Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 2010
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 30:4 (Fall 2010).
Abstract
Oklahoma's license plates, which formerly displayed an Osage shield, now depict a representation of Native son Allan Houser's evocative sculpture of a fellow Apache preparing to fire an arrow at the sky. The legend running across the bottom of the plate reads: "Native America." This is an apt statement about Oklahoma, site of pre-Columbian Indian settlements, westernmost extension of Mississippian mound building cultures, home for Kiowa and Comanche buffalo hunters, and adopted land of Cherokees and others forced to abandon familiar stomping grounds east of the Mississippi River. On a per capita basis, Oklahoma boasts the nation's largest Native American population.
For years Muriel Wright's A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma (1951) served as the go-to source for easily accessible snapshot histories of the state's more than forty Native American tribes. But the passage of time highlighted the need for a similar, albeit more contemporary, resource. Blue Clark, professor of history and law at Oklahoma City University, addresses this need.
Comments
Copyright © 2010 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.