Chapter 16 | Section 1
Popular Culture
“So you grow up different when you’re in Oklahoma as a Native kid,” said Sterlin Harjo, a Seminole and Muscogee filmmaker and cocreator of the TV series Reservation Dogs. “People know Native culture, people know who Native people are. And it’s a very diverse state. I think that not a lot of people know about Oklahoma and the diversity here, but in rural Oklahoma, it’s very diverse. And I don’t know, it was something that I wanted to celebrate in the show, growing up in Indian Territory, Oklahoma.” First airing in 2021, Reservation Dogs is primarily filmed in the city of Okmulgee, the tribal headquarters of the Muscogee Nation, in eastern Oklahoma.
Reservation Dogs follows the story of four Native American teenagers in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, in eastern Oklahoma. Reservation Dogs is notable as the first American television series with a team of Indigenous writers, directors, and actors. The lead actors are (left to right) Paulina Alexis, Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and Lane Favor.
Courtesy of FX/Hulu. FX’s Reservation Dogs is available for streaming on Hulu.
It is the first and only show with an all-Indigenous team of writers, directors, and actors. The show features four Native teenagers who embrace adventure, hip hop and rap, family, friendship, trauma, and humor. To create this show, Harjo teamed up with Taika Waititi, a Maori director from New Zealand to create Reservation Dogs. The series has received widespread praise and earned multiple awards.
The recent acclaim of Reservation Dogs fits within a long tradition of popular culture expressions in Oklahoma. Oklahoma! made its Broadway debut in 1943, a little over a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The creators of the show, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, adapted Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs’s 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs into a full-stage musical. Oklahoma! was a box-office hit and its original production ran for more than 2,212 performances. In many ways Oklahoma! transformed musical theater with its unique blending of storytelling, music, lyrics, and dance. The film Oklahoma! was released in 1955. The songs in the musical and the film are highly popular to this day. Two years earlier, in 1953, state representative and future governor George Nigh had successfully introduced a bill to make “Oklahoma!” the official state song. Marching bands at both Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma play the song “Oklahoma!” as one of their mainstay fight songs. More than seventy-five years later, a revival of Oklahoma! on Broadway featured the original words, but it offered a new interpretation by showing onstage the darker side of the twin territories of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory before they joined to become the state of Oklahoma.
The musical Oklahoma! opened on Broadway in New York in March 1943 and was a box office hit. Here is the Oklahoma! poster from the 1940s, the first major collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein. In 2019 a revival of Oklahoma! explored and interpreted the show through a new lens. Starring Rebecca Naomi Jones as Laurey and Damo Daunno as Curly, this production of Oklahoma! won Best Revival of a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the Tony Awards.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
At the same time art and culture continue to flourish in Oklahoma, the tourism industry also keeps expanding. In Oklahoma, Native American history and the history of the American West are the focus of many tourism sites. Tourism is Oklahoma’s third largest industry, with an annual impact of $8.6 billion.
OKPOP, a popular culture museum operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society, is located across the street from the historic Cain’s Ballroom in the Tulsa Arts District near Greenwood. OKPOP offers visitors an immersive experience so they can learn about the talented individuals or “creatives” connected to Oklahoma who have made contributions to literature, music, film, and beyond.
Located in Tulsa, OKPOP, an Oklahoma Historical Society museum, showcases the contributions made by Oklahomans to popular culture, including literature, music, and film.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Since 2008, fans from all over the state and the nation have cheered on the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team, helping to unite Oklahomans and strengthen the state’s identity.
Courtesy of Oklahoma City Thunder.
As Oklahoma country artist Garth Brooks has said, “I don’t think it is a coincidence that so many artists, entertainers, actors and writers are from Oklahoma. You talk about the crossroads of creativity, it’s in the blood out here.” Influential writers from Oklahoma include Will Rogers (Cherokee), N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), Ralph Ellison, S. E. Hinton, and US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Muscogee). Famous musicians from the state include Woody Guthrie, the “Queen of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson, Merle Haggard, Leon Russell, the GAP Band, Flaming Lips, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, the All-American Rejects, Kelli O’Hara, Blake Shelton, and Carrie Underwood. Oklahoma has also produced actors Wes Studi (Cherokee), James Garner, Alfre Woodard, Bill Hader, Tracy Letts, and Kristin Chenoweth. Many creatives call Oklahoma home.
