Speaker 1: Right now, it is time for the way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: In Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major
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Speaker 1: This comes from ktalnews dot com. And we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about uh, black owned oil companies. How about that.
Speaker 1: I might never conceived of the Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it all right. So his name was
Speaker 1: Odessa sat Strickland, and in the early nineteen hundreds he
Speaker 1: invented a device that traced and defined the boundaries of
Speaker 1: oil and gas deposits. In nineteen forty alone, one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty nine out of one hundred and forty of
Speaker 1: the locations discovered by Strickland's and mention produced oil and gas.
Speaker 1: But Strickland his big claim to fame came about because
Speaker 1: of his involvement, sorry in what many newspapers of the
Speaker 1: nineteen thirties referred to as the first black owned oil
Speaker 1: company in the United States. Universal Oil, Gas and Mining
Speaker 1: Companies headquarters was located at ten fifty one and a
Speaker 1: half Texas Avenue in Shreeport. Uog MC got its start
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of the Great Depression, when the
Speaker 1: company had only twenty dollars left in its entire treasury
Speaker 1: after paperwork was filed for the charter. The charter was
Speaker 1: filed with the Caddo Parish Clerk in October of nineteen thirty.
Speaker 1: General manager O. S. Strickland grew the corporation until it
Speaker 1: owned and controlled oil lands, wells, drilling machinery, and carrying
Speaker 1: lines that were worth more than half a million dollars.
Speaker 1: In April nineteen thirty one, the company completed its number
Speaker 1: one J. T. Brown for a daily estimated production of
Speaker 1: eight thousand barrels. According to the Longview News Journal. The
Speaker 1: well was in the PRU survey. By next August, the
Speaker 1: company amended its charter to increase capitalization to ten thousand
Speaker 1: shares of ten dollars per value. In nineteen thirty two,
Speaker 1: three black women were on the board of directors. Fast
Speaker 1: forward to nineteen thirty seven and four of the nine
Speaker 1: directors were women. Jail Jones was president. By nineteen thirty seven.
Speaker 1: Jones had been a beloved educator and principal in Minden.
Speaker 1: He had been president of the Louisiana Colored Teachers Association.
Speaker 1: The company was known to shape and train young black
Speaker 1: men and turn them into oil engineers and mechanics oil
Speaker 1: drillers as well, But in nineteen thirty seven oil field
Speaker 1: workers had to hold their ground when they were shot
Speaker 1: at by a white mob near Lulling, Texas. By nineteen
Speaker 1: forty one, Universal had acquired a cable tool drilling rig
Speaker 1: that they installed on a well in Kentucky. The rig
Speaker 1: was destroyed completely in August of nineteen forty the culprit
Speaker 1: a gas blowout, but in the same year, daily oil
Speaker 1: production from all Universal wells in Texas, Kentucky, and Louisiana
Speaker 1: hit three hundred and eighty barrels. A day before his death,
Speaker 1: Strickland wrote an editorial for Black citizens of Shreveport, quote,
Speaker 1: it has been our ambition to organize a company that
Speaker 1: could take in all phases of the oil and mining
Speaker 1: industry with an exclusive Negro personnel, and employ men and
Speaker 1: women to operate every phase of the business in which
Speaker 1: we have been considerably successful. For we have Negro drillers,
Speaker 1: lease operators, field agents, and geologists and engineers, all of
Speaker 1: whom are negroes and trained in their particular line of work.
Speaker 1: Strickland was writing on the subject of World War two
Speaker 1: and the oil industry quote. We pledged to do our
Speaker 1: bid for the safety and protection of our country, he promised.
Speaker 1: He died on September sixteenth the same year and was
Speaker 1: buried in the Shepherd Street Cemetery in Minden, Louisiana. Now
Speaker 1: where we move on, I want to say something times
Speaker 1: very different and to have an exclusive black, exclusively black
Speaker 1: roster of employees was a remarkable feat because many of
Speaker 1: these people could not be educated to that point at
Speaker 1: the time normally, so for them to be independent and
Speaker 1: successful without relying on white folks was a badge of honor,
Speaker 1: especially back then. Nowadays, a lot of people would say
Speaker 1: that that's reverse racism or something like that, but I
Speaker 1: wanted to have its proper historical context that at the
Speaker 1: time that was quite accomplishment. So shout out to them.