Oklahoma is a landlocked state in the South Central U.S., bordering six other states including Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas. It ranks as the 20th-largest and 28th-most populous state, with residents called Oklahomans. Oklahoma City serves as its capital and largest city.
By 1900, about one-half of land previously owned by Indian tribes was owned by whites as a result of the Dawes Act and the Curtis Act. Much of the land allotted to individual Indian heads of families also became white-owned, often through sale or fraudulent means.
In 1901, the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was founded, encompassing 59,020 acres, and is the oldest and largest of nine National Wildlife Refuges in the state.
In 1905, after petitioning congress to hand over jurisdiction, 57 acres was given to Arkansas.
In 1905, the Sequoyah Statehood Convention laid the groundwork for the Oklahoma Statehood Convention, which took place two years later.
On June 16, 1906, Congress enacted a statute authorizing the people of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories, as well as Arizona and New Mexico, to form a constitution and state government in order to be admitted as a state.
On November 16, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation no. 780, establishing Oklahoma as the 46th state in the Union.
In 1907, Oklahoma acquired the Oklahoma panhandle upon gaining statehood.
On November 11, 1911, the temperature at Oklahoma City reached a high of 83 °F (28 °C), then plummeted to a low of 17 °F (−8 °C) by midnight due to a strong cold front.
In 1912, Oklahoma experienced a tornado outbreak, with an average of about one tornado per hour.
Social tensions were exacerbated by the revival of the Ku Klux Klan after 1915.
In late September 1918, the first cases of the Spanish flu appeared in Oklahoma. Health workers and local governing bodies were quickly overwhelmed by the rapid advancement of the disease.
By 1919, the Spanish Flu pandemic ebbed in Oklahoma. Rough estimates based on contemporary reports indicate that approximately 100,000 people fell ill with the disease and that around 7,500 proved fatal, placing total mortality rates for the state in the area of 7.5%.
During the first half-century of statehood, Oklahoma was considered a Democratic stronghold, being carried by the Republican Party in only two presidential elections (1920 and 1928).
In 1920, Oklahoma's first radio station, WKY in Oklahoma City, began broadcasting.
In 1920, the U.S. census recorded Oklahoma's population to be 2,028,283.
In 1921, the Tulsa race massacre broke out, with White mobs attacking Black people and carrying out a pogrom in Greenwood. The rioting resulted in the destruction of 35 city blocks, $1.8 million in property damage, and an estimated death toll of between 75 and 300 people.
In 1927, Oklahoman businessman Cyrus Avery began the campaign to create U.S. Route 66, using a stretch of highway from Amarillo, Texas to Tulsa, Oklahoma to form the original portion of Highway 66.
During the first half-century of statehood, Oklahoma was considered a Democratic stronghold, being carried by the Republican Party in only two presidential elections (1920 and 1928).
1934 was a severe drought year, which featured weeks on end of virtual rainlessness and highs well over 100 °F (38 °C).
In 1939, John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was published, popularizing a negative cultural stereotype of Oklahomans as uneducated, poverty-stricken "Okies".
In 1940, 90.1% of Oklahoma's population was non-Hispanic White.
After the 1948 election, Oklahoma began to turn firmly Republican.
In 1949, broadcast television in Oklahoma began with the launch of KFOR-TV (then WKY-TV) in Oklahoma City and KOTV-TV in Tulsa. These stations started broadcasting a few months apart.
Over a twenty-year period ending in 1950, Oklahoma experienced a 6.9 percent decline in population as impoverished families migrated out of the state after the Dust Bowl.
Although registered Republicans were a minority in the state until 2015, Oklahoma has been carried by Republican presidential candidates in all but one election since 1952.
In 1953, the cast of the musical "Oklahoma!" was featured on a CBS Omnibus television broadcast.
1954 was a severe drought year, which featured weeks on end of virtual rainlessness and highs well over 100 °F (38 °C).
