{{Short description|American historian and citizen journalist (1969–2015)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Lee Roy Chapman | image = | caption = Chapman c. 2011 | birth_date = {{birth date|1969|3|31}} | birth_place = San Angelo, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2015|10|8|1969|3|31}} | death_place = Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. | occupation = Historian of Tulsa, Oklahoma | known_for = Center for Public Secrets, ''The Nightmare of Dreamland'' }}
'''Lee Roy Chapman''' (March 31, 1969 – October 8, 2015) was an American public historian, citizen journalist, activist, and artist whose research reshaped contemporary understanding of Tulsa, Oklahoma's racial history.
==Early life== Chapman was born in San Angelo, Texas, to Lee Roy Chapman Jr. and Susan Lee (Smith) Chapman and moved to Tulsa when he was about four years old.<ref name=ijnet>{{cite web |last=Eaton |first=Kristi |title=A citizen journalist's legacy lives on: Telling Tulsa's hidden secrets |url=https://ijnet.org/en/story/citizen-journalists-legacy-lives-telling-tulsas-hidden-secrets |website=International Journalists’ Network |date=22 January 2021 |access-date=16 May 2025}}</ref> Largely self-taught, he honed screen printing skills and developed a passion for locating obscure artifacts that documented Oklahoma's counter-histories.<ref name=frontier>{{cite web |last=Branstetter |first=Ziva |title=Lee Roy Chapman remembered as 'tenacious' truth teller |website=The Frontier |date=13 October 2015 |url=https://www.readfrontier.org/friends-remember-lee-roy-chapman-as-truth-teller-dedicated-historian/ |access-date=16 May 2025}}</ref>
In June 1989, when Chapman was 20, his mother died in a murder–suicide in Tulsa.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated or generic "Staff"--> |title=Two Tulsans Dead in Homicide-Suicide |work=Tulsa World |date=29 June 1989 |url=https://tulsaworld.com/archive/two-tulsans-dead-in-homicide-suicide/article_779a9433-1afc-5f27-ab26-2af000fbbf40.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=23 September 2025}}</ref>{{clarify|date=October 2025|reason=1) was she the murder victim or the perpetrator 2) what was her connection to the other dead person}}
In the early 1990s, Chapman moved to Austin, Texas where he learned to screen print with artist Frank Kozik.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}
==Career== ===Investigative writing=== Chapman began working with This Land Press and its founding editor, Michael Paul Mason in April 2010. His first project entailed the research for an issue of its namesake magazine, ''This Land'', devoted to ''The White Dove Review'', a poetry journal founded by Tulsa poet Ron Padgett.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Joshua |last=Kline |title=The White Dove Review |magazine=This Land |date=2024-11-18 |orig-date=1 November 2010 |url=https://thepickup.com/the-white-dove-review |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-10-27 |via=thepickup.com}}</ref>
As a contributing editor of ''This Land'', Chapman published ''The Nightmare of Dreamland: Tate Brady and the Battle for Greenwood'' in 2011, revealing Tulsa founder W. Tate Brady's affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan and role in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.<ref name=CfPS>{{cite web |title=About the Center |url=https://www.centerforpublicsecrets.org/about |website=Center for Public Secrets |access-date=16 May 2025}}</ref> The article prompted the Tulsa City Council's 2013 decision to rename Brady Street, as well as the Brady Arts District's decision to rebrand as the Tulsa Arts District.<ref name=ijnet/> On the District he wrote:{{blockquote|Today, the Brady Arts District is the focal point of multi-million dollar developments involving local organizations such as the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture, the University of Tulsa, Gilcrease Museum, Philbrook Museum, and the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa. Local businesses also thrive in the district: numerous bars and restaurants, the family-owned Cain's Ballroom (which once served as Brady's garage), and the Tulsa Violin Shop, to name a few. A large new ballpark separates the Brady district and the Greenwood area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chapman |first=Lee Roy |date=2023-08-23 |title=The Nightmare of Dreamland: Tate Brady and The Tulsa Outrage |url=https://www.centerforpublicsecrets.org/post/the-nightmare-of-dreamland-tate-brady-and-the-tulsa-outrage |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=CfPS}}</ref>}}
In 2013, Chapman and Mason wrote the article "Subterranean Psychonaut", about Gordon Todd Skinner, a government operative and a central figure in the world's largest LSD bust, which would be Chapman's last contribution to ''This Land''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mason |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Paul Mason |date=2025-03-15 |title=The Psychonaut Files |url=https://psychonautfiles.substack.com/about}}</ref>
===Center for Public Secrets=== Chapman began assembling what would later become the Center for Public Secrets (CfPS) in the late 1990s,<ref name=frontier/> formally launching it in 2008 as a repository for "hidden, neglected and misunderstood" Oklahoma history.<ref name=CfPS/> CfPS curates exhibitions, podcasts and a digital library of artifacts; items Chapman located now reside in institutions such as the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and Yale University.<ref name=CfPS/>
===Other projects=== Beyond archival work, Chapman produced documentaries and guerrilla art installations. He also appeared in public forums.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bates |first=Michael |date=2015-10-20 |title=Lee Roy Chapman curriculum vitae |url=https://www.batesline.com/archives/2015/10/lee-roy-chapman-curriculum-vitae.html |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=CfPS}}</ref> Chapman was involved in the antiquarian book trade and managed Oak Tree Books in Tulsa. After his death, the bookstore closed in 2016, but it was reopened in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 August 2025 |title=Oak Tree Books History |url=https://oaktreebookstulsa.com/history |access-date=6 August 2025 |website=Oak Tree Books Tulsa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Reeves |first=Z.B |date=9 April 2025 |title=The Resurrection Of Oak Tree Books |url=https://thepickup.com/the-resurrection-of-oak-tree-books |access-date=6 August 2025 |work=The Pickup}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Chapman died by suicide at his Tulsa residence on October 8, 2015; he was 46.<ref name=frontier/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Egner |first1=Jeremy |title=Sterlin Harjo Isn't Afraid of the Sophomore Slump |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/arts/television/sterlin-harjo-the-lowdown.html |access-date=October 6, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=September 23, 2025}}</ref> A memorial service at Cain's Ballroom drew hundreds of admirers. The Center for Public Secrets opened a physical space in 2020, continuing his mission to train "history-recovery specialists" and challenge dominant narratives about Tulsa.<ref name=ijnet/>
He is the inspiration for the main character Lee Raybon in the FX series ''The Lowdown'', played by Ethan Hawke.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Carney |first1=Mark |last2=Chesser |first2=Alicia |date=15 May 2025 |title=After He Was Chicago Pope, And Before He Was Pope-Pope, He Was Tulsa Pope |url=https://thepickup.com/after-he-was-chicago-pope-and-before-he-was-pope-pope-he-was-tulsa-pope |access-date=24 May 2025 |work=The Pickup}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Lee Roy}} Category:1969 births Category:2015 deaths Category:21st-century American historians Category:American alternative journalists Category:Historians from Oklahoma Category:Tulsa race massacre Category:2015 suicides