Line #57 UsefulNotes/OklahomaUSA


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0550_6.GIF]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Theatre/{{Oklahoma}} "OOOOh Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains..."]]'']]
3
4	-> ''"When the Okies left Oklahoma and moved to California, it raised the IQ of both states."''
5	-->-- ''Creator/WillRogers''
6
7	One of the fifty states of the U.S.A., and the 46th state to enter the Union, in 1907. Known for oil fields and cattle ranches, with mountain ranges in the southwest, south central, southeast, and eastern parts of the state, Oklahoma borders Arkansas and UsefulNotes/{{Missouri}} to the east, UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} to the south, UsefulNotes/NewMexico via its western strip of land known as The Panhandle, and UsefulNotes/{{Colorado}} and Kansas to the north. It’s also home to two major cities: Oklahoma City, its capital and largest city, and Tulsa, largely known as the alleged homebase of Creator/TheMostEverCompany art collective (the rent's real cheap). Oklahoma is also known for its severe weather, particularly its tornadoes; warm air from the Gulf of Mexico meets with cool air from the Rocky Mountains, resulting in an average of 62 tornadoes per year.[[note]]It's worth noting that despite the state's reputation, Oklahoma is only third place as far as states with tornadoes go, with neighboring states Kansas and Texas having more tornados per-year (96 in Kansas and ''[[EverythingIsBigInTexas 155]]'' in Texas) than Oklahoma. Despite this, Oklahoma tends to receive more notoriety than Texas and Kansas (to the point that it's become known as "the tornado capital") due to being right in the heart of Tornado Alley and its history of large and destructive tornado events on the [=EF4-5=] scale.[[/note]]
8
9	The state is also notorious for its high Native American population. Prior to the state's founding, the United States government displaced multiple Native American tribes and relocated them to the eastern half of the future state, which was legally defined as the Indian Territory. This territory originally included much of the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, but over time shrank to most of present-day Oklahoma. In 1890, the western half of the Indian Territory was split off by the US government and renamed the Oklahoma Territory; the Panhandle, which hadn't been assigned to any particular territory and was known as "No Man's Land", was given to the Oklahoma Territory. In 1906, Congress allowed the Oklahoma and Indian Territories to draft a constitution and become one state: Oklahoma.
10
11	The landmark Supreme Court case, ''[=McGirt=] v. Oklahoma,'' 591 U.S. ____ (2020), found in a 5-4 majority that much of Eastern Oklahoma, including the state's second largest city, Tulsa, remains as tribal land as per treaties between the federal government and tribal residents for the purposes of prosecution under the Major Crimes Act, removing much of the state's jurisdiction over Native residents in the area and sparking an ongoing jurisdictional dispute between the state and the tribal governments.
12
13	Politically, the state is strongly Republican, with the state voting for the Republican Party in every presidential election since 1952 (with the exception of Democrat [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1964), and every single one of the state's 77 counties voting Republican in every presidential election since 2000. Currently, the Republican Party also has a lock on the governorship, the state's Congressional delegation, as well as the majority in both the State Senate and the State House of Representatives.
14
15	In sports, the state is home to only one professional sports team: the Oklahoma City Thunder of the UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation. The team was established in 1969 as the UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} [=SuperSonics=] and relocated to OKC in 2008, following disputes regarding their old arena. On the collegiate level, the state is home to four Division I schools: the University of Oklahoma ([[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Big 12]], moving to the SEC in 2024) in the Oklahoma City suburb of Norman, Oklahoma State University ([[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Big 12]]) in Stillwater, the University of Tulsa ([[UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences The American]]) [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in... Tulsa]], and Oral Roberts University (which doesn't have a football team, and plays in the non-football Summit League), a [[StrawmanU Christian Evangelical]] school in south Tulsa.
16
17	!!Oklahoma in media:
18
19	* ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of course]].
20	* Chandler from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' briefly worked in Tulsa.
