EXTRA! - Get the ball rolling

“First Kansas Colored Infantry and Native Home Guard Regiments at the Battle of Honey Springs” presentation by Art T. Burton

Honey Springs Battlefield will host a special presentation about the African American soldiers who fought for the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and the Native Home Guard Regiments at the Battle of Honey Springs. The presentation will occur on Sunday, June 25, at 3 p.m. inside the Honey Springs Visitor Center.

Retired professor and award-winning author Art T. Burton will discuss the relationship of African Americans and Native Americans in the Indian Territory during the Civil War for combatants and noncombatants. Professor Burton will discuss what made the Battle of Honey Springs unique and important to Oklahoma and Southwest history.

Burton specializes in the research of Black Americans in the Wild West and how they shaped history. As a Wild West historian and author, his career has led him to participate on panels, appear in documentaries for the History Channel, and give national presentations.

USAO Guided Tours of Honey Springs Battlefield

Honey Springs Battlefield will be hosting guided tours on the six trails that cross the 1,100-acre battlefield on June 24 and July 1, with students from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO). The students will point out the exact locations of military actions, highlight key aspects of the engagement, and discuss its historical importance. For more information regarding the guided tours and Honey Springs Battlefield, please email honeysprings@history.ok.gov or adam.lynn@history.ok.gov, or call 918-617-7125.

Will Rogers for President

The Will Rogers Memorial Museum (WRMM) in Claremore has opened two new exhibits this month. 

Will Rogers for President highlights the history behind his mock presidential campaign 95 years ago.

In May 1928, LIFE magazine ran an entertaining story promoting the idea that Will Rogers was running for president. The article appealed to “dissatisfied voters of both parties,” touting that Rogers was a perfect fit for the candidacy. Taking the suggestion of his nomination by the “Anti-Bunk Party” as a joke, he penned a witty retort the following week with the headline “I Accept the Nomination,” writing that the platform of his candidacy could be: “Whatever the other fellow [don’t] do, we will.” This exhibit explores articles, photographs, cartoons, and quotes from the period. The display illustrates that the so-called “campaign” was for the public’s amusement and another platform for Rogers’s entertaining political satire.

Another exhibit, Clem Rogers and the Legacy of the Rogers Ranch, has also been installed. This visual exhibit explores the history of the Rogers Ranch through imagery projected onto a large screen. Multiple images depicting different historic ranch scenes are on view with a backdrop of the museum’s permanent galleries that focus on the family’s Cherokee legacy.

Both exhibits were funded by an Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums grant and curated by WRMM staff members—Creative Curator Bart Taylor, Curator Jennifer Holt, and Education Coordinator Bryan Beard.