By Steve Byas

Oklahoma has a rich history, and I could make a subjective Top Ten stories of that history, but it is probably better to just touch on them in chronological order.

The Indian removals would certainly be among the earliest stories of our state’s history, followed by the Civil War in the Indian Territory. Several Civil War battles were fought on our soil, including the Second Battle of Cabin Creek and the Battle of Honey Springs.

The land runs, beginning with the first on April 22, 1889, which opened the territory to non-Indian settlement. Oklahoma Territory began on that day, with cities such as Oklahoma City, Norman, Moore, Edmond and Stillwater emerging. It was also at that time that what we now call the Oklahoma Panhandle was added to Oklahoma Territory by an act of Congress.

As we neared statehood, Congress abolished the tribal governments and courts, transferring all such jurisdiction to state courts (despite the McGirt decision of several decades later). Of course, the entrance of Oklahoma as the 46th state on November 16, 1907 would be high on the list of greatest stories in our state’s history.

Even before statehood, the oil industry began in Oklahoma, making Tulsa the “Oil Capital,” and Oklahoma, for a time, the number one oil-producing state. Tulsa grew rapidly, but despite its self-described “sophistication” today, it remained a Wild West type of town for several more years. For example, the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, in which a mob tried to lynch a black man, eventually leading to a race war, and finally a race massacre in the Greenwood District, remains as a dark stain on our state’s history. This had followed a non-racially motivated lynching only months earlier.

In the 1920s, Oklahoma impeached and removed from office two governors. All through our state’s history, governors have found it rather difficult to contest the power of the state legislature, and sharing the same political party has made little difference.

During these years, Will Rogers emerged as a national figure and the number one box-office draw in Hollywood. The oil boom times of the 1920s gave way to the Great Depression in the 1930s. Worsening that Depression in Oklahoma was the Dust Bowl, known as the greatest ecological disaster of the 20th century. It drove about one million Oklahomans out of the state, with 300,000 never returning. The majority of those went to California, so many residing in Bakersfield that it was dubbed, facetiously, the third largest town in Oklahoma. It also contributed to the rise of a sub-genre of country music known as “the Bakersfield Sound,” personified in the music of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

In the Second World War, Oklahoma’s National Guard made up the heart of the 45th Infantry Division, praised by General George Patton as the greatest division in the history of American arms for its role in winning the Battle of the Bulge.

Following the war, Governor Roy Turner pushed for the creation of what would be named the Turner Turnpike – connecting Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, the promise that after 25 years it would become a “free road,” was never fulfilled, and financiers have made billions of dollars off the proliferation of turnpikes in our state.

During the war, Tinker Air Force Base was established, which also led to the creation of Midwest City.

It was in the 1940s and 1950s that OU football emerged as a blueblood in college football, building on the foundation set by legendary Coach Bennie Owen years earlier. Along with the Broadway play, “Oklahoma,” OU football helped improve the image of the state which had been severely damaged by the Dust Bowl. Now, when people thought of Oklahoma, they often thought of the play or OU’s record 47-game winning streak.

Governor Raymond Gary led the way in the 1950s in peacefully desegregating the public school system in Oklahoma. While many other states experienced violence with this, Oklahoma did not. Gary did this by getting the people of Oklahoma to vote to end segregation at the ballot box.

In 1959, Governor J. Howard Edmondson was able to win a statewide vote, ending alcohol prohibition in the state. Then, in 1962, Oklahoma elected its first Republican governor, Henry Bellmon. Slowly, Oklahoma moved away from Democratic Party dominance to become a two-party state, and then to the Republican Party dominance of today.

Governor David Hall was convicted, after leaving office in 1971, in a bribery scandal. This happened on the heels of the great Supreme Court bribery scandal of the 1960s. Due to that scandal, Oklahoma went from electing Supreme Court judges to allowing the Judicial Nominating Commission to hand-pick them, arguing that would reduce the chances of another such scandal. Curiously, no one suggested a Governor Nominating Commission to choose our governors, despite the Hall scandal of the early 1970s.

Then, in the early 1980s, the county commissioner scandal revealed that almost all of Oklahoma’s county commissioners had been taking bribes – probably since statehood – making it the largest such scandal in American history in terms of sheer number of public officials who were convicted.

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and, as the federal grand jury put it, “others unknown” were involved in a conspiracy to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. The date – April 19 – was significant, because that was the second anniversary of the tragedy in which a religious community was wiped out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) outside Waco, Texas. McVeigh – and others involved in his conspiracy – were enraged at the actions of the federal government, which they contended was unjustified.

May 3rd, in 1999, saw the tragic tornado outbreak that killed scores of individuals in Moore, Bridge Creek and other communities, destroying thousands of homes. The highest wind speeds ever recorded on the planet were part of this story.

Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision (the McGirt decision), declared that Congress had neglected to dissolve the reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes at the time of statehood, which meant that the state government had limited authority to enforce criminal laws in their areas of jurisdiction. The consequences of that decision are still being worked out.

These are among the greatest stories in our state’s history. Over the next several editions, some of these stories – and others – will be covered in more depth. If anyone has some other stories that they believe merit consideration, please let me know.

Steve Byas, editor of the Oklahoma Constitution, teaches Oklahoma History at Randall University, in Moore, Oklahoma.