Oklahoma | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Admitted to the Union | November 16, 1907 (46th) |
| Capital | Oklahoma City |
| Largest city | Oklahoma City |
| Government | |
| • Governor | C. Brad Henry (D) |
| • Upper house | {{{Upperhouse}}} |
| • Lower house | {{{Lowerhouse}}} |
| U.S. senators | James M. Inhofe (R) Thomas A. Coburn (R) |
| Population | |
• Total | 3,450,654 |
| • Density | 50.2/sq mi (19.4/km2) |
| Language | |
| • Official language | None |
| Latitude | 33°35'N to 37°N |
| Longitude | 94°29'W to 103°W |
Oklahoma is a state in the United States, lying mostly in the Southern Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands regions. The 46th state, Oklahoma ratified the Constitution in 1907. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is OK; while others abbreviate the state's name Okla. As of 2000, the population is 3,450,654. Prior to its statehood in 1907, Oklahoma was known as "Indian Territory." Oklahoma's name is derived from two Choctaw words, "okla" meaning people, and "humma" meaning red; literally meaning "red people." As the state's name implies, Oklahoma is also known as Oklahoma Native America. Oklahomans are proud of the state's strong Native American heritage. Oklahoma has the nation's second largest Native American population. Oklahoma's early history is forever tied to the "Trail of Tears", which was the forced journey of the Five Civilized Tribes from the southeastern United States to the then known "Indian Territory." As a testament to the state's western and Native American heritage, Oklahoma is the home of the world-renowned Gilcrease Museum, which houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West plus Native American art and artifacts and historical manuscripts, documents, and maps.
Today Oklahoma has a mostly Southwestern identity and is identified as being part of the "Great Southwest." The Congressional Quarterly report and national political parties place Oklahoma in the Southern United States. However, due to its geographic location, Oklahoma is privy to Southwestern, Midwestern, and Southern influences. This combination of regional influences is especially highlighted in Tulsa, Oklahoma's second largest city, which has a reputation for being a "cosmopolitan" city. The strongest Southern influence can be found in the state's southeastern region, which was settled by many who migrated from the Southern states. Since the Southern influence becomes less apparent as you move north and west of the state's southeastern region, Oklahoma is considered by most a Southwestern and not a Southern state.
Geography
Oklahoma is one of the six states on the Frontier Strip. It is bounded on the east by Arkansas and Missouri, on the north by Kansas and northwest by Colorado (both at 37°N), on the far west by New Mexico (at 103°W), and on the south and near-west by Texas. The panhandle's southern boundary is at 36.5°N, then turning due south along 100°W to the southern fork of the Red River), completing the round trip back to Arkansas.
Oklahoma City, with a population of 528,042 in the immediate city limits and 1.3 million in the metro area, is the capital and largest city. Tulsa is the second largest city, with 387,807 within the city limits and roughly 900,000 in the statistical metropolitan area (although the area of NE Oklahoma known as Green Country, or what locals refer to as the "Tulsa area," has well over 1 million people.)
Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state, with over one million surface areas of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.
Oklahoma's four main mountain ranges include the Ouachitas, Arbuckles, Wichitas, and the Kiamichis. In addition to several smaller ranges, Oklahoma also notably encompasses a portion of the Ozarks.
Oklahoma is the third largest natural gas-producing state in the nation.
Forests cover approximately 24% of Oklahoma.
Terrain Diversity
According to the EPA, Oklahoma has the most diverse terrain in the United States, calculated on a mile-per-mile basis.[citation needed] The state's topography generally changes from East to West and West to East, rather than North to South; oak and hickory mixed forest in the wetter and more mountainous eastern part of the state changes to savannah territory of the Central Oklahoma Cross Timbers with post oak and blackjack oak forests. In the western part of the state, the stereotypical semi-arid plains mesh with mesas and several small mountain ranges, with the state's highest point, 4,973 feet (1,515 m) Black Mesa, in the far western panhandle.
Oklahoma regions
There have been several schemes used to breakdown Oklahoma into regions.
