Thu, Jan 08 2009
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Published December 15, 2007 10:57 pm - Oklahoma women have stories to tell By Karen Thomas Phoenix Correspondent The women of Oklahoma have always played an integral part in Oklahoma’s history.
In her book, “Astronauts, Athletes & Ambassadors,” Glenda Carlile writes about the accomplishments of over 20 women during the period 1950 to 2007. Included in the book is a chapter on the five Miss Americas from Oklahoma as well as information on Shannon Miller, America’s most decorated gymnast; Doris Travis, former Ziegfield girl who received a degree from OU at age of 88 and wrote a book at 95 and is still dancing at 102; Clara Luper, mother of the civil rights movement; Wanda Jackson, queen of rockabilly; Wilma Mankiller, chief of the Cherokee Nation; Billie Letts, award winning author; Reba McIntire and Carrie Underwood. The essays in the book, “Voices from the Heartland,” celebrate women’s contributions to Oklahoma’s recent past. The women in this book are from a wide range of professions, backgrounds and lifestyles. Each woman writes about finding balance in her life and on the defining moments in her life. They talk about what they wish they had learned earlier and what wisdom they have learned so far. The also reflect on events and encounters that shaped them into who they are now. Women writers in New Mexico and Arizona on the American West have received extensive attention by scholars. But Oklahoma women writers have remained largely overlooked. In “Hidden Treasure of the American West” author Patricia Loughlin covers three women who illustrate various degrees of this literary invisibility. Angie Debo is the most well known, but never achieved a career in academics to match the success of her literary productions. Ethnologist Alice Marriott is partially known to academics but her work is often disparaged as superficial and written for a nonintellectual public audience. Muriel Wright a public historian remains little known except to a small circle of Oklahoma historians. Suzanne H. Schrems exams the critical role women played in political movements in Oklahoma in her book “Who’s Rocking the Cradle?” Telling about women pioneers of Oklahoma politics from socialism to the KKK, 1900-30, Schrems shows how women have helped shape the political culture of the state from leaders of the women of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Indian Territory to suffrage movement of early 1900s and Alice Robertson's election to Congress. Included are some of the most colorful, strong and able leaders in Oklahoma history. These books tell of the lives, hardships, triumphs and accomplishments of just some of the women of Oklahoma who have contributed to what makes Oklahoma a great state. To learn about these women and much more, visit the Muskogee Public Library. 
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