To: Lonesome in Massachussets
"It was never a slave state, never really had a major Black population. Probably has the highest percentage of American Indians in the country"
True on slavery, and OK does have a relatively large percentage of Indians (although I believe New Mexico and Alaska have higher percentages). But Oklahoma was settled mostly by Southerners in 1886 (it was the Indian Territory at the time, just one big reservation), is about 8% black (higher than Kentucky), and it's history from 1907 to today is not all that different from the rest of the South. And, you must admit, Oklahomans speak with a Southern twang and consider themselves Southern, and that's gotta count for something.
70 posted on
09/24/2003 1:12:50 PM PDT by
AuH2ORepublican
(Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
To: AuH2ORepublican
Some Oklahoma Indians fought on the Confederate side during the Civil War...and were punished for it afterwards by having some of their land taken away.
Oklahoma has 7.9% Native Americans, according to the 2000 census...one of the highest but below New Mexico (9.5%) and South Dakota (8.3%). Alaska has 15.6% "Native American/Alaska Native"
I think there were lots of people from all the surrounding states who entered Oklahoma at the time it was opened for settlement (1889 on)--Kansas, Texas, Arkansas. The 1890 census was lost in a fire, but the 1900 census would show state of birth for each person listed...so the information is there and maybe has been extracted from the records and analyzed.
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