We’re told that the first thing most Americans think of when they hear about Oklahoma is the song:
Next up: Native Americans, tornadoes, and oil. We won’t disagree, but we would add some things, which we’ve shared below.
Oklahoma became a state in 1907, one of the earliest 20th century states. They had a complicated path to statehood. Oklahoma began as Indian Territory, a territory set aside for Native Americans. Within Indian Territory, land was set aside not only for the people who had originally lived in Oklahoma but also those who had been relocated to Indian Territory during the Trail of Tears. In 1889, people living in the states were allowed to make homesteads on the unassigned lands. People won their land in the great Land Run — but Oklahoma is known as the “Sooner State” because some people snuck in sooner than the April 22 Land Run date.
When it was time to become a state, several different ideas were proposed for Oklahoma. There was talk of making two states: Oklahoma and the state of Sequoyah specifically for indigenous people. There was also talk of setting aside both Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory for formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. Black Americans had been brought to these territories as slaves of both Native Americans and white settlers, and some enslaved people left the states where they had lived to come to Oklahoma with the idea of establishing a special Black state. None of these ideas took hold, and Oklahoma entered the Union as a single multicultural state. In the political cartoon shown below, Oklahoma is represented by the farmer on the right, next to the cowboy from Arizona and the miner from New Mexico, all waiting for their statehood stars.
Dinosaurs
Oklahoma is the site of some major dinosaur fossils discovereries, including dinosaur footprints.
You can see dinosaurs, from those footprints and fossils to artistic representations, all over the state.
There is a connection with oil, as this friendly dinosaur from Sinclair, an energy corporation since 1916. They introduced their green Brontosaurus mascot in 1930 at the World’s Fair to make the point that the crude oil that makes their products is an ancient resource.
Now you can find them (at least in Oklahoma) at Sinclair gas stations, and you can play on them if you want to. The biggest ones are 12 feet tall.
If you want something more life-sized, you can find those, too. We saw this one at the Tulsa Zoo in a special exhibit.
These were not to play with, but they were fun to look at.
Check out our dinosaur  classroom theme page for free printable dinosaur worksheets and our favorite dinosaur books.
Art Deco
Tulsa was an oil-based boomtown, and its heyday was in the 1920s, the Jazz Age, when Art Deco was at its most popular. We’ve shown you some Art Deco style in Nebraska, but Tulsa is a top spot for examples of this style of art. Check out our virtual field trips to some Tulsa museums:
We also recommend the Decopolis Discovitorium, a sort of combination of museum and store. Â Great for toys and kids’ books.
It’s a generally fun place.
It also has wonderful displays of art deco objects.
Space and aeronautics
Don’t miss Oklahoma’s space museums! Oklahoma is the only state which has had astronauts involved in every single stage of space exploration.
Agriculture
Oklahoma is known for cattle, hogs, wheat, hay, and cotton.
We went to a llama farm, where they raise llamas and alpacas for wool.
We got to see the ranch hands shearing the animals. We could tell that they enjoyed it.
Oklahoma may not be famous for llamas and alpacas, but this is a farm full of friendly, hard-working people, and that’s very characteristic of the state of Oklahoma.
We brought home some of the yarn made from the alpacas’ wool in natural colors — the colors the wool grows in. We knitted this vest with traditional Native American (though not Oklahoman) motifs.
Cake
We associate Oklahoma with cake.
When we’re in Tulsa, which we often are, we like to visit Queenie’s, and that is the entire reason we think of cake when we think of Oklahoma.
However, Oklahoma bakers have won a lot of prizes, including one at the 1955 World’s Fair, and there is also a cake known as “Oakie Cake,” so we may not be far wrong.
We’ve linked to quite a few field trips and lesson plans throughout this virtual visit, but here are a few more:
Here are the state symbols:
