W. Tate Brady
| Wyatt Tate Brady | |
|---|---|
Wyatt Tate Brady
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| Born | January 20, 1870 Forest City, Missouri |
| Died | August 29, 1925 (age 55) Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Cause of death | Suicide, self-inflicted bullet to the head |
| Resting place | Oaklawn Cemetery, Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Occupation | Merchant, Entrepreneur, Politician |
| Known for | Tulsa Founder, Member of Oklahoma Bar Association |
| Spouse(s) | Rachel Davis |
| Children | Two daughters Two sons |
Wyatt Tate Brady (January 20, 1870 – August 29, 1925) was an American merchant, politician, and a founder of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Brady was born in Forest City, Missouri, in 1870. His family moved to Nevada, Missouri when he was 12, where he eventually took a job at a shoe store. Here, he was the victim of a robbery. In 1890, at the age of 20, Brady headed for Creek Nation, Indian Territory, to seek his fortune in the as-yet-unfounded Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1895, Brady married Rachel Davis, who was part Cherokee. After the marriage, Brady was adopted into the Cherokee tribe and became a strong advocate for their tribal claims against Washington. Together they had two daughters and two sons.
On January 18, 1898, Brady and other prominent businessmen signed the charter to incorporate Tulsa, thereby making it a city. Following the 1901 discovery of the Red Fork oil field, Brady built the Brady Hotel in 1903, hoping to take advantage of the oil boom by providing a hotel for oil executives and other traveling businessmen. It also served as a meeting ground for the Democratic Party. Active in politics, he was named to the Democratic National Committee in 1907, and backed anti-Klan candidate Jack Walton in 1922 gubernatorial election.
Brady was known for hiring black people to work in his hotels and other businesses. Mabel B. Little, a survivor of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 and once employed by Brady, writes in her book Fire on Mount Zion: My Life and History as a Black Woman in America: "Another man, Mr. Tate Brady had good feelings for black people. He hired several black boys as porters. But he told them up front, "Listen, boys: I'm gonna train you so you can get your own businesses someday."
Brady was identified as one of the organizers behind the Tulsa Outrage of 1917, in which members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were tarred and feathered by the black-robed Knights of Liberty, a short-lived group associated with the Ku Klux Klan. All 17 members of the IWW identified Brady as the man who applied the tar and feathers.
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