Abstract Boley's history for African Americans are stories filled with triumphs and challenges, specifically autonomy, slavery and Jim Crow. In this paper I address their past and consider a contemporary identity that incorporates history, kinship, church and spirituality. Through this collective perspective, black Boley residents claim to "live in Boley, America" and reflect an identity that unsuspends them from the past and speaks to their agency and community in Boley, Oklahoma.