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The Sooner, the Better?


Oklahoma, from the United States Series Today Sooners celebrate Oklahoma Day, the anniversary of the 1889 start of the state's land rush.

The federal government opened the territory to settlement with the sound of a gunshot at noon. The "sooner" nickname comes from those eager homesteaders who headed out to stake their claim "sooner," or before noon.

Previously, Oklahoma had been designated Indian Territory, and was given to Native Americans displaced from the east, including the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes.

Today Indian culture is still prominent in Oklahoma. Some fifty-five native languages and dialects are spoken there. Farming and cattle ranching continue, but most of the state's money comes from the oil and natural gas industries, as shown in today's artwork.

Pictured: Margo Hoff, born 1912, Oklahoma, from the United States Series, about 1947, gouache on paperboard, 10 15/16 x 9 7/16 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America.