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Old 02-14-2013, 05:54 AM
 
Location: Branson, Missouri
620 posts, read 1,222,106 times
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I find it ironic that many of you refer to Missouri as a "midwestern" or "northern" state...when there are parts of Missouri that are culturally more southern than ANY part of Oklahoma. For instance I live in Branson...it has a much more southern feel than Tulsa does.
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Old 02-15-2013, 02:21 PM
 
Location: plano
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I grew up in SE Oklahoma, in a town called little Dixie and not necessarily as a term of endearment. But that part of Ok felt very Southern to me.... magnolias and southern drawls abound. I can see how western Ok could be considered another region however, as it looks so different and accents etc from there seemed like different cultures from SE Ok to me......so as usual Ok is a hybrid. Same is true of Tx where I live now....
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Old 09-21-2013, 11:04 AM
 
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Growing up in the Muskogee and Tahlequah (NE) area if Oklahoma, I would definitely identify myself as "southern". But, I agree with the comments that Oklahoma is southern, western and Midwestern, all rolled into one state - I think you're perspective just depends on what part of Oklahoma you're from. Oklahoma is soo diverse geographically and culturally, it's hard to label the state as belonging to one regional label or another. Go visit the south east part of the state in the lush woodlands of the Ouachita Mountains and you will know you're someplace southern. Contrast that with the western part of the state, someplace like Lawton, you will feel a western or Texas like vibe. Then there is Tulsa, where I currently live, where you get a combination of it all...
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Old 04-11-2017, 03:29 PM
 
1 posts, read 527 times
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Default You're an idiot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mackinac81 View Post
Question for Oklahoma folk out there...

Would you define Oklahoma as southern, western, or both?

My aunt is from tulsa and has a southern accent (actually, more texan) but my friends wife, who was born and raised in Tulsa has no southern accent at all.

It seems to me that Oklahoma is more like Texas than anywhere else--kind of southern plains-ish. What are your perspectives, and please say what part of the state you're from.

Mackinac81
First off, you're an idiot. Oklahoma is very much part of the south. What makes a state "southern" is its affiliate with the civil war and culture of course, and Oklahoma has both of those notched. The culture is very much "southern" and also the last general to surrender did so in "Oklahoma" Indian territory, most of the Indians fought with the south. The confederate flag flew on the Oklahoma state capital till 1988. Also the US consensus bureau labels Oklahoma as a apart of "the south"
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Old 04-11-2017, 04:36 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
17,633 posts, read 13,452,818 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by klusmeyerokla View Post
First off, you're an idiot. Oklahoma is very much part of the south. What makes a state "southern" is its affiliate with the civil war and culture of course, and Oklahoma has both of those notched. The culture is very much "southern" and also the last general to surrender did so in "Oklahoma" Indian territory, most of the Indians fought with the south. The confederate flag flew on the Oklahoma state capital till 1988. Also the US consensus bureau labels Oklahoma as a apart of "the south"
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Old 04-13-2017, 02:02 PM
 
Location: plano
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The civil war was 150 years ago. To think things like this don't change in this amount of time is foolish. Does this have a big influence for the time passed? Sure but if I here is significant change in population from outside the same region ..... change in culture is underwag
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Old 04-13-2017, 04:16 PM
 
101 posts, read 121,014 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnhw2 View Post
The civil war was 150 years ago. To think things like this don't change in this amount of time is foolish. Does this have a big influence for the time passed? Sure but if I here is significant change in population from outside the same region ..... change in culture is underwag
Ahh, so this begs the question of whether it's possible for a Southern state to cease being "Southern."

I do feel that Oklahoma's culture is changing to be more region-neutral. More and more young people don't have Okie accents, don't grow up in small agricultural communities, don't go to Southern Baptist churches, view much of the association with Southern history as negative, etc.

But this same thing is happening all over the South, albeit at different rates.

