The land runs, which were actual races for land, are part of Oklahoma history. It s how a significant portion of the state was settled.
The first land run was in 1889, settling an area of central Oklahoma called the Unassigned Lands, which was uninhabited and not belonging to any Indian tribe. Click here to see it on a map.
That s the land run in which Oklahoma City was founded, jumping from a population of zero to 10,000 in one day.
In this era of Heritage Haters, the Land Runs are under attack.
As I reported in 2015, above, it is now forbidden to Oklahoma City schoolchildren to reenact the land runs, even though their city was founded by a land run.
Oklahoma City Community College has removed a controversial monument depicting the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 from its campus.
Formerly visible outside the campus’ main building, the concrete monument features settlers on horseback, in wagons and on bicycles racing to stake their land claims in the April 22, 1889, land run. The carved words on it read, “May the spirit of the pioneers always be with us.”
OCCC Executive Vice President Danita Rose, whose maternal grandfather was of Cherokee descent, said Tuesday that the recent decision to remove the monument was a top priority for the school’s executive leadership team.
“It was a no-brainer,” Rose said in a statement.
Updated: 5:22 PM CST Jan 26, 2021 KOCO Staff Oklahoma City Community College announced Tuesday that it has recently removed a controversial Land Run monument on its campus. The large concrete slab, visible outside the main building on campus, depicted those who came to Oklahoma for the Land Run of 1889 as heroes and innovators, OCCC officials said in a news release. Executive Vice President Danita Rose, whose maternal grandfather was of Cherokee descent, said in the news release that the decision to remove the monument was a top priority for the executive leadership team. “It was a no-brainer,” Rose said in the news release. “If our goal is to create a community that is inclusive and welcoming to everyone, a monument that depicts cruelty and oppression can’t be on display here.”The monument, which officials said predates most current OCCC employees, was the subject of numerous complaints via social media, letters to the editor of the student-run Pio