The present Oklahoma State Flag adopted by the State Legislature in 1925, is Oklahoma's 14th flag. This shows a sky blue field with a central device: an Indian war shield of tan buckskin showing small crosses on the face -- the Indian design for stars -- and seven eagle feathers pendent for the edge of the shield. An Indian peace pipe (calumet) with a pipestone bowl and a tassel at the end of the pipestem lies on the shield; above the Indian peace pipe is an olive branch, the white man's emblem of peace. Underneath the shield or design in white letters is the word "Oklahoma."
Brief Oklahoma History
Evidence exists that native peoples traveled through Oklahoma as early as the last ice age, but the state's first permanent inhabitants settled in communities accentuated with mound-like structures near the Arkansas border between 850 and 1450 AD. Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado traveled through the state in 1541, but French explorers claimed the area in the 1700s and it remained under French rule until 1803, when all the French territory west of the Mississippi River was purchased by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase.
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
"End of the trail" By James Earle Fraser - Oklahoma City, OK
Cowboys drove cattle across the state in the late 19th century. Thousands of Native Americans, including those making up the "Five Civilized Tribes", were removed from their lands in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee and transported to Oklahoma in the 1830s. The area, already occupied by Osage and Quapaw tribes, was designated Indian Territory by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834. Fifteen tribes were given land within the territory in 1830, but by 1890, more than 30 tribes had been allocated federal land.
SOONERS
Major land runs, including the Land Run of 1889, were held for settlers on the hour that certain territories were opened to settlement. Usually, land was allocated to settlers on a first come, first served basis. Those who broke the rules by crossing the border into the territory before it was allowed, were said to have been crossing the border sooner, leading to the term sooners, which eventually became the state's official nickname. Delegations to make the territory into a state began near the turn of the 19th century, when the Curius Act abolished all tribal jurisdiction in Indian Territory. Failed attempts to create an all-Indian state named Oklahoma, and a later attempt to create an all-Indian state named Sequoyah failed, but the Sequoyah Statehood Convention of 1905 eventually laid the groundwork for the Oklahoma Statehood Convention, which took place two years later. On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was established as the 46th state in the Union.
- Its name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people," and is known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State.
- With 3,579,212 residents in 2006, it is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state by land area.
- Oklahoma's state wildflower the Indian Blanket is red with yellow tips. It symbolizes the state's scenic beauty as well as the its Indian heritage.
- Formed from Indian Territory on November 16, 1907. Its people are known as Oklahomans, and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
- In 2005, the Oklahoma state senate decided that their state fruit would be the Strawberry. The strawberry bill was proposed by a group of fifth graders when they discovered that Oklahoma did not have a state fruit.
- Most of the state lies in an area known as Tornado Alley characterized by frequent interaction between cold and warm air masses producing severe weather.
- Tulsa has been credited as the birthplace of Route 66 and the home of Western Swing music.
- Oklahoma is the fifth-largest producer of crude oil in the nation.
- Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's primary economic anchors, with nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans living in their metropolitan statistical areas.
- Bob Dunn a musician from Beggs invented the first electric guitar 1935.
- It is located on a confluence of three major American cultural regions and historically served as a route for cattle drives, a destination for southern settlers, and a government-sanctioned territory for Native Americans.
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In an attempt to scalp an enemy, Chief Pawhuska once pulled at a man's white hair. The man's wig came off in his hand. The chief kept this powerful "magic" the rest of his life and took the name meaning "white hair."
Tulsa
A small town near the banks of the Arkansas River in 1901, Tulsa's first oil well, named Sue Bland No. 1, was established that year. By 1905, the discovery of the large Glenn Pool nearby prompted a rush of entrepreneurs to the area's growing number of oil fields. Tulsa's population swelled to over 140,000 between 1901 and 1930.
For most of the 20th century, the city held the nickname "Oil Capital of the World" and played a major role as one of the most important hubs for the American oil industry.
Part of the Bible Belt, widespread beliefs in evangelical Christianity make Oklahoma one of the most politically conservative states.
Oklahoma is part of a geographical region characterized by widespread beliefs in Biblical Christianity and Evangelical Protestantism known as the "Bible Belt." Spanning the Southeast and Midwest states, the area is known for politically and socially conservative views. Tulsa, the state's second largest city, home to Oral Roberts University, is considered an apex of the region and is known as one of the "buckles of the Bible Belt."
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The collections of Thomas Gilcrease are housed in the world-renowned Gilcrease Museum of Tulsa, which also holds the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art and artifacts of the American West. The museum's charm, beauty and art collections draw thousands of visitors from around the world to the hills just northwest of downtown Tulsa for a glimpse into the past. The Museum also offers an unparalleled collection of Native American art and artifacts, as well as historical manuscripts, documents and maps.
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the "unassigned lands" was opened for settlement in an event called "The Oklahoma Land Run".
Some 10,000 homesteaders settled what is now downtown Oklahoma City, creating a tent city in a single day. Within 10 years the population had doubled in what became a permanent settlement and the future capital of Oklahoma.
The spacious lobby of Oklahoma City’s Skirvin Hotel became a place where oil tycoons met politicians after it was built in 1911. It also sat empty for nearly 20 years until February, 2007, when it reopened after a $55 million renovation as the Skirvin Hilton, complete with 29 hand-carved Bacchus busts, accented by gold-leafing, that peer from the hotel’s pillars.
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Oklahoma City was the site of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, the largest act of terrorism on American soil prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in American history.
The Suvivor Tree on the grounds of
the Oklahoma City National Memorial
The blast, which killed 168, became international news and brought to the forefront of the world's mind a city that was little known outside of the region previously. The citizens of Oklahoma City rallied around each other, and the attack served to unite the city as it began a new era of revival.
Oklahoma!
(click on title for music)
Will Rogers was first an Indian, a cowboy then a national figure. He now is a legend.
Born in 1879 on a large ranch in the Cherokee Nation near what later would become Oologah, Oklahoma, Will Rogers was taught by a freed slave how to use a lasso as a tool to work Texas Longhorn cattle on the family ranch.
His hard-earned skills won him jobs trick roping in wild west shows and on the vaudeville stages where, soon, he started telling small jokes.
Quickly, his wise cracks and folksy observations became more prized by audiences than his expert roping. He became recognized as being a very informed and smart philosopher--telling the truth in very simple words so that everyone could understand.
Will Rogers was the star of Broadway and 71 movies of the 1920s and 1930s; a popular broadcaster; besides writing more than 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns and befriending Presidents, Senators and Kings.
During his lifetime, he traveled around the globe three times-- meeting people, covering wars, talking about peace and learning everything possible.
Inside himself, Will Rogers remained a simple Oklahoma cowboy. "I never met a man I didn't like," was his credo of genuine love and respect for humanity and all people everywhere.
Below are just a few of of the tributes and places named after or for Will Rogers.
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Micky Mantle, Paul Harvey & Jeane Kirkpatrick ....and of course, our favorite Oklahoman, Jim Robinson, founder and owner of FreeRepublic.com, the best conservative forum on the net.
Websites that provided graphics and information for this tribute...
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
Gilcrease Museum - The Museum of the Americas
Oklahoma State History and Information
Oklahoma www.ok.gov
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