Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Another feature in which Oklahoma is distinctly different from Southern states. In Southern states you will find rural towns and locations with a large African-American presence. This is not true in the North or the Midwest. It is not true in Oklahoma either. The demographics and society don’t resemble the South.
They're very rare but Oklahoma does have at least a couple of African-American small towns, Boley and Langston.
They're very rare but Oklahoma does have at least a couple of African-American small towns, Boley and Langston.
There used to be 50 "black towns" in Oklahoma. Now I think there are 13. Why did these towns exist? Because black people were fleeing to get out of the deep south and escape to a new state. Why did they fail?
Because the democrats of southern Oklahoma wrested control of the territorial/state government over the republicans from northern Oklahoma who had control early during the territorial days and they instituted Jim Crow and racial segregation.
As far as African Americans in towns in Oklahoma. Both Hugo and Idabel resemble deep south communities in that they are 25-30% black. They are the only towns in the state that present that type of demographic. The only town that is even close is Lawton, OK but that is only because it has an army base there.
But all this is just another illustration of how Oklahoma is and isn't "the south"...
Yeah. OKC is not midwestern to Us from the great lakes.
Yeah, like maybe it's a plains state. I don't think it's' midwestern. If they claim they're midwestern, then you know the Texans will want to claim it too
Yeah, like maybe it's a plains state. I don't think it's' midwestern. If they claim they're midwestern, then you know the Texans will want to claim it too
Can a state not be plains and South at the same time?
Can a state not be plains and South at the same time?
The problem with that is that the southern plains could actually and correctly be considered "southwestern" as well as southern. And on top of that the northwest part of Oklahoma is probably more aligned with the wheat/Cattle producing northern plains than they are the southern plains which is more cotton country. Northwestern Oklahoma is very much like southwest Kansas. Not really southern anymore when you get up in that part of the state.
The problem with that is that the southern plains could actually and correctly be considered "southwestern" as well as southern. And on top of that the northwest part of Oklahoma is probably more aligned with the wheat/Cattle producing northern plains than they are the southern plains which is more cotton country. Northwestern Oklahoma is very much like southwest Kansas. Not really southern anymore when you get up in that part of the state.
Not southern? Southern areas of Kansas aren't really northern or southern, but have strong southern attributes. They aren't very culturally northern, but not quite Bible Belt either. Most would refer to it as a "transition zone" region.
I'm not even sure what "culturally northern" means. There are a lot of different cultures across the northern part of the country, and there isn't as much of a shared "northern" culture like there's in the south. You see New England, Rust Belt/Great Lakes, North Woods, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, and it's all "northern" but all very different from each other.
Not southern? Southern areas of Kansas aren't really northern or southern, but have strong southern attributes. They aren't very culturally northern, but not quite Bible Belt either. Most would refer to it as a "transition zone" region.
Well whatever you want to think of NW Oklahoma and Southwest Kansas are, they are a lot more like each other than they are with southern (and in particular SE Oklahoma) Oklahoma. Much less the rest of the south.
I kind of get the transition zone idea because as I have stated before. However I'd say this "southern attribue transition zone in Kansas holds true way more in SE Kansas than SW Kansas (the part that's adjacent to the part of Oklahoma I am describing).
There ARE southern types who have moved into that part of Oklahoma but they aren't the people who have been there for generations. They are much more transient. But the long term residents of NW Oklahoma pretty much all came from the northern states in the Cherokee Strip land run and they hold all the land in the area and make up the power structure of that part of Oklahoma. And this is true for that part of Kansas as well. There just aren't many old time southern pioneer families in that area.
It's almost impossible to differentiate Enid, OK from Hutchinson, KS for instance. They have more in common with each other than say Enid has with Muskogee, OK.
And a place like Alva, OK would have more in common with Goodland, KS or McCook, NE than it would with Idabel, OK in terms of weather, terrain, economics, demographics etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
