We Refuse to Forget

A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power

By: Caleb Gayle

Narrated by: Caleb Gayle

“An important part of American history told with a clear-eyed and forceful brilliance.” —National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson

“We Refuse to Forget reminds readers, on damn near every page, that we are collectively experiencing a brilliance we've seldom seen or imagined…We Refuse to Forget is a new standard in book-making.” —Kiese Laymon, author of the bestselling Heavy: An American Memoir

A landmark work of untold American history that reshapes our understanding of identity, race, and belonging

In We Refuse to Forget, award-winning journalist Caleb Gayle tells the extraordinary story of the Creek Nation, a Native tribe that two centuries ago both owned slaves and accepted Black people as full citizens. Thanks to the efforts of Creek leaders like Cow Tom, a Black Creek citizen who rose to become chief, the U.S. government recognized Creek citizenship in 1866 for its Black members. Yet this equality was shredded in the 1970s when tribal leaders revoked the citizenship of Black Creeks, even those who could trace their history back generations—even to Cow Tom himself.

Why did this happen? How was the U.S. government involved? And what are Cow Tom’s descendants and other Black Creeks doing to regain their citizenship? These are some of the questions that Gayle explores in this provocative examination of racial and ethnic identity. By delving into the history and interviewing Black Creeks who are fighting to have their citizenship reinstated, he lays bare the racism and greed at the heart of this story. We Refuse to Forget is an eye-opening account that challenges our preconceptions of identity as it shines new light on the long shadows of white supremacy and marginalization that continue to hamper progress for Black Americans.

©2022 Caleb Gayle (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“An illuminating look at racial dynamics within [the] Creek Nation…Sharp character sketches, incisive history lessons, and Gayle’s autobiographical reflections as a Jamaican American transplant to Oklahoma make this a powerful portrait of how white supremacy ‘divides marginalized groups and pits them against each other.’” —Publishers Weekly (starred)

"Caleb Gayle's rich and important book reminds us that American history is more surprising, terrible, and, yes, inspiring than we often care to know. The history he weaves is deeply relevant to today's movements for racial justice and Indigenous rights, as well as to the enduring and quintessential question, ‘who is an American?’ I'm grateful for the painstaking work Gayle has done to answer this question for all of us." —Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us

“Caleb Gayle—as a journalist, the son of Jamaican immigrants, and a son of the country—has written a gripping history of the fully black and fully Creek citizens of the tribe who have struggled against both the Republic and the Creek Nation to secure their rightful place in both. He tells a complicated story of the past and in doing so sheds light on the ways our fantasies of race endure and are, gradually, being undone. A vital work. ” —David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

Excellent audiobook

Absolutely fascinating topic and great narration!! I’d highly recommend to anyone looking for a great read.

Making American History Real

Excellent research into the complex realities of American history. Caleb doesn’t gloss over any of the difficult topics. He does this without being “anti-American.” Everything about this book is explaining our history so that we can be better. Well done, interesting and informative

If Creek, yet Black, why you aren't still Creek?

I found this book difficult to follow. Gayle, who grew up in Oklahoma, came to understand that some people in the area who are Black are also Creek, yet no longer Creek. Through the many convolutions the United States made to define what made someone Black affected tribes who fully accepted their Black members as part of their Nation.

Through the history of Cow Tom, a man who had never been a slave, we learn that as the tribes were pushed westward, those members who had not been slaves as well as those who were slaves to the Creek stayed with the tribe, accepted as members of the tribe - voting with them, sharing, marrying, and holding positions of authority within the tribe. Cow Tom was a leader and a chief. helping to broker changes that bettered the tribe.

After the Civil War, they were still members of the tribe...until they weren't. What changed was an acceptance by a chief of the old blood rule laid out by the Dawes commission decades earlier. A chief in the 1970s saw that using this false idea of blood to determine race would be beneficial to the tribe. Now they were denied what had been theirs since before the Civil War.

That is a very rough idea of what WE REFUSE TO FORGET is about. It is also a story of identity and family history and a story that has never been brought to a fair treatment.

The author jumps around, never sticks with a topic for very long, and touches so briefly on other topics that the reader wonders why it was brought up in the first place. This led me to downrate the book along with the author's almost monotonous tone in his delivery. I agree with what he says but felt it was not as well done as it could have been. A history that is reflected in today seems to be a difficult story to relate, as it requires traveling back and forth through time.