21	* ''Film/{{Twister}}'' was filmed on location throughout the state.
22	* HBO's ''Series/{{Watchmen\|2019}}'' is set in Tulsa and deals with the legacy of the 1921 race riots, but [[CaliforniaDoubling was actually mostly filmed]] in UsefulNotes/{{Georgia\|USA}}.
23	* ''Film/KillersOfTheFlowerMoon'' is set in Osage County in the 1920s and deals with another ugly episode of Oklahoma history—the killings of many members of the Osage Native American nation as part of a scheme to steal Osage oil wealth.
24	* The webcomic ''Webcomic/WildeLife'' is set in the fictionalized[[note]]There's a real one, but it's an ''actual'' ghost town[[/note]] town of Podunk, Oklahoma.
25	* Mary Bubnik of ''Literature/BadNewsBallet'' originally came from Oklahoma and doesn't want to return--not because she doesn't like it, but she doesn't want to live with her father and his new wife.
26	* ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'' series is set in and around Tulsa.
27	* ''Literature/TheStand'': while wandering through May, an actual town in northwestern Oklahoma, Nick Andros encounters May native Tom Cullen, and later Nick and Tom are rescued by another Oklahoman, Ralph Brentner.
28	* ''Film/{{Thunderstruck}}'', featuring the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Oklahoma City Thunder]] and starring then-OKC superstar Kevin Durant, is of course set and filmed in Oklahoma City.
29	* The ''Fanfic/TokimekiPokeLiveAndTwinbee'' OriginalCharacter Yoko Catherine Osaka White as well as her ([[spoiler:now-deceased]]) biological parents were originally from Lawton before they moved to {{UsefulNotes/Japan}}. Her older sister, Beverly Lynn Osaka White, was also originally from the state too, having lived in Chickasha for the first 14 years of her life.
30	* ''Series/TulsaKing'', starring Creator/SylvesterStallone. The first season was filmed on location in Oklahoma but subsequently moved production due to the intense summer heat.
31	* ''Series/ReservationDogs''
32	* ''VideoGame/CrashNTheBoysStreetChallenge'', a NES game by Technos Japan, features the Oklahoma High School team.
33	!!Famous Oklahomans:
34	* Music/TheAllAmericanRejects (Stillwater)
35	* Music/GarthBrooks (born in Tulsa, raised in Yukon)
36	* Creator/KristinChenoweth (Broken Arrow)
37	* Music/JoeDiffie (Tulsa)
38	* Music/TheFlamingLips (Oklahoma City)
39	* Creator/JamesGarner (Norman). A section of Jones Avenue in Norman was renamed in his honor.
40	* Music/VinceGill (Norman)
41	* [[Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} Bill Goldberg]] (Tulsa)
42	* Music/WoodyGuthrie (Okemah)
43	* Creator/BillHader (Tulsa)
44	* Wrestling/JakeHager (born in UsefulNotes/NorthDakota, raised in Perry)
45	* Music/{{Hanson}} (Tulsa)
46	* Creator/RonHoward (Duncan)
47	* Creator/JenniferJones (Tulsa)
48	* Music/TobyKeith (born in Clinton, raised in Moore)
49	* Mickey Mantle (born in Spavinaw, raised in Commerce)
50	* Creator/RueMcClanahan (Healdton)
51	* Creator/HayleyMcFarland (Edmond)
52	* Music/RebaMcEntire (born in [=McAlester=], raised in Chockie)
53	* Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck (Watonga). A major highway in Watonga is named in his honor.
54	* Creator/ChuckNorris (Ryan)
55	* Creator/WillRogers (Oologah)
56	* Wrestling/JimRoss (born in UsefulNotes/{{California}}, raised in Westville)
57	* Music/BlakeShelton (Ada)
58	* Music/CarrieUnderwood (born in Muskogee, raised in Checotah)
59	* Wrestling/MaeYoung (Sand Springs, nowadays a Tulsa suburb)

Context UsefulNotes / OklahomaUSA