The Oklahoma Tourism Department divides the state down into six "countries" for tourism promotion purposes: Red Carpet Country (Northwestern Oklahoma and The Panhandle), Great Plains Country (Southwestern Oklahoma), Frontier Country (Central Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area), Green Country (Northeastern Oklahoma, including the Tulsa Metropolitan area), Kiamichi Country (Southeastern Oklahoma), and Lake & Trail Country (South Central Oklahoma). These designations, however are historical and not the creations of the department.
Popular but "unofficial" regional designations include Green Country (most often used to refer to Northeastern Oklahoma but used by some to refer to all of Eastern Oklahoma), Little Dixie (Southeastern Oklahoma), Western Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Panhandle.
From an ecoregional perspective, Oklahoma is recognized by the EPA as having 11 different ecoregions (one of only four U.S. states to have more than 10 ecoregions). These ecoregions are: Western high plains, Southwestern Tablelands, Central Great Plains, Tall Grass Prairie, Cross Timbers, Caves & Prairie, Ozark Highlands, Ozark Forest, Hardwood Forest, Ouachita Mountains, and Cypress Swamps & Forests.
Oklahoma has some of the strongest thunderstorms in the entire world, because of the cold and warm airmasses colliding east of the Rocky Mountains, making the state the heart of Tornado Alley.
History
Pre-European Amerindian cultures and contact with Europeans
Oklahoma was inhabited by Native American tribes including the Kitikiti'sh (Wichita) Quapaw, Caddo and Osage. Descendants of these peoples still live in the state.
In the 16th century Spanish explorers became the first documented Europeans to visit the area (there is evidence to suggest that viking explorers passed through in the 6th century, but this has yet to be accepted widely by the scientific and historical community). Later, Oklahoma was part of the vast territorial swapping between European powers France and Spain.
Five Civilized Tribes
Oklahoma, as Indian Territory, served as the relocation area for the policy of Indian Removal started by Andrew Jackson in the 1830s; the end of the Cherokee Trail of Tears was Indian Territory. There were already many tribes living in the territory, along with whites and escaped slaves.
The Five Civilized Tribes, so named due to their early adaptations to Christianity and European clothing, technology, and trade, were not the only ones forced to Oklahoma. The Delaware from the northeast U.S., Kiowa, Comanche, and other nations were forced to move to Oklahoma.
The name Oklahoma comes from the language of the Choctaw people, who were removed from Mississippi to Indian Territory by the United States Government in the early to mid-1800s. "Oklahoma" is a combination of two Choctaw words: okla, meaning 'people' (as in the term Miliki okla, which means 'American people'), and homa (also spelled homma or humma) which means, among other things, 'red.' The name was suggested by Allen Wright, Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1866 to 1870.
The Five Civilized Tribes set up towns such as Tulsa, Tahlequah, and Muskogee, which became some of the larger towns in the state. They also brought their African slaves to Oklahoma, which added to African-American population in the region.
During the Civil War many tribes were internally split between the Confederates and the Union. However, in 1861 the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Quapaws, Senecas, Caddos, Wichitas, Osage Nation, and Shawnees all signed treaties of alliance with the Confederacy. Stand Watie fought several battles in Oklahoma.
Cowboys and Indians
After the American Civil War, in 1866, the federal government forced the tribes into new treaties. Most of the land in central and western Indian Territory was ceded to the government. Some of the land was given to other tribes, but the central part, the so-called Unassigned Lands, remained with the government. Another concession allowed railroads to cross Indian lands.
Furthermore the practice of slavery was outlawed. Some nations were integrated racially and otherwise with their slaves, but other nations were extremely hostile to the former slaves and wanted them exiled from their territory.
In the 1870s a movement began by people wanting to settle the government lands in the Indian Territory under the Homestead Act of 1862. They referred to the Unassigned Lands as Oklahoma and to themselves as Boomers.
In the 1880s, early settlers of the state's very sparsely populated Panhandle region tried to form the Cimarron Territory, but lost a lawsuit against the federal government, prompting a judge in Paris, Texas, to unintentionally create a moniker for the area. "That is land that can be owned by no man," the judge said, and after that the panhandle was referred to as No Man's Land until statehood arrived decades later.
