Retired schoolteacher Alma L. Harper has been named Ms. Heritage Day, 2024.
Perhaps there was no better choice for the title, as her life and her ancestry is brimming with history – in addition to her African American heritage she has deep roots in Native American history and can trace that branch of her family tree back to the Trail of Tears.
Alma is a teacher, historian, genealogist, poet and community activist who has written numerous articles on Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Native American History Month.
She has been deeply involved in a wide variety of subjects and issues throughout her life: besides teaching she works with the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church, the NAACP and countless other organizations that keep her active and young.
Originally from Pierce, a small community west of Checotah where she attended high school, Alma graduated from Northeastern State University and began her teaching career in Kansas City, Mo.
In 1981, she and her husband Rev. Samuel Harper, retired pastor of the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church, moved to Eufaula.
She taught school in Checotah; was a tutor at the Creek Nation Dormitory in Eufaula for 20 years.
Her list of activities is a long one: member of the Sulphur Springs church, Women’s Missionary Society President; Primary Sunday School Teacher; choir member and secretary.
Also, president of the Collate District Association Minister’s Wives Conference; president of the Collate District Singing Convention; past Collate District Reporter and Past Collate District Queen.
Also, she is the past 3rd vice president of the Ministers’ and Wives’ Conference and a member of the Ministers’ Wives’ Prayer Group.
Alma is a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society; secretary of the McIntosh County NAACP; a member of the National NAACP; as well as a member of the Gardenia Art Club, the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women’s Club and the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.
She is a tribal member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and of the Eufaula Indian Community.
In addition, she is the organizer and president of the Warrior School Restoration Organization and has been instrumental in establishing a weekly lunch program in the Warrior Community; an annual Black History Month Seminar; an annual Dr. Martin L. King Community Prayer Breakfast and an annual Curtis Eugene Woodfork Turkey Shoot Alma is also a member of the Friends of Eufaula Memorial Library and participates in its writer’s club, where she writes poetry about a variety of subjects, including her colorful family members.
She also wrote a poem about Gee’s Quilts and traveled to that historic community in Alabama and shared her poem with residents.
The famed quilts, many valued at over $1,200, are created in the tiny community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, founded in the early 1800s on a plantation owned by Joseph Gee.
The slaves on the plantation created quilts influenced by their African heritage.
The community became widely known when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paid it a visit in 1966.
