Oklahoma City: The Perspective of an Okie

Oklahoma City–sometimes abbreviated to OKC–is the city of Oklahoma residing in the U.S.A. 39 recognized Native American tribes live inside Oklahoma, and the population is about 4 million, while in Oklahoma city, the population is 694,800 people. It’s 621 miles squared. One of its several recognized state meals is the chicken-fried steak, which is speculated to have started its roots in Austria and Germany before immigrants brought the dish over to America. One fun fact about it is why it has its panhandle. This panhandle used to belong to no state, therefore making it so that the panhandle was unruled land, and there were no laws there, making it a hotspot for those who break the law. The government saw this issue and decided to give it to Oklahoma, seeing as Texas didn’t want it. Overall, it’s played a very important role in the history of America.

I’ve lived in Oklahoma City for most of my life and have created plenty of special memories there. A good amount of my other family–along with my best friend–live there too. Oklahoma also connects back to my Choctaw identity, as being home to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. I had this trail in my neighborhood that I’d walk with my mom. It was in a forest, and it was a long trail about a mile long, with a bridge over a stream of water.

There are many cool places to visit in OKC! I've been to the OKC zoo, as well. Did you know that this zoo is home to over 1,900 animals?

Another place I recommend visiting is Turner Falls. Although I'm younger in these pictures, and although my face on the left doesn't quite scream "I'm loving this experience," did you know that Turner Falls is the oldest state park in Oklahoma with the highest falls? Here's a map of how far away I am from Oklahoma currently.

Oklahoma was opened to land runs, which are events in which restricted land in the U.S. is opened, and settlers "run" to claim it by selling it. They have this statue below, in OKC itself, made in 1889, to commemorate the event. It is named the Centennial Land Run Monument.

The website for OKC has some more information on this for us. "Oklahoma City was founded by hard-working men and women when this land was open for settlement on April 22, 1889. The land run spanned 400 acres and became home to 5,000 people overnight.

Several tribes were moved to Oklahoma. "As for his [Andrew Jackson's] plans for the United States he was determined to remove the remaining tribes from the East and replace them in the West. Between the 1830 Indian Removal Act and 1850 the U.S. government forced treaties and/or U.S. Army action to move about 100,000 American Indians living east of the Mississippi River, westward to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma."

Although you may have heard otherwise, Oklahoma doesn't necessarily mean 'red people.' "When Choctaw speakers think of the world 'okla,' we think of OUR people.", "'Humma,' when applied to people, is an honorific. Oklahoma's meaning is closer to 'brave nation' than 'red people.'"

A lot of people visited Oklahoma City in 2022. "The report shows 23.2 million visitors--a 9% increase or nearly 2 million more visitors than 2021--directly spent $2.6 billion across a range of sectors. Visitor spending increased 14% in 2022, growing more than $300 million."

Oklahoma has a large Native American population. "Those who are American Indian or Alaska Native made up 9.4% of the population."

A lot of people live in OKC. "Oklahoma City has a 2024 population of 706,576. It is also the county seat of Oklahoma County. Oklahoma City is currently growing at a rate of 84% annually and its population has increased by 3.45% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 683,024 in 2020."

Samantha Crain is an important musician. "Samantha Crain is a Choctaw singer, songwriter, poet, producer, and musician from Oklahoma. She is a two-time Native American Music Award winner and winner of an Indigenous Music Award. Her genre spanning discography has been critically acclaimed by media outlets such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, Paste, No Depression, NPR, PRI, The Guardian, NME, Uncut, and others."

Oklahoma has astronauts, too. "Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927-October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human space program of the United States."

There are influential athletes that come from Oklahoma. "Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. Griffin primarily played with the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, where he was named for the consensus national college player of the year as a sophomore."

A good question could be where these people were born in Oklahoma specifically, so I have this map showing where exactly they were born.

Oklahoma's a nice place to visit; with its rich culture and being the birthplace of many interesting people you might know, it's a staple of a state. From the red earth to the deep history, it's one of my favorite places. And I must thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to read my Storymap!