In 1884, in United States v. Payne, the United States District Court in Topeka, Kansas, ruled that settling on the lands ceded to the government by the Indians under the 1866 treaties was not a crime. The government at first resisted but the Congress soon enacted laws authorizing settlement.
Congress passed the Dawes Act, or General Allotment Act, in 1887 requiring the government to negotiate agreements with the tribes to divide Indian lands into individual holdings. Under the allotment system, tribal lands left over would be surveyed for settlement by non-Indians. Following settlement, many whites accused Republican officials of giving preferential treatment to ex-slaves in land disputes.
Land runs
On March 231889, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation which opened up the two million acres (8,000 km²) of the Unassigned Lands for settlement on April 22nd of that year. It was to be the first of a number of land runs, but later land openings were conducted by means of a lottery due to widespread cheating - some of the settlers were called Sooners because they had already staked their land claims before the land was officially opened for settlement.
The Organic Act of 1890 created the Oklahoma Territory out of the Unassigned Lands and the area known as No Man's Land.
In 1893 the government purchased the rights to settle the Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, from the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee Outlet was part of the lands ceded to the government in the 1866 treaty, but the Cherokees retained access to the area and had leased it to several Chicago meat-packing plants for huge cattle ranches. The Cherokee Strip was opened to settlement by land run in 1894. Also, in 1893, Congress set up the Dawes Commission to negotiate agreements with each of the Five Civilized Tribes for the allotment of tribal lands to individual Indians. Finally, the 1898 Curtis Act abolished tribal jurisdiction over all of Indian Territory.
Statehood
On November 161907, Oklahoma Territory combined with Indian Territory to become the 46th U.S. state. When it became a state, it had the longest constitution of any government in the world.
In the early 20th century the oil business began to get underway. Huge pools of underground oil were discovered in places like Glenpool near Tulsa. Many whites flooded into the state to make money. Many of the "old money" elite families of Oklahoma can date their rise to this time. The prosperity of the 1920s can be seen in the surviving architecture from the period, such as the Tulsa mansion which was converted into the Philbrook Museum of Art or the art deco architecture of downtown Tulsa.
For Oklahoma, the early 20th century were also somewhat turbulent politically. Many different groups had flooded into the state and were trying to figure out how to live. There were also "black towns", in which blacks tried to make a life of their own, separate from whites. The white towns were also segregated. Northern Tulsa was known as Black Wall Street because of the vibrant business, cultural, and religious community that had sprung up there.
The Oklahoma Socialist Party did achieve a fair degree of success in this era (the party had its highest per-capita membership in Oklahoma at this time with 12,000 dues paying members in 1914), including the publication of dozens of party newspapers and the election of several hundred local elected officials. Much of their success came from their willingness to reach out to Black and American Indian voters (they were the only party to continue to resist Jim Crow laws), and their willingness to alter traditional Marxist ideology when it made sense to do so (the biggest changes were the party's support of widespread small-scale land ownership, and their willingness to use religion positively to preach the "Socialist gospel"). The state party also delivered Presidential candidate Eugene Debs some of his highest vote counts in the nation.
The party was later crushed into virtual non-existence during the "white terror" that followed the ultra-repressive environment following the Green Corn Rebellion and the World War I era paranoia against anyone who spoke against the war or capitalism.
The Industrial Workers of the World tried to gain headway during this period, but achieved little success. The Ku Klux Klan was also active, denouncing Blacks, Catholics, and Jews. There were several race riots, including the Tulsa Race Riot, one of the worst in American history.
In July 1931, a long standing border dispute between Oklahoma and Texas came to a head (though it was not officially settled until 2000.) Sometimes called the Red River War, the incident saw the deployment of Oklahoma National Guardsmen and Texas Rangers. A free bridge had been constructed jointly by the two states which ran parallel to an older toll-bridge. The company running the toll-bridge sought an injunction in the U.S. District Court at Houston to stop the opening of the bridge.
