Culture

Oklahoma's Holy City: An overall view of the Holy City of the Wichitas. Oklahoma's Jerusalem: The Holy City of the Wichitas Located in the rugged terrain of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, The Holy City of the Wichitas is a recreation of the very streets that Jesus Christ walked. While it may not be the true holy site in Jerusalem, Oklahoma's Holy City still draws thousands of visitors a year. This recreated Jerusalem would not …

Oklahoma is a state that is both fascinating and full of colorful people.  Many of the great and powerful people of the United States has called Oklahoma home.  From Astronauts to Actors, Athletes and Ambassadors, and yes, plenty of cowboys and Indians, Oklahoma is teeming with a rich and varied history of producing Famous Americans. While this list of Famous Oklahomans is by no means complete, it serves as a who's who of Oklahoma.  You'll …

Oklahoma Attracted settlers from all over. This picture shows a wagon train heading towards Oklahoma Territory. Life on the Rugged Plains In the late 1800s, pioneers began to trickle into what would later become the state of Oklahoma. They were a group of brave individuals who carved out homes and settlements on the western frontier, searching for a brighter future or running from their past. Enduring harsh summers and cold winters, these early settlers learned …

The P.S.O. Building, Downtown Tulsa; Zigzag Art Deco Style architectureSource: David Stapleton (Dsmdgold), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image created via Canva Tulsa's Art Deco History In the early 1920s and lasting until 1939, Downtown Tulsa was booming with life and money. Throughout downtown Tulsa, Art Deco buildings were springing up almost overnight. Art Deco buildings were all the rage in the United States. In fact, the Art Deco style had permeated almost every facet …

Coal Mining near Hartshorne, Oklahoma About Hartshorne, Oklahoma In Hartshorne, Oklahoma, the Twin Cities Heritage Museum paints a vivid picture of the life of an early coal-mining town. Fantastic artifacts from the early 1900s allow visitors to take a step back in time to when coal was king. Today, Hartshorne is reminiscent of a typical small-town main-street community. Historic brick shops stand like sentinels along the main street, guarding against the ravages of time. Their …

Pops, a giant soda bottle on Route 66. Pops, Route 66 Route 66 is alive and well in Oklahoma. Even though the famed highway is no longer in regular use, new attractions keep popping up. Most recently, Tulsa has completed a large project on the 11th Street Bridge dedicated to Route 66. Other attractions appear throughout the state, with most being highlighted by Oklahoma’s Route 66 Association. Route 66 was one of the most traveled …

The world shuddered beneath my feet as a tremendous roar cascaded off the walls of the small room.  I could feel the earth violently heaving, as if some enraged god had thrust his fist against the ground in fury.  My knuckles began to turn white as sweat threatened to weaken my hold on the steel bar.  The groaning grew louder.  Whether it was myself or the cataclysmic churning of the earth I could not tell.   …

Active Worlds was founded in 1995 and is the longest-running virtual sandbox on the web. For more than twenty years, a thriving community has called Active Worlds home. The amount of history that can be found within Active Worlds is staggering. Visitors can find “citizen” created “builds” older than twenty years. During the time that they were built, the internet was still considered the wild, wild west. Through the years, the platform has seen numerous …

Six miles east of Talihina Oklahoma, buried somewhere underneath a century or more of brush an overgrowth, the remains of the foundation of Tushka Lusa Academy can still be found for those who are willing to seek it out.Tushka Lusa, whose translation means "black warrior" can be called one of the long forgotten schools on the western frontier. This school was the one institute established by the Choctaw Nation for the children of their former …

Young Frank was only twenty-five years old when he came to the United States. It was 1850. The Great Hunger spread across Northern Ireland like a plague. It would be two more years before the Irish Potato Famine ended. Frank Murray should have been immune. His family was well off, being part of the landed gentry in Londonderry, but since he was a younger son, his future was limited. He was not entitled to inherit …

There's no such thing as perfect political systems, but there are definitely wildly ineffective ones. This is why development of a strong, consistent political structure is important. The Importance of Political Development The success of a state is measured by three metrics; political development, social development, and economic development. Political development is a necessary basis for economic and social development because a state that is powerless to enact its will is powerless to benefit its …

Freedom of expression or cultural appropriation? Where do you draw the line? | Source Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Authentication Cultural appropriation is a phenomenon that has been villified as the little brother of racism. It conjures mental images of ignorant fashion models strutting down the runway in exotic styles stolen from ethnic groups they're not part of. Outrage over this contraversial issue is fueled by feelings of racial injustice. The minority often feels robbed or exploited by …