In the late 1840s, Zack Foreman Sr. was born to Jerry and Rhodie Foreman, joining his parents as one of 20 individuals enslaved by Cherokee George Gunter in Indian Territory. Like the Southern states, the Cherokee Nation permitted the enslavement of African Americans and allied with the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Following emancipation, Foreman Sr. and his fellow Cherokee freedmen faced limited economic opportunities. However, they soon gained a significant advantage over other Black people in the South: access to free land. After the Civil War, the Cherokee Nation was compelled to renegotiate its relationship with the U.S. government, resulting in land grants to those formerly enslaved by Cherokee citizens.
An 1866 treaty granted “all the rights of native Cherokees” to the formerly enslaved, including the right to claim and use public land. This access to land allowed the Cherokee freedmen to prosper. By 1880, over two-thirds of Cherokee Black male heads of household owned their own farms, a figure that rose to over 80 percent by 1900.
Legend has it that Zack Sr. in his capacity of a Freedman was working in the capacity of a drover on a short cattle drive from Muldrow to the area of East Fort Smith (where Moffett is today and one of the heifers came up lame.
The trail boss was going to shoot the animal Zack Sr, asked for the animal in lieu of part of his pay. He tied the animal to a scrub tree and on the way back the following evening he then discovered the cow has pregnant.
He transformed a single abandoned sick cow into a herd of 400 by 1880, founded the town of Foreman, and facilitated the construction of a rail line to the town.
He also owned a cotton gin and general store. Each August, Foreman and his wife hosted a celebratory picnic, where they were honored as king and queen and paraded through town on matching horses.
Such economic and social advancement was rare in the South, where only a fifth of Black male heads of household owned their homes in 1900. The Cherokee freedmen invested in their children’s education, despite limited funding for Black schools. By 1900, adult Cherokee freedmen were more literate than their Southern counterparts, and their children were more likely to attend school and achieve higher literacy rates.
The Foreman family exemplified this educational success. Roscoe Foreman was appointed postmaster in 1914, and his brother Zack Foreman Jr. became a professional baseball player for the Kansas City Monarchs, known for his college education, flashy cars, and gambling.
However, the benefits of Cherokee citizenship eventually became a double-edged sword.
The 1898 Curtis Act initiated the allotment process in Indian Territory, leading to the dissolution of tribal governments and the redistribution of land.
This process transferred much of the Cherokee land to noncitizens, and the freedmen, including Foreman Sr., were affected. He lost land during allotment, reducing his wealth, though probate records show he still had a substantial estate of $12,500 at his death in 1916, equivalent to $165,000 today.
While we do not know Foreman Sr.'s views on General Sherman’s efforts to provide land to the formerly enslaved, it is evident he valued the Union’s victory and the economic opportunities it brought. He and his wife named one of their sons W.T. Sherman Foreman, reflecting their appreciation for Sherman’s role in defeating the Confederacy and improving the status of the formerly enslaved.
When Zack Foreman Sr. passed away, he left a substantial estate to his sons, Zack Jr. and Roscoe. Zack Jr., with aspirations of becoming a professional pitcher, found his way to the Kansas City Monarchs, the premier team in the Negro Baseball League.
The exact path that led him to the Monarchs remains a topic of debate among historians.
One theory suggests that Zack Jr. served a brief stint in the Army, possibly with the 25th Infantry, and joined the ranks of players like Bullet Rogan and Dobie Moore who transitioned to professional baseball after World War I. Another account claims that Zack Jr. was discovered by J.L. Wilkinson, the owner of a diverse barnstorming team, during an exhibition game in Tulsa in 1919.
Wilkinson, a Kansas City businessman and one of the founders of the Negro Baseball League in 1920, reportedly remembered Zack Jr. from the Tulsa game. The Monarchs’ inaugural roster included players from both the “League of Nations” and the 25th Infantry Wreckers, adding to the mystery of Zack Jr.'s recruitment.
What is known is that before Zack Jr. joined up with the Monarchs, he purchased a 1919 Locomobile Model 48, which sold for $10,000 at the time. That is roughly the equivalent of $193,000 in 2024 dollars.
By January 1920, Zack Jr. had returned to Foreman and married a schoolteacher, mirroring his father’s life. That June, he played several games for the Monarchs in the Negro National League but did not complete the season.
In 1921, he became a semi-regular pitcher, finishing the season with a 7-4 record and a 4.23 ERA. Known for his control rather than strikeouts, Zack Jr. was a "soft tosser" on the mound.
In July 1921, Zack’s cousin Sylvester Foreman joined the Monarchs as a catcher and went on to have a decade-long career in the Negro leagues. Zack Jr.'s last game with the Monarchs was on August 6, 1921, where he struggled against the Chicago Giants, giving up 11 hits and eight runs over eight innings.
Whether due to injury or release, Zack Jr. returned to Foreman by September 17, 1921. That night, he joined a poker game at his father’s gin house. about a mile and a half from Foreman.
In the early hours, a dispute erupted, leading to a fatal confrontation with John Foye, a fellow player. Foye, armed with a knife, threatened Zack Jr., who drew a pistol in response. Foye and his brother-in-law fled, but Foye ambushed Zack Jr. outside, shooting him in the back of the head.
Zack Jr. died within two hours, just yards from his father’s cotton gin. A sheriff’s posse captured Foye after a lengthy chase. Following several trials and appeals, Foye was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison.
Upon learning of Zack Jrs. passing, a Chicago sportswriter penned the following:
“News reaches this office that Zack Foreman is dead. The letter does not state the cause. Zack, the fans will remember, was with the Monarchs this summer. He and his brother own a whole town down in Oklahoma. Both have money. Zack purchased a Locomobile recently. One day when he was playing in Kansas City he handed Rube Foster a small package and asked him to hold it for a minute. Some one brushed against Rube and the package fell to the ground and broke open. Rube noticed some money and wondered what was coming off. Zack was gone so long Rube opened the package to fix it up right and here is what the big fellow found in what he was holding: Twenty-one hundred dollars in $1 bills and seven $50 bills. When Zack returned Foster told him to let him know the next time because he (Foster) did not want to be responsible for any such sum as that. Zack waved his hand and said, ‘Oh, that’s a small amount.’ And some fans think all ball players are broke.”
--Frank Young, Chicago Defender, October 8, 1921
Foreman is now considered a "ghost town" although other than a few foundations and remaining half walls of older buildings,. there is nothing really there for the ghosts to haunt.
When you talk to the locals in the area of the intersections of County Road 4710 and 4711, none of them (at least among the ones we spoke with) had even heard of the Foreman family and to person said they "lived in Redlands".
But if you want to get to know the Foreman family, take a quiet drive to the Centerpoint Cemetery, located just a few pastures over from where Zack Jr. saved a lame cow and started a mini-Sequoyah County dynasty.
They're all there. Zack, both Senior and Junior, Roscoe. all their wives and various other kinfolk, living in the shadows of aging cedars as old as the Foreman legacy.
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