Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

Choctaw Statesman Chief Allen Wright.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE CHOCTAW NATION.
As railroads were built, more non-Indians,
including cattlemen, settled in Oklahoma.
Ethnic groups clustered around mineral
wealth. The coal fields attracted Italian,
Russian, Polish, Irish, and Welsh immigrants.
German Mennonites from Russia created their
own communities such as Corn, Colony, and
Bessie. Czechs founded Yukon and Prague.
Several all-black towns were founded by
freedmen of the Five Tribes or later arrivals
looking for economic opportunities. Even
the name Oklahoma comes from American
Indian influence on the region, from the
Choctaw phrase okla humma, literally meaning
red people. Choctaw Chief Allen Wright
suggested the name in 1866 during treaty
negotiations with the federal government.
The heart of central Oklahoma was opened
for general settlement by the unique
Oklahoma Land Run of 1889. Tens of
thousands of home seekers lined up at the
four boundaries of the land. Historian Angie
Debo wrote, “Men still like to tell how they
drove a stake in the prairie, feverishly located
cornerstones, and rode to the land office to
record their choices. By nightfall, town sites
were laid out, lots staked, and tents were
set up.”
When the sun set, the solitude that had
marked these parcels of land for eons was
broken by the cheerful confusion of towns
that grew by the hour and the campfires of
homesteaders. Within days, banks, newspapers,
stores, restaurants, and law and
doctor offices opened. For a year, the surging
frontier had no organized government until
Congress, in 1890, organized the Territory of
Oklahoma, and added the Panhandle to the
new territory.
The people began clamoring for statehood.
At first, it was thought that Indian Territory
might become the State of Sequoyah and
Oklahoma Territory might be the State of
Oklahoma. Leaders of the Five Tribes
supported the formation of two states. But,
because of political reasons, President
Theodore Roosevelt insisted that the two
territories be combined into one state.
O K L A H O M A : A S t o r y T h r o u g h H e r P e o p l e
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