The matter became heated, with Texas barricading the new free bridge (in accordance with the injunction), and Oklahoma highway employees tearing down those barricades (citing the fact that the injunction didn't mention Oklahoma, and that the border had been settled as early as the Louisiana Purchase). Eventually, a unit of the Oklahoma National Guard was deployed to both the northern and southern approaches of the free bridge to ensure it was held open.
On August 6, 1931 the dispute was settled when the first injunction was permanently dissolved.
Dust Bowl Era
During the height of the Great Depression, drought and non-ecologically-friendly agricultural practices led to the Dust Bowl, when massive dust storms blew away the soil from large tracts of arable land and deposited it on nearby farms and ranches, distant states, the Atlantic Ocean, and even occasionally Great Britain. The resulting crop failures forced many small farmers to flee the state altogether. Although the most persistent dust storms primarily affected the Panhandle, much of the state experienced occasional dusters, intermittent severe drought, and occasional searing heat. Towns as far-flung as Alva, Altus, and Poteau each recorded temperatures of 120 °F during the epic summer of 1936.
Advances in agro-mechanical technology simultaneously enabled less labor-intensive crop production. Many large landowners and planters had more labor than they needed with the new technology, and the federal Agricultural Adjustment Act paid them to reduce production. Plantation owners throughout the American South and much of eastern and southern Oklahoma released their sharecroppers of their debts and evicted them. With few or no local opportunities available for them, many emancipated but destitute blacks and whites fled to the relative prosperity of California to work as migrant farm workers and, after the onset of World War II, in factories.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, photographs by Dorothea Lange, and songs of Woody Guthrie tell tales of woe from the era. The negative images of the "Okie" as a sort of rootless migrant laborer living in a near-animal state of scrounging for food greatly offended many Oklahomans. These works often mix the experiences of former sharecroppers of the western American South with those of the exodusters fleeing the fierce dust storms of the High Plains. Although they primarily feature the extremely destitute, the vast majority of the people, both staying in and fleeing from Oklahoma, suffered great poverty in the Depression years. Some Oklahoma politicians denounced The Grapes of Wrath (often without reading it) as an attempt to impugn the morals and character of Oklahomans.
The term "Okie" in recent years has taken on a new meaning in the past few decades, with many Oklahomans (both former and present) wearing the label as a badge of honor (as a symbol of the Okie survivor attitude). Others (mostly alive during the Dust Bowl era) still see the term negatively because they see the "Okie" migrants as quitters and transplants to the West Coast.
Urbanization
Major trends in Oklahoma history after the Depression era included the rise again of tribal sovereignty (including the issuance of tribal automobile license plates, and the opening of tribal smoke shops, casinos, grocery stores, and other commercial enterprises), the building of Tinker Air Force Base, the rapid growth of suburban Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the drop in population in Western Oklahoma, the oil boom of the 1980s and the oil bust of the 1990s.
Alcoholic beverages
Oklahoma has some of the strictest liquor laws in the country. This began with the state's constitution including total prohibition of alcoholic beverages. In 1959, voters repealed total prohibition and liquor-by-the-drink bars were not allowed until 1985.[1] Since 1985, liquor-by-the-drink is decided on a county-by-county basis, with approximately half allowing it. Currently, liquor stores are required to close on Sundays, may not be open past 9:00 PM, and may not refrigerate alcohol. (Warehouses and shipping companies are also prohibited from using refrigeration.) Some bars are also restricted from selling beverages in excess of 3.2% alcohol. Persons under twenty-one years of age are prohibited from being in a bar area of a restaurant. Some breweries, such as New Belgium Brewing Company, will not ship to Oklahoma because these laws degrade the quality of beer by the time it reaches the consumer.
Despite being illegal, some state residents cross into Texas to purchase six-point beer and transport it back into Oklahoma -- though six-point beer may be purchased legally in liquor stores. This trend has prompted several Texas border-counties to prohibit the sale of alcohol in order to discourage would-be bootleggers.
