated.

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