Jessica Crabtree

November 16, 1907: Oklahoma, formerly Indian Territory, becomes the 46th state

Oklahoma (from the Choctaw words meaning “red earth”) was first obtained by the US in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It became known as Indian Territory following the Indian Removal Act of the 1820′s and 30′s, which culminated in the infamous Trail of Tears. The majority of Native Americans forcibly relocated to Indian Territory belonged to the “Five Civilized Tribes” of the southeast – the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminoles – so-called because they had tried in large part to adapt to European culture and lifestyle.

Indian Territory was also the destination of many other lesser-known forced marches, like that of the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Wyandot and Seneca. Following the Plains Indian Wars of the late 1800′s, the western part of the territory became home to Cheyenne, Comanche, and Apache who were placed under military incarceration at the start of the reservation era.

In 1889 the territory that had been reserved for Indians losing their homelands to white settlers was opened to homesteaders. In the Land Run of 1889, thousands of eager settlers rushed across the border in a single day to stake their claims. Despite attempts by tribal governments to create a sovereign Indian state within the territory, their appeals were denied; Oklahoma was permanently opened to American settlement and admitted to the Union in 1907.

Read more about this event and see a gallery of historical photos on the Library of Congress website.