In 1962, ballerina Yvonne Chouteau and her husband Miguel Terekhov founded the dance program at the University of Oklahoma. It was the first fully accredited program of its kind in the United States.
Oklahoma has been carried by Republican presidential candidates in all but one election since 1952: Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 landslide victory.
In 1973, the Public Service Company of Oklahoma proposed the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant near Inola, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma has capital punishment as a legal sentence since 1976. The state has had (between 1976 through mid-2011) the highest per capita execution rate in the nation.
The Medieval Fair of Norman was first held in 1976 on the south oval of the University of Oklahoma campus, marking the beginning of Oklahoma's first medieval fair.
In 1979, protestors disrupted the project construction of the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant, several months after the Three Mile Island accident.
1980 was a severe drought year, which featured weeks on end of virtual rainlessness and highs well over 100 °F (38 °C).
Between 1980 and 2014, the increase in life expectancy for males in Oklahoma averaged 4.0 years, while the national average increase was 6.7 years. For females in Oklahoma during the same period, the life expectancy increased by an average of 1.0 years, compared to a national average increase of 4.0 years.
During the 1980s, a collapse in the energy industry led to the loss of nearly 90,000 energy-related jobs between 1980 and 2000, severely damaging the local economy.
In 1980, TBN, a Christian religious television network, built its first entirely TBN-owned affiliate in Oklahoma City.
In 1982, the project for the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant was cancelled after nine years of legal challenges.
In 1985, the US Supreme Court Case Oklahoma v. Arkansas decided the land would remain Arkansas, even though the Choctaw had not been notified or asked about the territory being handed over.
Since 1987, the Oklahoma City Pride Parade has been held annually in late June in the gay district of Oklahoma City on 39th and Penn.
In 1990, 81% of Oklahoma's population was White.
In 1990, 95% of Oklahomans spoke only English at home.
Oklahoma's growth of total education expenditures between 1992 and 2002 ranked 22nd.
On April 19, 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, in which Timothy McVeigh detonated a large, crude explosive device outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people, including 19 children.
Between 2000 and 2010, the leading cities in population growth were Blanchard (172.4%), Elgin (78.2%), Jenks (77.0%), Piedmont (56.7%), Bixby (56.6%), and Owasso (56.3%).
During the 1980s, a collapse in the energy industry led to the loss of nearly 90,000 energy-related jobs between 1980 and 2000, severely damaging the local economy.
Following the 2000 census, the Oklahoma delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives was reduced from six to five representatives.
In 2000, 2,977,187 Oklahomans—92.6% of the resident population, five years or older—spoke only English at home. 238,732 Oklahoma residents reported speaking a language other than English at home.
In 2000, Oklahoma ranked 45th in physicians per capita and slightly below the national average in nurses per capita.
In 2000, there were about 5,000 Jews and 6,000 Muslims in Oklahoma, with ten congregations to each group.
On June 11, 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed by the federal government for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
In 2001, Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa hosted a U.S. Open.
Oklahoma's growth of total education expenditures between 1992 and 2002 ranked 22nd.
In 2003, the Medieval Fair of Norman relocated to Reaves Park due to its growing size.
OG&E was the first electric company in Oklahoma to generate electricity from wind farms in 2003.
Every single county in the state has been won by the Republican candidate in each election since 2004.
In 2004, data was collected for the 2006 Catalogue for Philanthropy, which showed Oklahomans generosity.
In 2004, the National Institute for Early Education Research rated Oklahoma first in the United States with regard to standards, quality, and access to pre-kindergarten education, calling it "a model for early childhood schooling". In 2004, the state ranked 36th in the nation for the relative number of adults with high school diplomas.
In 2005, Oklahoma was the 21st-largest recipient of medical funding from the federal government, with health-related federal expenditures in the state totaling $75,801,364; immunizations, bioterrorism preparedness, and health education were the top three most funded medical items.
In 2005, Oklahoma's estimated ancestral makeup was 14.5% German, 13.1% American, 11.8% Irish, 9.6% English, 8.1% African American, and 11.4% Native American (including 7.9% Cherokee).
