Happy Birthday Sooner State

Friday, November 16 the great State of Oklahoma turns 100 years old. This is a good time to reflect on the only state to have its own Rogers & Hammerstein musical. It sometimes seems like absolutely no one who’s never lived there understands the first thing about the place. The most important thing to internalize (especially on our occasion) is how incredibly young it is historically. Oklahoma is basically a Twentieth-Century place. The only analogue in the non-US developed world might (might) be Australia. All of the great struggles of western history were resolved by the time it was settled. Slavery was long gone (although due to the activity of the resident Indians, and its location, it’s considered aligned with the Old South,) the US Federal government was ascendant, railroads and infrastructure had already linked the entire North American continent, and as the last piece of the Manifest Destiny puzzle there was already an assumption of the overall union as a whole rather than parts. This somewhat colors the identity.

It’s worth remembering that the state started as a Federal protectorate. When Andy Jackson evicted the Indians (n.b. in OK that’s what they call themselves. Native American is apparently a term only used by guilty white people,) they needed some place to store them, and this leftover part of the Louisiana Purchase no one wanted anyway. Contrary to some misconceptions, Indian Territory was not “stolen” from the Indians. Georgia and Alabama were – I.T. is just where they were warehoused against their will. This federally-administered origin gave a permanent outward focus to the place. While certain American places (Virginia, New England, and especially Texas,) thought of themselves as organic, self-contained entities, the settlers of Indian Territory harbored no such illusions. They were vassals of the great American project, and eventually hoped to someday attach themselves to the Mother State.

So, summarizing our story, Oklahoma started out late in the game and dependant on the already-developed United States. This inherent outward focus (not to mention lots of bad press during the Depression,) makes for a psyche of definition-by-comparison. Couple this with the fierce independence of a people that would settle the last outpost of the frontier (where else did you think Huck Finn was going?) and you get the distinctive character of the place to this day. “We know we’re not highly thought of,” (rightly or wrongly,) “but nobody’s going to push us around,” (although, if we wanted to copy, say, Ohio, that’d be all right.)

However, this odd origin is not without its silver lining. Starting post-railroad certainly makes for a more efficient communication / distribution across the board. A sparse population of independent stakeholders none of whom have many years of security to lean on makes for the most respectful people on the continent. Think Texas with none of the swagger (and a great deal more apology.) Culturally, geographically, and historically it’s a place that’s really neither fish nor fowl, and still trying to define itself in context of its neighbors that got a head start.

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