|
Honoring our Ancestors: The Art of Beth Loftin exhibit opening and reception |
|
|
On Friday, August 28, the Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School will open the exhibit Honoring our Ancestors: The Art of Beth Loftin. The exhibit will be celebrated with an opening-night reception from 6 to 8 p.m., which will include a silent auction featuring one of Loftin’s paintings. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be served.
The art of Beth Ann Loftin combines mixed-media paintings and sculpture. She combines traditional Western portraiture with contemporary techniques and color work. The exhibit will remain open through February 2, 2027.
|
|
|
LISTEN TO THE LATEST
An unlikely baseball superstar, Mickey Mantle was raised in a mining family in northeastern Oklahoma. His father started training him to be an elite baseball player from a young age, and he eventually joined the prestigious New York Yankees. Despite injuries and personal demons, he became one of baseball’s all-time best players, amassing 536 home runs and seven World Series wins. In this latest episode of A Very OK Podcast, Trait Thompson and Dr. Bob Blackburn discuss Mantle’s life and legacy. Their guest is Alex Freedman, director of Communications and Broadcasting for the Oklahoma City Comets.
|
|
|
SAVE THE DATE
New documentary celebrates Route 66 centennial
|
|
|
The Oklahoma Historical Society, working with Director Bryan Beasley, producers Jon and Jaime Roman, and the generous support of the Inasmuch Foundation and the Cherokee Film Commission, has produced Crossroads of America: Oklahoma’s Route 66, a new documentary tracing Route 66 in Oklahoma from Dust Bowl-era hardship to nostalgic road trips. The documentary traces the road’s history as it travels diagonally through the state, stopping along the way to visit business owners, entrepreneurs, historians, and prominent citizens who piece together the story of the beloved highway.
Visionaries imagined the road, and the concrete roadway in Oklahoma took 11 years to complete, while kitschy roadside attractions, cinematic influences, and post-World War II traffic popularized the roadway. Many passing on the roadway felt a sense of freedom and a linear connection to see the country at its finest.
The documentary will air on OETA on Saturday, August 29, at 4 p.m. Check your local listings for more information.
|
|
|
HISTORIC SAVINGS
Back-to-School membership specials!
|
|
|
Oklahoma Historical Society museums and historic sites offer valuable opportunities to explore history. In August, save $5 on a Basic membership for two, discounted to $35 per year (regularly $40), or save $25 on a Family membership for up to six, at $50 (regularly $75). Both membership levels include unlimited free admission to all OHS museums and historic sites, along with additional benefits. Join or renew by Monday, August 31, to take advantage of these savings.
|
|
|
The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center invites families, friends, coworkers, and community members to experience northwest Oklahoma in a whole new way during “A Day in the Northwest,” a family-friendly interactive adventure taking place Saturday, September 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Blending local history with teamwork, competition, and hands-on fun, “A Day in the Northwest” will send teams on an Amazing Race-inspired journey across the Heritage Center grounds. Participants will travel from stop to stop, completing unique challenges that celebrate the past, present, and future of northwest Oklahoma.
The adventure begins with biscuits and gravy with the cowboys, giving participants a chance to fuel up before hitting the trail. Throughout the morning, teams will encounter activities and challenges at locations across the Heritage Center as they compete for awards and raffle prizes.
|
|
We Fought Back book signing.
Author Dr. Sara Doolittle will present a free author talk and book signing at the Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library on Wednesday, September 2, at 6 p.m. The discussion will feature her new title, We Fought Back: The Black Legal Struggle for Education in Oklahoma Territory (The University of Oklahoma Press, 2026).
Most people are familiar with the landmark 1954 US Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, which held that state laws mandating racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional. But what about the court cases that far preceded and informed this national ruling? They took place in smaller courts, in unsung parts of the United States, including in Oklahoma Territory.
|
|
This day in history, August 19, 1958 |
|
|
On August 19, 1958, a movement was born in Oklahoma City when schoolteacher and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council advisor Clara Shepard Luper (1923–2011) led the first sit-ins there. Luper and others joined to protest racial segregation with the first sit-in at Katz Drug Store in downtown Oklahoma City, blazing a trail for the Civil Rights movement in the state. While the management of Katz Drug Store agreed to become an integrated lunch counter in three days, the overall struggle took much longer.
An article published on the front page of The Black Dispatch on August 29, 1958, (detail shown above), documented the immediate impact of the sit-ins, when Veazey’s Drug Store, S. H. Kress & Company, and Green’s Variety Store followed Katz Drug Store in revising their policies to permit Black customers to dine at their lunch counters. One exception was John A. Brown’s Department Store, which took almost three years to change its policies, finally desegregating on July 6, 1961.
Learn more:
|
|
Follow the OHS website calendar to learn about our events and programs at OHS museums and historic sites across the state! Our calendar constantly changes with the latest programs and activities, from seasonal events to celebrations, exhibits, films, educational classes, and workshops. |
|
|
Connect with the Oklahoma Historical Society on social media—where you can learn more about Oklahoma history and get up-to-date information about events and exhibits across the state!
|
|
|
Masthead image:
Petronella Vossen Turck, her daughter Marie Turck, and her sister Mary Vossen Wittman sitting on the harvest in a cotton field, c.1908 (21762.15, Stearns County Historical Society Collection, OHS).
This day in history, August 19, 1958, images:
Clockwise from top left: NAACP Youth Council Advisor Clara Luper, 1970 (2010.011.B073.0116, Oklahoma Journal Photography Collection, OHS); Detail of Katz Drugstore sign at the corner of Main and Robinson in Oklahoma City, 1936 (2012.201.B0964.0122, OPUBCO, OHS); Detail, Dunjee, Roscoe, editor, “Negroes Are Served In Midwest City Cafe,” The Black Dispatch, Vol. 43, No. 30, Friday, August 29, 1958, page one; Black youths at the Katz Department Store occupied every seat at the lunch counter to protest segregation, Graves. Carl R., “The Right to be Served: Oklahoma City’s Lunch Counter Sit-ins, 1958–1964,” article, Summer 1981, The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
|
|
|
|
|
