It was against this backdrop that many blacks began to flee the South bringing their talents, skills, training, and labor with them. Slaves and their descendants had tilled the soil; they were the craftsmen: carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths and horsemen. Blacks were also the tribal professionals serving as doctors, grocers, interpreters, and other occupations not fashioned by the Native Americans. Tuskegee Institute and other land grant and northern schools had trained black doctors, lawyers, teachers and others in their professions. It would not be too inaccurate to describe early blacks that settled in Oklahoma as different people, a mixed breed of humanity.