Oklahoma centennial upsets Indians

Associated Press

The birth of Oklahoma was the destruction of my tribe,' said Ponca Nation Tribal Chairman Dan Jones. He wants the state's centennial celebration to reflect the fact that Oklahoma was at one time Indian Territory.

TULSA, Okla. – As the state prepares to mark its 100th birthday next year with parades, fireworks and festivals, the grand celebration is also opening old wounds for some American Indians.

Tribal leaders and academics say the centennial isn't a time for celebration because in 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state through the dismantling of tribal territories. Those lands once were guaranteed to American Indian nations by the U.S. government but the promises were brushed aside as Western expansion caught fire.

Years earlier, tribes were removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeast and relocated to what is now Oklahoma. The most egregious of these relocations occurred with the 1,000-mile Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Children re-enact homesteading land runs on school playgrounds without learning about what happened to make those events possible, as if the tribes disappeared in some sort of vacuum at the time of statehood, scholars say.

"[It's] part of the triumphal narrative of American history, that Western progress and the Manifest Destiny doctrine was alive and well," said Clara Sue Kidwell, professor and director of the Native American Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma.

"It's the triumph of human beings over the land ... so little is taught about the native peoples of the land and the opening of Indian territory to white settlement."

Full history sought

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith recently wrote an editorial for two local newspapers reminding Oklahomans to remember all the state's history.

He said reflecting on the entire past gives the state and the tribes an opportunity to build a stronger Oklahoma for the next 100 years.

"We should remind the general public that there were 39 governments here in place before the state of Oklahoma was established," he said.

The Cherokee Nation, which occupies 14 counties in northeastern Oklahoma, is the largest tribe in Oklahoma and the second largest in the U.S.

Oklahoma's smaller Indian governments also say the centennial is not something to celebrate.

"The birth of Oklahoma was the destruction of my tribe," said Ponca Nation Tribal Chairman Dan Jones. "I think the celebration has to include some kind of acknowledgment by the state that it wasn't all great for everyone that lived in the region called 'Oklahoma' – it was Indian Territory."

Teaching that full account might be difficult in a state created amid a pioneering, "Go West" spirit during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

Bill Corbett, history professor at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, the tribal capital for the Cherokee Nation, said teaching kids how Oklahoma became a state at the expense of American Indian governments and land holdings is complicated.

"If these ideas of the Indian perspective were to be imparted to elementary schoolchildren, it has to be done in a very basic way," said Mr. Corbett, who teaches a course on the history of the Five Civilized Tribes.

Overcoming insecurity?

Ms. Kidwell, who is affiliated with the Choctaw and Chippewa tribes, said Oklahomans have a kind of "built-in inferiority complex" because of the Dust Bowl and the perception of "Okies," so it becomes important through the centennial to show off how far their state has come.

"It's something that Oklahomans seem to feel like they have to make up for; this great celebration becomes part of that, a chance to glorify our state and our accomplishments," she said.

J. Blake Wade, executive director of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission, said organizers hope American Indians understand that next year's event is "not trying to change history."

"We understand why they feel the way they feel," Mr. Wade said.

He agreed with the scholars that more needs to be done to present a fuller picture of Oklahoma statehood.

The curriculum "should be looked at and changed to read the way it historically was," he said.

Meanwhile, at least one tribal leader said the centennial should be celebrated.

"The Chickasaw Nation is excited about the Oklahoma centennial celebration," said Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby.

"Oklahoma has experienced an incredible first century. We have seen remarkable progress, and it is important that we embrace the success of our past as we look forward to the opportunities in our future."

The Chickasaw Nation is one of the sponsors of Oklahoma's centennial, and Mr. Anoatubby said the tribe chose to do so because all Oklahomans should contribute something to the state.