Uganda Martyrs Catholic Church - Okmulgee, OK - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

Uganda Martyrs Catholic Church began as a mission church of St. Anthony's in Okmulgee. The story is sad in many ways, but is a testament to the times of racial discrimination.

In the first two decades of the 20th Century, the white parishioners of St. Anthony’s were somewhat discomforted worshipping with the black Catholics in their parish. Catholicism had come to the blacks a century before, when they were slaves of Catholic plantation owners. In 1923, a black woman in the church argued for a separate church for black Catholics in Okmulgee, since at St. Anthony’s the practice was “the last three pews were for colored only.”

In June of 1925, St. Anthony's paid $5,000 for property at Third Street and Choctaw Avenue. On one lot there stood a five room cottage, which would become the rectory. The bricks of the old St. Anthony’s church were used to build the Uganda Martyrs school, and the stones as a retaining coping around the playground. St. Anthony's white members not only paid for the lots and rectory, but donated to the newly organized black parish their previously used frame church building. The first mass in the renovated church was celebrated on Sunday, September 27, 1925. The new parish church was dedicated to the Uganda Martyrs, 22 youths who, rather than violate the purity of their lives, suffered martyrdom in Uganda in 1886. This was the first church dedicated to these martyrs in the United States.

The Uganda Martyrs School was built in 1927 and was instrumental in the education of black youths in Okmulgee until 1955, when Uganda Martyrs school closed because of declining enrollment.

Located on the east side of Okmulgee, this church continues to serve the black community of Okmulgee. Sunday mass is at 8:30 AM.

Type of Church: Church Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Date of organization: 01/01/1925 Diocese: Tulsa Address/Location: 808 E. Third Street Okmulgee, OK US 74447 Date of building construction: Not listed Dominant Architectural Style: Not listed Associated Shrines, Art, etc.: Not listed Archdiocese: Not listed Relvant Web Site: Not listed

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