By Jessica Gorman
I preface this article by acknowledging that, as is the case with any subject I write about, I do not claim to know all there is to know about Mr. Odessa Strickland. Quite the contrary, I am acutely aware that he was a man of whose remarkable story I know very little.
Odessa Lee Strickland was born 12 January 1894 in Valley Mills, Texas to John T. Strickland and Winnie E. Hamilton. While records indicate his middle name to be Lee, he was commonly known as O.S. By 1910, the family was living in Langston, Oklahoma where he attended what later became Langston University. O.S. Strickland was a veteran of WWI. He married Ruth Peters on 18 September 1919 in Pulaski County, Arkansas.
In 1921, Block Oil and Gas Syndicate was incorporated in Arkansas with $100,000 capital stock. O. S. Strickland served as secretary of the company. This company was one of the earliest black owned and operated oil companies in the United States and is said to be the first to operate in North Louisiana. An ad in November 1921 indicates the company was looking for an additional five thousand investors. Dividends would be paid out with half being split amongst stockholders and the other half being reinvested in new land for drilling. Not much information has been found about this company and it seems to have only been in existence a few years.
Sometime in the 1920s, O.S. and Ruth came to live in Minden where they raised a family.
O.S. Strickland’s involvement in the oil industry was not over. In 1931, a new company was incorporated – Universal Oil Gas and Mining Company. Strickland served as secretary and general manager. Skilled in business, geology, and engineering, he was the driving force behind the company and quickly led the way to success.
In April 1931, the company brought in its first well. The news was carried across the country, primarily reported in black newspapers.
“The Negro population of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, is all enthusiastic and excited over the eight thousand barrel oil well which was brought on by the Universal Oil, Gas, and Mining Company this week near Henderson, Texas. This excitement caused, among other things, by the fact that the Universal Oil, Gas, and Mining Company is a Negro owned and operated company, the stock of this company being held by members of the race in the three states mentioned above.”
“The well is considered one of the prize wells in the Henderson district, and thousands of people of all races have been making pilgrimages to the well to see just what it is all about. The off-set well to the Universal’s well is only making three thousand barrels daily, and this is another reason why the colored stockholders of the Universal Oil, Gas and Mining Company are jubilant.”
In the midst of the Great Depression, the company continued to expand operations despite the challenges faced. In 1937, they “completed one of the largest producing oil wells in Caldwell County, Texas.” This was accomplished “after being fired upon by angry white oil field workers, who declared that ‘Negroes should not share in the vast wealth of Caldwell County’s oil pool, and that Negro engineers and oil drillers should not work in the same field with white oil operators.” In response, O.S. Strickland and his crew “located, drilled and completed this well to a depth of 2,344 feet and six inches, penetrating one of the richest oil viens in Texas, thereby adding to the assets of the Univeral Oil, Gas & Mining Company and its many stockholders thousands and thousands of dollars for months to come.” Plans were in place to drill 14 more wells in Caldwell County.
The company was lauded for its success. “The corporation owned, supported and managed by Negroes scattered in the various sections of the United States, has proven to America and the world at large, that Negroes can build, produce and manage big corporations successfully.”
In the late 1930s, O.S. Strickland was noted for his technical acumen in perfecting the use of the electronometer for use in detecting oil and gas fields. Newspaper reports indicate he spent four years working on the device resulting in a 97% accuracy rate.
Universal Oil, Gas, and Mining Company owed its success to O.S. Strickland. He died 17 September 1942 in Longview, Texas. He is buried in the Sheppard Street Cemetery in Minden. Ultimately, his death led to the end of the company. His wife, Ruth, continued to receive royalty checks from the wells throughout her life. She died in 1988.
Despite its significance to our local history, national history, and most especially black history, I know of no time that Mr. Odessa Strickland’s story has been published in a local paper. In other places? Yes. Here? No.
There are so many stories to tell. Some I don’t know yet, some I haven’t spent enough time with to do them justice, and some I’m not always sure that it’s my place to tell. It’s important that these stories be told and, in time, they will.
(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, President of the Minden Cemetery Association, and an avid genealogist.)