Twine, William H.

Twine was born in Richmond, KY, the son of William and Matilda A. Twine. According to the U.S. Census, the family was living in Xenia, OH, in 1880 and William H. was enrolled in school. He would become the first African American to take the law examination in Limestone County, Texas and was admitted to the Texas bar in 1888. William H. practiced law in Texas until 1891 then moved to Oklahoma to practice law in the Indian Territory, which he did until 1897. He was the first African American lawyer to carry a capital case from the U.S. Court (N. Dist. Indian Territory) to the U.S. Supreme Court. Twine was editor of the first African American newspaper in the Indian Territory - the Muskogee Cimeter - beginning in 1897. There was never a lynching in Muskogee County. Oklahoma became a state in 1907. For more see Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915; and William Henry Twine in the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture [online].