Oklahoma

• Population- 3,579,220
• Capital- Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman
• Largest cities– Oklahoma City,
• Time zone- Central
• Date of Admission to the Union- November 16, 1907
• Slogan- Labor omnia vincit, or “Labor conquers all things”
• State website URL- www.ok.gov

Unfortunately the morning of April 19, 1995 put Oklahoma on the map. On that particular morning the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City was bombed. In the aftermath, 168 were left dead and hundreds wounded. Today the site has been made into a profoundly moving memorial where thousands stop to pay their respects to the dead.

Oklahoma’s geographical situation in the U.S. makes it almost a part of all the cultural regions of the country. The south is represented by the area known as Little Dixie, located in the southeast corner of the state. The Wild West is given a nod in the annual Pioneer Days Celebration and Rodeo, held in Guymon, and Native American motifs and culture are an indelible part of the whole state. In fact the Native American influence was most significant in Oklahoma. Today the center of the Cherokee culture and nation is located in Tahlequah. Oklahoma’s population of Native Americans is second only to California. Oklahoma had historically comprised a significant amount of the government land that was declared Indian Territory in the first half of the 1800s.

Residents of the state have been nicknamed “Sooners” based on the nickname ascribed to early homesteaders that grabbed land before it was officially released as part of the Homestead Act. It’s a derogatory comment to call someone a “Sooner” outside of the larger meaning of the state nickname.

Natural gas and oil are major industries in the state and lead many of the others in production. According to the Paleontological Research Institution, oil was discovered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1897. Almost every county in the state could be mined for oil if necessary and it is the particular type of underground rock formations that make the area of Oklahoma unusually abundant in both resources.