In April of 2005, the state's House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 518, banning happy hour and drown nights. As the use of the phrase "happy hour" was restricted, many bars and pubs began using alternative phrases, such as "Hour of Happiness" or "Hour of Joy."
Other History
In 1995 Oklahoma became the scene of the Oklahoma City bombing, in which a Gulf War veteran named Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people.
Oklahoma City has also been the home of Spiritual Walk for Peace, an ongoing series of peaceful peace demonstrations in downtown Oklahoma City conducted by members of the city's religious/peace communities.
References on Oklahoma History
- Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. Story of Oklahoma (1994)
- Dale, Edward Everett and Morris L. Wardell. History of Oklahoma (1948)
- Gibson, Arrell Morgan. Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries (1981).
- Goble, Danney. Progressive Oklahoma: The Making of a New Kind of State (1979)
- Jones, Stephen. Oklahoma Politics in State and Nation Volume I: 1907-1962 (1974).
- Morgan, David R. et al. Oklahoma Politics & Policies: Governing the Sooner State (1991)
- Morgan, Anne Hodges and H. Wayne Morgan, eds., Oklahoma: New Views of the FortySixth State (1982), essays by scholars
- Morris, John W. et al., Historical Atlas of Oklahoma 3d ed. (1986).
- Wishart, David J. ed. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (2004)
Demographics
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census year |
Population | Change | Percent Change |
| 1890 | 258,657 | - | - |
| 1900 | 790,391 | 531,734 | 206% |
| 1910 | 1,657,155 | 866,764 | 110% |
| 1920 | 2,028,283 | 371,128 | 22% |
| 1930 | 2,396,040 | 367,757 | 18% |
| 1940 | 2,336,434 | -59,606 | -2% |
| 1950 | 2,233,351 | -103,083 | -4% |
| 1960 | 2,328,284 | 94,933 | 4% |
| 1970 | 2,559,229 | 230,945 | 10% |
| 1980 | 3,025,290 | 466,061 | 18% |
| 1990 | 3,145,585 | 120,295 | 4% |
| 2000 | 3,450,654 | 305,069 | 10% |
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, Oklahoma has an estimated population of 3,547,884, which is an increase of 24,338, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 97,232, or 2.8%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 80,753 people (that is 264,324 births minus 183,571 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 21,128 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 36,546 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 15,418 people.
Race and ancestry
The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census: Template:Racial demographics begin Template:Racial demographics White Template:Racial demographics Amerindian Template:Racial demographics Black Template:Racial demographics Asian Template:Racial demographics Other Template:Racial demographics Mixed Template:Racial demographics Hispanic Template:Racial demographics end
The five largest ancestry groups in Oklahoma are German (14.5%), American (13.1%), Irish (11.8%), English (9.6%), Native American (7.9%, with Cherokees as the largest tribe).
Southeastern and south-central Oklahoma are inhabited principally by Southerners of American ancestry. German-Americans are present in the state as well, especially in the northwestern part of the state. American Indians predominate in eastern Oklahoma. Oklahomans of British ancestry dominate Tulsa and some other areas. Blacks are a plurality in Lawton and Oklahoma City, while Pittsburg county has many Irish-Americans. Oklahoma City has the largest Asian and Asian American populations. A few western counties have significant Mexican American populations.
6.8% of Oklahoma's population were reported as under 5, 25.9% under 18, and 13.2% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 50.9% of the population.
Descendants of these people still live in Oklahoma today. Counties with the names of these tribes also exist. Oklahoma has the second highest number of Native Americans/Amerindians in the country estimated at 395,219 as of 2003. Only California has a higher Amerindian population at 682,720 [2]. Oklahoma also has the second highest concentration of Native Americans/Amerindians in the nation with 11.4% of the state's population, topped only by Alaska at 19% of that state's population. [3]. 39 of the Amerindian tribes currently living in Oklahoma are headquartered in the state.