In 2005, international exports from Oklahoma's manufacturing industry totaled $4.3 billion, accounting for 3.6 percent of its economic impact.
In 2005, nearly 25 percent of Oklahomans between the ages of 18 and 64 did not have health insurance, the fifth-highest rate in the nation.
In 2005, the Cherokee Nation instigated a ten-year plan focused on growing new speakers of the Cherokee language, with the long-term goal of having 80% of their people fluent in fifty years.
In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey data from 2005 to 2009 indicated about 5% of Oklahoma's residents were born outside the United States.
According to the 2006 Catalogue for Philanthropy (with data from 2004) Oklahomans ranked 7th in the nation for overall generosity.
In 2006, Tulsa's Oktoberfest was named one of the top 10 in the world by USA Today.
In 2006, there were more than 220 newspapers in Oklahoma, including 177 with weekly publications and 48 with daily publications.
On July 1, 2007, the degree completions component started, marking the beginning of a period where the state of Oklahoma produced an average of 38,278-degree-holders.
November 16, 2007, marked the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma statehood, kicking off multiple celebrations. Oklahoma's centennial celebration was named the top event in the United States for 2007 by the American Bus Association.
Between 2007 and 2008, Oklahoma's high school dropout rate decreased from 3.1 to 2.5 percent.
During 2007, Tulsa's Mayfest festival entertained more than 375,000 people in four days.
In 2007, Oklahoma was rated as one of the most business-friendly states in the nation, with the 7th-lowest tax burden.
In 2007, oil accounted for 35 billion dollars in Oklahoma's economy.
In 2007, six of Oklahoma's universities were placed in the Princeton Review's list of best 122 regional colleges, and three made the list of top colleges for best value.
In early 2007, lawmakers began seeking funding to connect the Heartland Flyer to Tulsa, but nothing came of this effort.
Oklahoma ranked last among the 50 states in a 2007 study by the Commonwealth Fund on health care performance.
June 30, 2008 marked the end of the degree completions component, during which Oklahoma colleges saw 181,973 undergraduate students, 20,014 graduate students, and 4,395 first-professional degree students enrolled.
According to the Pew Research Center in 2008, most of Oklahoma's religious adherents were Christian accounting for about 80% of the population.
According to the Pew Research Center in 2008, the majority of Oklahoma's religious adherents were Christian, accounting for about 80% of the population.
As of 2008, Oklahoma had 638,817 students enrolled in 1,845 public primary, secondary, and vocational schools in 533 school districts. Oklahoma spent $7,755 for each student in 2008.
Between 2007 and 2008, Oklahoma's high school dropout rate decreased from 3.1 to 2.5 percent.
In 2008, Interstate 44 in Oklahoma City was Oklahoma's busiest highway, with a daily traffic volume of 123,300 cars.
In 2008, R. L. Jones Jr. (Riverside) Airport in Tulsa was the state's busiest airport in terms of traffic, with 335,826 takeoffs and landings.
Oklahoma was the only state where Barack Obama failed to carry any counties in 2008.
In 2009, Oklahoma was at the bottom of states in usage of renewable energy, with 94% of its electricity being generated by non-renewable sources.
In 2009, the oil energy industry contributes $35 billion to Oklahoma's gross domestic product (GDP).
In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey data from 2005 to 2009 indicated about 5% of Oklahoma's residents were born outside the United States.
Oklahoma has the highest enrollment of Native American students in the nation with 126,078 students in the 2009–10 school year.
Ranking 13th for total energy consumption per capita in 2009, the state's energy costs were eighth-lowest in the nation.
The report states that "since the law went into effect in 2009, 139 women in Oklahoma have been imprisoned solely for failure-to-protect charges."
According to the 2010 census, 8.6% of Oklahoma's population were American Indian and Alaska Native, 7.4% Black or African American, 1.7% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 4.1% from some other race and 5.9% of two or more races; 8.9% of Oklahoma's population were of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.
