Rivers of injustice: exploring Oklahoma’s black floodplain communities through the framework of whiteness as property
Abstract
This article analyzes two Black floodplain communities in Oklahoma Territory, Sandtown (Oklahoma City) and The Elbow (Guthrie), through Cheryl Harris's framework of whiteness as property. Founded in the late nineteenth century amid the land rush, these communities demonstrate how environmental hazards, legal exclusion, and spatial segregation combined to dispossess Black settlers of land and erase their historical memory. Examining how annual flooding operated alongside Jim Crow laws and urban redevelopment, this study shows that white supremacist policies relegated Black settlers to hazardous environments and erased their land claims, extending Harris's concept into environmental dimensions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
American Environmental and Regional History
Indigenous Health
Education
and Rights
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Ethnic and Racial Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2118–2136
- Publication date
- 14 January 2026
- Language
- EN