Born in Tulsa and raised in Yukon before going to Oklahoma State University as a student athlete, Garth Brooks has achieved phenomenal success in country music. He remains the number-one-best-selling solo artist in US history, thanks to such hits as “The Dance” and “Friends in Low Places.”
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Wanda Jackson, by Tracey Harris. Born in Maud, Oklahoma, Wanda Jackson, known as the “Queen of Rockabilly,” was a pioneer in the music industry and paved the way for future generations of women singer-songwriters. Her music spanned multiple genres including country, rock and roll, and rockabilly. In 2009, Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Courtesy of the Capitol Art Collection, Oklahoma Arts Council.
Born in McAlester, Reba McEntire grew up as a member of a ranching and rodeo family in the town of Chockie in Atoka County. In the mid-1970s she sang the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. She performed the national anthem again fifty years later at the Super Bowl. As a two-time Grammy Award winner, McEntire is perhaps best known for her career as a country musician, having sold over 75 million records worldwide.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Born in Tulsa, poet and musician Joy Harjo is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. In 2019, Harjo was named the Poet Laureate of the United States. She was the first Native American poet to hold the position.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The 9/11 Attacks and US Involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States suffered the largest terrorist attack to date in the nation’s history. Militant Al-Qaeda terrorists highjacked four US commercial airlines, and used them as tools of destruction. Two planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. One plane crashed into the Pentagon building outside of Washington, DC. And a fourth plane, Flight 93, from Newark, New Jersey, headed for San Francisco, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The hijackers intended it to hit the US Capitol, but forty passengers and crew members overtook the terrorists and prevented the attack. Nearly three thousand people lost their lives that day, including six Oklahomans.
Following reports of the first plane hitting the North Tower, millions of Americans watched on live television as the second plane hit the South Tower. When the first one hit, journalists speculated that it was pilot error or engine problems. Then, when the second plane hit, everything changed. Oklahomans who had lived through the Oklahoma City bombing were quickly reminded of that awful day in 1995. In the days and weeks and months that followed, Oklahomans reached out to those affected by the 9/11 attacks. And they extended the Oklahoma Standard to New York City. Oklahomans raised enough money to buy a new heavy rescue firetruck for the New York City Fire Department (NYCFD). All five of their heavy rescue fire trucks had been destroyed during the 9/11 attacks. Oklahomans saw their donation as a way to repay the NYCFD for the help it provided in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. As horrific as the attacks were, they did bring people together in meaningful ways.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 were a tragic reminder to many Oklahomans of the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995. This headline on the front page of the Chickasha Express Star from that day declared “Terrorists Strike World Trade Center, Pentagon Under Attack.”
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
President George W. Bush and members of Congress came together, in a rare bipartisan moment, to support the country and the families of those who were killed. Deciding how to respond to these acts of terrorism on American soil was challenging. This was the largest and most significant attack in the United States since Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. What complicated the decision was that the terrorists were part of a widespread organization. They did not come from just one country. President Bush chose to retaliate by declaring a War on Terror, which led to US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan during the next two decades. The effort to ensure safety and security at home resulted in trillions of dollars in military spending. In the two decades following 9/11, nearly 7,000 US service members from all 50 states were killed, including 133 from Oklahoma. The government created the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, and everyday people were asked to become more aware of possible threats around them.
Oklahomans and the War on Terror
Chad Kirchen was retired from active duty and was teaching history at Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Oklahoma, when the 9/11 attacks took place. He was also a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves and a field artillery battalion commander. After 9/11, Kirchen served for two years in Iraq and one year in Afghanistan. He was attached to the joint taskforce overseeing the conflict. In his role, he traveled frequently and interacted with lots of different civilians and soldiers. He recalled the challenge of having enough food to feed 4,000 refugees and having 14,000 show up. He also interacted with numerous military units because of his role as a liaison and problem solver. During this three-year period, he ran into eight of his former students from Lawton who were serving as well. He recalled how surprised and excited they were to see a familiar face. In his spare time, Kirchen developed lesson plans for history and civics classes based on his military travel experiences to share with teachers and students back home. After his tour in Afghanistan ended, he returned home to his family and his classroom, where he resumed his teaching duties until becoming a school principal. Kirchen was recognized as Lawton Public School’s teacher of the year in 2016 and received numerous badges and service medals for his military contributions.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Lt. Col. Charles Jon “Chad” Kirchen came out of military retirement, returning to army service and leaving his job as a teacher at Eisenhower High School in Lawton. He went on to serve two years in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. In this 2004 photograph, Kirchen (right) is with his son, Senior Airman Charles Jason Kirchen, USAF C-130 Loadmaster (left), in Afghanistan. The father and son met up a few times during their respective tours. After returning from Afghanistan, Chad Kirchen resumed teaching before becoming the principal of Lawton High School.