At the 2010 census, Oklahoma's population was 3,751,675.
Between 2010 and 2014, 125,989 Oklahomans were estimated to have lived with at least one undocumented family member.
In 2010, Oklahoma City-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores ranked 18th on the Forbes list of largest private companies, Tulsa-based QuikTrip ranked 37th, and Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby ranked 198th.
In 2010, Oklahoma had 598 incorporated places, including four cities over 100,000 in population and 43 over 10,000.
In 2010, Oklahoma had the nation's third-highest number of bridges classified as structurally deficient, with nearly 5,212 bridges in disrepair, including 235 National Highway System Bridges.
In 2010, Oklahoma's football program ranked 12th in attendance among American colleges, with an average of 84,738 people attending its home games.
In 2010, Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City had a yearly passenger count of more than 3.5 million, while Tulsa International Airport served more than 1.3 million boardings.
In 2010, the Tulsa Shock joined the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
In 2010, the center of population of Oklahoma was located in Lincoln County near the town of Sparks.
In 2010, the state's largest church memberships were in the Southern Baptist Convention (886,394 members), the United Methodist Church (282,347), the Roman Catholic Church (178,430), and the Assemblies of God (85,926) and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) (47,349).
Since 2010, the English language has been official in the state of Oklahoma.
2011 was a severe drought year, which featured weeks on end of virtual rainlessness and highs well over 100 °F (38 °C).
In 2011, 47.3% of Oklahoma's population younger than age 1 were minorities.
In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau indicated about 5% of Oklahoma's residents were born outside the United States.
In 2011, the state was ranked eighth for installed wind energy capacity.
In mid-2011, Oklahoma had a civilian labor force of 1.7 million. The government sector provided the most jobs, with 339,300 in 2011.
Oklahoma has capital punishment as a legal sentence and had the highest per capita execution rate in the nation between 1976 through mid-2011.
In 2012, Oklahoma had 85,500 farms, collectively producing $4.3 billion in animal products and fewer than one billion dollars in crop output with more than $6.1 billion added to the state's gross domestic product.
In 2012, the Oklahoma House passed HCR 1024, which would change the state motto from "Labor Omnia Vincit" to "Oklahoma—In God We Trust!"
Oklahoma had an all-Republican congressional delegation from 2013 to 2019.
According to the Pew Research Center in 2014, the majority of Oklahoma's religious adherents remained Christian accounting for 79% of the population. The largest growth over the six years between Pew's 2008 and 2014 survey was in the number of people who identify as unaffiliated in the state with an increase of 6% of the total population.
Between 2010 and 2014, 125,989 Oklahomans were estimated to have lived with at least one undocumented family member.
In 2014, the Oklahoma City Blue, of the NBA G League, relocated to Oklahoma City from Tulsa, where they were formerly known as the Tulsa 66ers.
In 2014, the average life expectancy for males in Oklahoma was 73.7 years, lower than the national average of 76.7 years. For females in Oklahoma, the average life expectancy was 78.5 years, also lower than the national average of 81.5 years.
Although registered Republicans were a minority in the state until 2015, Oklahoma has been carried by Republican presidential candidates in all but one election since 1952.
In 2015, the Tulsa Shock of the Women's National Basketball Association relocated to Dallas–Fort Worth and became the Dallas Wings.
On May 31, 2016, several cities in Oklahoma experienced record setting flooding.
In 2016, teachers in Oklahoma had ranked 49th out of the 50 states in terms of teacher pay, according to the National Education Association.
Oklahoma City was the largest city in the United States carried by Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Using data from 2016 to 2018, life expectancy in Oklahoma counties varied. Okfuskee County had the lowest life expectancy at 71.2 years. In 2016, Cimarron and Logan counties had the highest life expectancy at 79.7 years.
Beginning on April 2, 2018, tens of thousands of K–12 public school teachers in Oklahoma went on strike due to lack of funding.
On June 26, 2018, Oklahoma made marijuana legal for medical purposes.
