Reverend Augustus C. Roker

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Reverend Augustus C. Roker served in the Episcopal Missionary District of Oklahoma from 1910 - 1932. He was the longest serving Black Episcopal priest in the Missionary District. Dean Roker moved to Oklahoma due to Bishop Brooke's desire to create a Black Episcopal mission in Muskogee. The mission, St. Philip's, had no land or building but Roker was not deterred. He rented the Masonic Hall and after two years, rented Bailey’s Hall until enough money was saved to buy land. Reverend Roker believed in recruiting men for confirmation as a means of establishing a committed, growing congregation. He also believed … continued below

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This photograph is part of the collection entitled: Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma and was provided by the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma to The Gateway to Oklahoma History, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 12 times. More information about this photograph can be viewed below.

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Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma serves as the corporate and ministerial memory in Oklahoma. It is the primary historical repository of The Episcopal Church in Oklahoma’s mission, ministries, parishes, congregations, and people.

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Description

Reverend Augustus C. Roker served in the Episcopal Missionary District of Oklahoma from 1910 - 1932. He was the longest serving Black Episcopal priest in the Missionary District. Dean Roker moved to Oklahoma due to Bishop Brooke's desire to create a Black Episcopal mission in Muskogee. The mission, St. Philip's, had no land or building but Roker was not deterred. He rented the Masonic Hall and after two years, rented Bailey’s Hall until enough money was saved to buy land. Reverend Roker believed in recruiting men for confirmation as a means of establishing a committed, growing congregation. He also believed a neighborhood kindergarten school would recruit families to the church. In the evenings, the Reverend visited homes and churches recruiting other Black families to St. Philip’s. Dean Roker was ordained by Bishop Thurston on June 16,1915. Reverend Roker was a priest at St. Philip’s for sixteen years, even through difficult times. His success was partly determined by his policy of recruiting Muskogee's upper-class families to the church. St. Philip’s would not have become such a growing, stable Episcopal Church in the late teens and early twenties without the foundation of Reverend Roker’s dedication and hard work. Another Black Episcopal mission in 1918 was being established in Tulsa, and Reverend Roker was also assigned to serve the new mission. Although Reverend Roker was busy serving two Black missions, he also led occasional services at the Industrial Institute for the Deaf, Blind and Orphans of the Colored Race in Taft, Oklahoma, and the Tullahassee Manual Labor School, Tullahassee, Oklahoma. In 1926 Reverend Roker became the vicar of The Chapel of the Redeemer, Oklahoma City. Redeemer was the oldest Black church in the state but did not have the monetary stability of Muskogee and Tulsa. By 1928, there were strains of discontent between the Reverend, the congregation and the bishop. In 1932, he resigned from his position and returned to Arkansas. Later in life, the Reverend and his wife moved back to Oklahoma and became members of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. Occasionally Reverend Roker worked as a supply priest under Rt. Reverend Chilton Powell. He died in 1965 and is buried in Washington Cemetery, Muskogee.

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Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

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Added to The Gateway to Oklahoma History

  • April 19, 2023, 2:14 p.m.

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  • May 11, 2023, 11:28 a.m.

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Reverend Augustus C. Roker, photograph, Date Unknown; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2098739/: accessed September 15, 2026), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma.

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