Courtesy of the Kirchen family private collection.
While some Oklahomans served with great distinction in the War on Terror, others have more complicated stories. For example, the WikiLeaks scandal has an Oklahoma connection. In 2010, army intelligence analyst and Oklahoma native Chelsea Manning, who was stationed in Iraq, shared hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic records about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with WikiLeaks, an online outlet for posting secret documents from anonymous sources. This was likely the largest leak of classified documents in US history. A heated debate arose over whether the twenty-two-year-old was a whistleblower or traitor. In 2013 Manning transitioned to align with her gender identity and changed her first name to Chelsea. That same year Manning was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. President Obama later commuted (reduced) the sentence to seven years. Manning refused to testify in a grand jury investigation of WikiLeaks and went to prison again in 2019 for one more year.
In 2009, a military court convicted US Army first lieutenant Michael Behenna for shooting an Iraqi prisoner suspected of being a member of Al-Qaeda a year earlier. The Iraqi prisoner was killed in a combat zone during questioning about a roadside explosion that had killed members of a platoon under Behenna’s command. Behenna had questioned the prisoner alone weeks after the prisoner was initially released. The case was complicated, with Behenna saying he was acting out of self-defense. Behenna grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma, and graduated from Edmond North High School. After 9/11, he wanted to enlist in the army. His parents encouraged him to attend the University of Central Oklahoma and participate in the Army ROTC program. Following graduation from UCO, Behenna was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army, and attended Infantry Officer Training and Ranger School. He was deployed to Iraq as a platoon leader in 2007. Behenna’s mother led a campaign to first win parole for her son and then seek a presidential pardon. Governor Mary Fallin and Oklahoma attorney general Mike Hunter urged President Donald Trump to pardon her son.
Behenna received an initial sentence of 25 years in prison, but his term was later reduced to 15 years. He served his sentence at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Then he was released on parole in 2014 after serving 5 years of his sentence. In 2019 President Trump granted a full pardon to Behenna.
Oklahoma Veterans
In the two decades following the 9/11 attacks, Oklahomans continued to feel the impact of the War on Terror. Air travel changed drastically. Military service carried new challenges. New generations of Oklahomans encountered an uncertain world. As all this unfolded, Oklahomans placed renewed emphasis on veterans. In December 2023 Oklahomans participated in Wreaths Across America Day, a nationwide event. Retired army colonel Jerry Shiles explained, “We want to make sure that every single veteran gravestone is decorated and that every family knows that we are honoring their family member.” Oklahoma has a long tradition of recognizing veterans and passing legislation considered to be veteran friendly. Native nations in Oklahoma also prioritize recognizing veterans.
The National Native American Veterans Memorial opened on November 11, 2020, on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. This memorial, named Warriors’ Circle of Honor, recognizes for the first time on a national scale the enduring and distinguished service of Native Americans in every branch of the US military. The memorial was designed by artist Harvey Pratt (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma), a retired forensic artist and Marine Corps Vietnam veteran. The design features an elevated stainless-steel circle resting on a carved stone drum. Born in El Reno, Oklahoma, Pratt credits his parents and teachers for encouraging his artistic pursuits and respect for veterans. He served in Vietnam from 1962 to 1965 as a US Marine in Air Rescue and Security, and was stationed at Da Nang Air Base. Pratt was inducted as a traditional Peace Chief, the Cheyenne Nation’s highest honor.
Warriors’ Circle of Honor, by Harvey Pratt, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a Peace Chief of the Southern Cheyenne, honors the legacy and sacrifice of Native Americans serving in the US armed forces throughout American history. The stainless-steel circle in the center of the memorial symbolizes the circle of life, as well as the unity of Native American veterans.
Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian Photo Services.
Harvey Pratt’s Warriors honors Oklahomans who served in the armed forces or, in many cases, protected and defended the Constitution by serving in the judicial branch. The painting features Peace Chief Lawrence Hart, Peace Chief Harvey Pratt, Major General Rita Aragon, Lieutenant General Thomas Stafford, Commander John Herrington, Justice Tom Colbert, Justice Steven Taylor, and Justice Marian Opala, among others.
Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian Photo Services.