According to a study in 2018, approximately 236,882 immigrants lived in Oklahoma, making up 6% of the state's population. In 2018, Immigrants to Oklahoma contributed more than a billion U.S. dollars in taxes.
In 2018, Oklahoma was described as "the world's prison capital", with 1,079 of every 100,000 residents imprisoned.
Using data from 2016 to 2018, life expectancy in Oklahoma counties varied. Okfuskee County had the lowest life expectancy at 71.2 years. In 2018, Cimarron and Logan counties had the highest life expectancy at 79.7 years.
A survey in 2019 found that the pay raise obtained by the strike lifted the State's teacher pay ranking to 34th in the nation.
Oklahoma had an all-Republican congressional delegation from 2013 to 2019.
Ten years later in 2019, 53.5% of electricity was produced from natural gas and 34.6% from wind power.
In May 2020, Oklahoma became the first state to enact an anti-red flag law, prohibiting the acceptance of any grants or funding to enact red flag laws.
On July 9, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States determined in McGirt v. Oklahoma that the reservations of the Five Tribes, comprising much of Eastern Oklahoma, were never disestablished by Congress and thus are still "Indian Country" for the purposes of criminal law.
As of September 2020, the state's unemployment rate was 5.3%.
As of December 22, 2022, Oklahoma had been more severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023) than the average U.S. state, with 405 deaths per 100,000 population and 59% of the population fully vaccinated. Greer County recorded the highest death rate from COVID-19, while Payne County recorded the lowest.
As of the 2020 election, Native American voters, 16% of the state's population, are split, with urban populations supporting the Democrats and rural reservation populaces favoring the Republicans.
By the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute's survey, 73% of the population were Christian. Evangelicalism made up 29% of the state population, followed by Mainline Protestantism at 19%.
In 2020, ESPN called Oklahoma City "the center of the softball universe."
In 2020, Oklahoma City had the largest metropolitan area in the state with 1,425,695 people.
In 2020, the U.S. census indicated that 14.2 percent of Oklahomans identified as American Indians, representing the highest indigenous population by percentage in any state.
Oklahoma City was the largest city in the United States carried by Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
As of March 2021, Oklahoma had no operational nuclear power plants.
Oklahoma has had an all-Republican congressional delegation since 2021.
As of December 22, 2022, Oklahoma had been more severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023) than the average U.S. state, with 405 deaths per 100,000 population and 59% of the population fully vaccinated. Greer County recorded the highest death rate from COVID-19, while Payne County recorded the lowest.
A 2022 American Community Survey estimate found that Oklahoma's population had surpassed 4 million residents for the first time.
According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 3,754 homeless people in Oklahoma.
In 2022, Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa hosted a PGA Championship.
In an April 2023 report, The Sentencing Project highlighted Oklahoma's Failure to Protect law, which has "been used primarily against women" and has "sometimes resulted in survivors of abuse facing longer sentences for allegedly failing to protect their children from harm than the person who committed the abuse."
In June 2023, Oklahoma and Kansas state officials began seeking federal approval and funding to extend the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kansas.
In November 2023, KDOT said the Heartland Flyer service would start in 2029 if approved, but could begin sooner were the project to be fast tracked.
As of December 22, 2022, Oklahoma had been more severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023) than the average U.S. state, with 405 deaths per 100,000 population and 59% of the population fully vaccinated. Greer County recorded the highest death rate from COVID-19, while Payne County recorded the lowest.
In 2023, Oklahoma's gross domestic product was $254.13 billion. The state had a per capita income of $58,499 in 2023.
A teqball competition was held in Tulsa June 14–16, 2024.
As of 2024, Oklahoma had more than 4,700 dams, about 20% of all dams in the U.S.
Devon Park will host softball and the Riversport OKC complex will host canoe slalom at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
KDOT indicated in November 2023 that, if approved, the extended Heartland Flyer service would commence in 2029, with the potential for an earlier launch if the project is expedited.
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