"Apostle" Paul Sykes - Kingfisher, OK
Posted by: 
The Snowdog
N 35° 51.790 W 097° 55.955
14S E 596371 N 3969297
"Apostle" Paul Sykes was a a black man born into slavery who walked from Mississippi to Kingfisher for the land opening of 1891.
Waymark Code: WM11NPE
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 11/21/2019
Views: 3
“Apostle” Paul Sykes, a black man born into slavery, walked from Mississippi to Kingfisher for the land opening of 1891. Several times a day he walked to the Rock Island Depot where he sang, danced, and preached. From the pennies he received, he supported his "Straightgate" Church and helped the poor in Kingfisher. Sykes became famous when troop trains passed through the town during World War I and American doughboys took his story throughout the United States and the world.
The life-sized bronze statue, by Kingfisher artist-in-residence John Gooden, portrays Sykes preaching, with a little girl and a uniformed doughboy at his feet, each about to give a coin.
An article about Sykes and this artwork can be found
here.