A significant number of Oklahoma's early black population emigrated north to Alberta, Canada. [4]
Rural flight
Rural Oklahoma , in common with five other Plains states (Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa), is feeling the brunt of falling populations in many communities. 89% of the total number of cities in those states have fewer than 3000 people; hundreds have fewer than than 1000. Between 1996 and 2004 almost half a million people, nearly half with college degrees, left the six states. "Rural flight" has led to offers of free land and tax breaks as enticements to newcomers in some of these states.
The effects of rural flight in Oklahoma have mostly been felt in Western Oklahoma (those areas west of Interstate 35).
Religion
Oklahoma is an overwhelmingly Protestant Christian state. The religious affiliations of the people of Oklahoma are:
- Christian – 85%
- Protestant – 77%
- Baptist (mostly Southern) – 32%
- Methodist – 12%
- Churches of Christ – 4%
- Pentecostal – 4%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Assemblies of God – 3%
- Other Protestant – 19%
- Roman Catholic – 7%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Protestant – 77%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 14%
Economy
Oklahoma is a major fuel and food-producing state. Thousands of oil and natural gas wells dot the Oklahoma landscape. Millions of white-faced beef cattle graze on Oklahoma's flat plain and low hills. Fertile fields produce vast crops of wheat. Its agricultural outputs are cattle, wheat, milk, poultry, and cotton. Oklahoma ranks fourth in the nation in the production of all wheat, fourth in cattle and calf production; fifth in the production of pecans; sixth in peanuts and eight in peaches. Its industrial outputs are transportation equipment, machinery, electric products, rubber and plastic products, and food processing. Its 1999 total gross state product was $86 billion, placing it 29th in the nation. Its 2000 per capita personal income was $23,517, 43rd in the nation. Oklahoma City suburb Nichols Hills is ranked first on Oklahoma locations by per capita income at $73,661.
Oklahoma City is the principal economic engine of the state, centered on the finance, retail, governance, entertainment, and tourism sectors. The city has numerous manufacturing and processing plants as well as a growing biotech research and health center. Oklahoma City has a large aviation market and its location at the intersection of I-35, I-40, and I-44 makes Oklahoma City an important distribution and shipping point.
Oklahoma City is home to many corporate and regional headquarters including Devon, Chesapeake Energy, Kerr-McGee, Sonic, SBC, The Hertz Corporation, BancFirst, OGE Energy, Bank of Oklahoma, Hobby Lobby, Dobson Communications, Express Personnel Services, Oklahoma Publishing Company, Globe Life and Accident Insurance, AOL, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. and Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce.
Tulsa is centered around energy, aerospace and telecommunications and the city has the nation's most inland waterport, the Tulsa Port of Catoosa [5] . Companies based in Tulsa include The NORDAM Group, BOK Financial Corporation (BOKF), Williams, Oneok, Wiltel, QuikTrip, Mazzio's Corporation, Dollar-Thrifty, and Vanguard. Tulsa is home to an American Airlines maintenance center, the largest airline maintenance base in the world.
Law and government
State government
The capital of the state is Oklahoma City and its governor is Brad Henry (Democrat). Other Executive Branch elected officials include Lieutenant Governor Mary Fallin (Republican), State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan (Democrat), Attorney General Drew Edmondson (Democrat), State Treasurer Scott Meacham (Democrat), Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett (Democrat), Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau (Republican), Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland (Democrat), and the three member State Corporation Commission which currently consists of Bob Anthony (Republican), Jeff Cloud (Republican), and Denise Bode (Republican).
Oklahoma's state legislature consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate has 48 members (currently 47 until next election) serving four-year terms, while the House has 101 members with two year terms. The state has term limits for their legislature that restrict any one person to a total of twelve years service in both the house and senate.
In the 2005–2006 state legislature, control is split between the major parties, the Democrats control the Senate (26 to 22) while the Republicans control the House (57 to 44). This changes the government's make-up since before the 2004 election the Democrats controlled both chambers since 1921.
The state's judicial branch consists of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and 77 District Courts which serve one county apiece. Oklahoma is unusual in that it has two courts of last resort, the state Supreme Court hears civil cases, and the state Court of Criminal Appeals hears criminal cases (the state of Texas uses a similar system). Judges of those two courts, as well as the Court of Civil Appeals are appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the state Judicial Nominating Commission, and are subject to a non-partisan retention vote on a six-year rotating schedule.