So does this indicate that Oklahoma is not the South anymore, or that the whole South is not "the South" anymore, or that it's all still the South, only Southern culture is now fundamentally changed?

Interesting subject (to me)!
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Old 04-13-2017, 04:53 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
17,633 posts, read 13,452,818 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Studying Okie View Post
Ahh, so this begs the question of whether it's possible for a Southern state to cease being "Southern."

I do feel that Oklahoma's culture is changing to be more region-neutral. More and more young people don't have Okie accents, don't grow up in small agricultural communities, don't go to Southern Baptist churches, view much of the association with Southern history as negative, etc.

But this same thing is happening all over the South, albeit at different rates.

So does this indicate that Oklahoma is not the South anymore, or that the whole South is not "the South" anymore, or that it's all still the South, only Southern culture is now fundamentally changed?

Interesting subject (to me)!
I just think Oklahoma's historical settlement is too complex to flatly claim that the state is "southern" although it is more southern than anything else.

BUT, the idea of the "tribes signing with the confederacy" does not accurately reflect the position of the indians during the civil war. One needs to read about the council at Antelope Hills and the flight of Opathleyahola as well as the Indian Home Guard to understand that the tribes were actually split to a great degree.

Secondly, the Boomer movement was created by and for northern concerns. There were more Boomers in the run from the north than there were from the south. Same with the Cherokee strip run.

OTOH, southern migration came from southern whites who took Indian land during the allotment period, and whole lot of migration from Texas into the Cheyenne Arapaho runs, the addition of Greer County and the lotteries in SW Oklahoma.

However, the early day civic leaders of both OKC and Tulsa were northerners. In OKC, Anton Classen, Harry Overholser were northerners. EK Gaylord was from Kansas/Colorado. In Tulsa, probably 8 out of 10 oil barons were northerners. Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a northerner.
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Old 04-13-2017, 05:02 PM
 
Location: The Republic of Gilead
12,716 posts, read 7,741,223 times
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I don't see how Oklahoma can be considered anything but Southern today, given the dominance of the Southern Baptist Church in every facet of life as well as the glorification of rural, southern culture. While Oklahoma's historical regional identity is complicated, today it is solidly Southern. I think Oklahoma shares a common culture with Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and West Virginia. Those are Southern states with blue collar roots and that don't have any major cities. They have also missed out on the sunbelt boom that places like Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and even Tennessee have enjoyed. Oklahoma is also the most conservative/evangelical state in the South. The only other one that comes close is Alabama.
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Old 04-18-2017, 03:37 PM
 
Location: OKIE-Ville
5,542 posts, read 9,441,833 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bawac34618 View Post
I don't see how Oklahoma can be considered anything but Southern today, given the dominance of the Southern Baptist Church in every facet of life as well as the glorification of rural, southern culture. While Oklahoma's historical regional identity is complicated, today it is solidly Southern. I think Oklahoma shares a common culture with Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and West Virginia. Those are Southern states with blue collar roots and that don't have any major cities. They have also missed out on the sunbelt boom that places like Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and even Tennessee have enjoyed. Oklahoma is also the most conservative/evangelical state in the South. The only other one that comes close is Alabama.
There's no denying the strong Southern semblances in the vast majority of the State of Oklahoma: accents, Evangelicalism and most notably a statistically large amount of Southern Baptist churches per capita, food, strong preponderance of country music/Red Dirt stars, crazed college football culture, et al.

I do think there is a very strong Western culture in Oklahoma too, though. (And to be truthful, Oklahoman's probably celebrate their Western heritage more than the Southernness of the State.) Oklahoma is almost a perfect melding of the South and the West. It is definitely Southern, but with a very strong Western flair not resident in most Southern states with the exception of Texas.

The topic of this thread is much more on point/closer to capturing Oklahoma's regional and cultural distinctiveness rather than the misguided query: "Is Oklahoma the South or the Midwest?" <---That particular question is just too far off target.

Good dialogue. Cheers.
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