by G E Barr

Created on: January 22, 2010

The state name, 'Oklahoma', was derived from the Choctaw language and it literally means 'red people'.  It was Choctaw Chief, Allen Wright who suggested it. 

The star on the state seal of Oklahoma, symbolizes the five civilized tribes. It is an Osage warrior's buckskin shield which graces the Oklahoma flag.

The history of Oklahoma is rich with contradiction and diversity.  Two civil war battles were fought at Cabin Creek, Oklahoma, before Indian Territory became a state.   Most of the tribes within Indian Territory (Oklahoma) supported the Confederacy, and many of them owned slaves themselves.

At one time, in Fairfax, Oklahoma, the most eligible bachelor was an Osage Indian man named Alexander Joseph Tall Chief.  His daughter, Maria Tall Chief became America's Prima Ballerina back in 1947.  Her daughter, Elise Paschen, became an award winning poet.

Lake Texhoma is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States and lies in the center of the southern border of Oklahoma and Texas.  If you are in Oklahoma and hanker for some lake fun, the town of Durant is your best entrance.

Hoping to avert a secession, or division of the American continent, Indian Territory was opened to white settlers, April 22, 1889.  These white people were opportunists from every walk of life.  The original hope was that many of  these white ruffians would mingle with the Indians and produce an intelligent,  calmer, more well mannered community.  A balance of sorts. 

The opening of Indian Territory was an expansion of the United States territory.  The results of the American Civil War was evidence that divisions of the United States would not be tolerated.  There was no way that an Indian Territory was going to be allowed for long. 

The United States of America is a diverse country and that always was it's true meaning.  That Oklahoma resisted that, is evidenced by the fact that it did not become a state until 1907.  Those spirited white settlers were some onery and stubborn folks and just try to get an Indian to do something he doesn't want to. 

There are ways of doing things in Oklahoma.  Trying to change some things is like trying to roll back the Pacific Ocean and that fabric is woven on basic common sense of human nature and animal husbandry.

There is culture in Oklahoma which tickles the higher fancies, it just doesn't rock any canoes across that placid surface.

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