Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
May 2002
Abstract
Many historians have recognized the tripartite nature of race relations in the Great Plains region and the aggressive negotiation for power this created in the post Civil War period, but each has selected a manageable portion of the story to interpret. Murray Wickett deserves recognition for intertwining the central issues affecting all three races into a meaningful analysis. The choice of Oklahoma as the site of interaction is rich with possibilities but fraught with complexity. Acculturated and non-acculturated Indians, mixed-bloods and full-bloods, Indian freedmen and southern migrant freedmen, Twin Territories, Democrats and Republicans, white entrepreneurs and white tenant farmers- each had a vision of sovereignty, freedom, and promise to be fought for and secured. Wickett argues that government policy along with white racism and numerical superiority combined to create a modus vivendi in which Native Americans became accepted as partners in the creation of the state while African Americans were positioned as inferior outsiders. The consummation of this paradigm, however, came about only after bitter contests among all parties.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 2 (Spring 2002). Published by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Copyright © 2000 Center for Great Plains Studies. Used by permission.