Brooksville is a town in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. It is one of the thirteen existing all-black towns in Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, Brooksville had a population of 71.
History
One of more than fifty All-Black towns of Oklahoma, Brooksville is one of only thirteen still existing at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Located in Pottawatomie County southwest of Tecumseh, Brooksville was established in 1903. Originally the town was named Sewell, after a white doctor who owned much of the surrounding land and attended the residents. In 1909 the name changed to Brooksville in honor of the first African American in the area, A. R. Brooks, a cotton buyer and farmer. Brooks served as postmaster here from March 18, 1909, until January 27, 1913, at which time his son, William M. Brooks, became postmaster. In 1906 Rev. Jedson White organized St. John's Baptist Church. Soon afterward, the congregation built a church that still exists. White also promoted the town throughout the South, urging African Americans to settle in Brooksville. Brooksville had a Santa Fe Railroad station, three hotels, two doctors, and two mills.
In 1924, with the aid of the Rosenwald Fund, a new school was built. Banneker School, under management of W. T. McKenzie, was a rock building of four large rooms, a three-hundred-seat auditorium, a small library, and a well-equipped domestic science room. George W. McLaurin, the first African American graduate student at the University of Oklahoma, taught at the school. After a fire, the original building was replaced by a wooden one that served students until the school closed in 1968. The building then became a community center for the town and stands next to the new city hall. A declining cotton market and the Great Depression made life difficult in Brooksville, as in many Oklahoma communities. Most of the residents departed, but the town survived. At the beginning of the twenty-first century Brooksville was steadily increasing in population.
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2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Brooksville had a population of 71. The median age was 38.5 years. 29.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 102.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 127.3 males age 18 and over.
There were 31 households in Brooksville, of which 48.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 38.7% were married-couple households, 29.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 19.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 16.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
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| White || 37 || 52.1%
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| Black or African American || 12 || 16.9%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 4 || 5.6%
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| Asian || 0 || 0.0%
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| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
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| Some other race || 0 || 0.0%
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| Two or more races || 18 || 25.4%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 8 || 11.3%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
See also
- Boley, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Redbird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, and Vernon, other "All-Black" settlements that were part of the Land Run of 1889.