Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

Right: Renowned Oklahoma artist Charles Banks Wilson’s portrait of Sequoyah is displayed
in the Oklahoma State Capitol.
COURTESY OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM AND RECREATION; PHOTOGRAPH BY FRED MARVEL.
Bottom, left: The Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Bottom, right: Sculpture of Will Rogers reading the Claremore Daily Progress in
Claremore, Oklahoma.
Will Rogers is generally acknowledged as Oklahoma’s favorite son.
A veteran of vaudeville, he starred in seventy-one movies, was the
highest paid movie star of his day, wrote more than 4,000 newspaper
columns, and was beloved by most Americans. When he and fellow
Oklahoman Wiley Post were killed in an airplane crash in Alaska in
1935, Rogers’ daily column was read by one-third of the nation’s
population. His statue, along with a statue of Cherokee educator
Sequoyah, appears in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol.
Oklahomans have changed the direction of American music.
Woody Guthrie, Charlie Christian, and Bob Wills created new styles
of music. Today, country music is dominated by Oklahoma artists
such as Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire,
Blake Shelton, and Toby Keith.
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