Black Moses guest lecture with author Caleb Gayle

About this event

The Oklahoma Historical Society will host Caleb Gayle for a guest lecture at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City on Thursday, September 24. The event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Black Moses charts the rise of Edward McCabe and his efforts to create a Black state in Oklahoma Territory during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the lecture, there will be a question-and-answer session, followed by a book signing and reception. Copies of Black Moses will be available to purchase during the event. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested at okhistory.org/signing. The evening will also mark the conclusion of the Oklahoma Civil Rights Trail Grant Program, which supported projects across the state to preserve and share Oklahoma’s civil rights history. Tulsa native Caleb Gayle is an award-winning journalist and the author of Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State and We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power. A professor at Northeastern University in Boston, he is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State (Riverhead Books, 2025), has received numerous accolades and was longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. The title earned the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize and the Oklahoma Book Award for Nonfiction. The Oklahoma Historical Society recognized Black Moses with the E. E. Dale Award for Outstanding Book on Oklahoma History.