Due to Oklahoma's restrictive ballot access laws (deemed by many to be the most restrictive in the nation), no third parties have access to the primary ballots, however the state does have the following active third parties: Oklahoma Libertarian Party, Green Party of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Constitution Party. There are also organizers from the Communist Party USA working in the state.
Local governance
The state is divided into 77 counties which deliver local government. Each is governed by a three member commission. Other county elected officials are the tax assessor, clerk, court clerk, treasurer, and sheriff.
Cities and towns are established under the rights granted in the Oklahoma statutes (in comparison, Oklahoma gives municipal governments a great deal of latitude in chartering new governments). Towns are municipalities of under 1000 residents, while cities have more than 1000 residents. Major cities are also allowed to form "charter governments," in which the voters choose the form of government they want to use in place of the statutory forms.
Other local government units in Oklahoma include independent and dependent school districts, Technology Center Districts (once known as VOTECH), community college districts, rural fire departments, rural water districts, and other special use districts.
National politics
After the 2000 census the Oklahoma delegation to the U.S. House was reduced from six to five representatives. For the 109th Congress (2005–2006) there are no changes in party strength, and the delegation has four Republicans and one Democrat. Oklahoma's two U.S. senators are James M. Inhofe (Republican) and Tom Coburn (Republican). The U.S. Representatives are John Sullivan (Republican) of District 1, Dan Boren (Democrat) of District 2, Frank D. Lucas (Republican) of District 3, Tom Cole (Republican) of District 4, and Ernest Istook (Republican) of District 5.
Although there are more registered Democrats in Oklahoma than registered Republicans, it has become a solid Republican state in presidential elections, voting for the Republican in every election since 1968. (The 1976 Carter-Ford race was close). In 2004, George W. Bush carried every county in the state and 65.6% of the vote.
Culture
The various government sponsored arts, community, and tourism programs emphasize Oklahoma's Native American heritage heavily. There are many central areas of Native American heritage in Oklahoma, including one of the most notable, Tahlequah, which is near Muskogee in Eastern Oklahoma. Native American culture runs deep in the lives of Oklahomans and one may experience it through various cultural programs including pow wows, the Tsah-La-Gi village in Tahlequah, OK and the International Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Other ethnic celebrations include those of Yukon & Prague (celebrating the Czech heritage of some early immigrants), Tulsa's Greek Holiday, the Tulsa Scottish Games, Shalomfest (in Tulsa), Tulsa's German Oktoberfest, the Mennonite Relief Sale (in Enid, OK), Italian festivals and neighborhoods in the McAlester and Krebs area, traditional Asian, African American, and Hispanic celebrations in Oklahoma City as well as the pride parade and festival in the city's GLBT district, and the Juneteenth Celebrations found all across the state.
Education
Colleges and universities
Important cities and towns
Oklahoma state symbols
Professional sports teams
Due to the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005, the NBA's New Orleans Hornets relocated to Oklahoma City are currently known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. The Hornets are the first major professional sports league franchise to play in the state.
The minor league baseball teams are:
- Oklahoma RedHawks (AAA in Oklahoma City)
- Tulsa Drillers (AA in Tulsa)
Other Oklahoma City teams include
- Oklahoma City Blazers (Ice Hockey: CHL)
- Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (Arena Football League: AF2)
- Oklahoma City Lightning (Women's Football: NWFA)
- New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (National Basketball Association)
Other Enid teams include
Other Tulsa teams include
See also
References
- U.S. Census Bureau.
- Oklahoma QuickFacts. Geographic and demographic information.
- Oklahoma - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1890 to 1990 (PDF)
External links
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
- Template:Wikitravel
- Oklahoma's Official Web Site
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Oklahoma Tourism
- Oklahoma Frequently Asked Questions
State political parties
Political parties in Oklahoma (and their websites) are:
Interstate Highways
U.S. Routes
| North–south routes | East–west routes |
|---|---|
