University of Oklahoma Press

25/10/2024

We can't wait to see you at the OUP booth during ! We've got a great selection of titles for you to browse, bookmarks (with free audiobook codes from Audible and audiobooks.com) and Bedré Fine Chocolate! https://www.oupress.com/wha-2024/

24/10/2024

We're so excited about ! Come chat with us at the OUP booth in the exhibit hall or browse our selection of books online and save 30% on select titles now through 11/26. https://www.oupress.com/wha-2024/

23/10/2024

ICYMI: KGOU Readers Club: THE BONE PICKER by Devon Mihesuah interviewed by Logan Layden. Give it a listen!

KGOU Readers Club: The Bone Picker Published September 30, 2024 at 6:03 PM CDT Listen • 49:30 OU Press The latest edition of the KGOU Readers Club highlights the book The Bone Picker: Native Stories, Alternate Histories. It's a collection of chilling Native stories about the beings and entities o...

22/10/2024

Out Now! "The State of Sequoyah: Indigenous Sovereignty and the Quest for an Indian State" by Donald L. Fixico. https://www.oupress.com/9780806194639/the-state-of-sequoyah/

“Imagine the map of our country with a state controlled and run by Indigenous tribes. Donald L. Fixico takes readers inside a fascinating historical effort to do just that, offering insight and inspiration to those who advocate for sovereignty today.”—Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee Nation) and author of By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land

Few people today know that the forty-sixth state could have been Sequoyah, not Oklahoma. The Five Tribes of Indian Territory gathered in 1905 to form their own, Indian-led state. Leaders of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Muscogees, and Seminoles drafted a constitution, which eligible voters then ratified. In the end, Congress denied their request, but the movement that fueled their efforts transcends that single defeat. Researched and interpreted by distinguished Native historian Donald L. Fixico, this book tells the remarkable story of how the state of Sequoyah movement unfolded and the extent to which it remains alive today.

Fixico tells how the Five Nations, after removal to the west, negotiated treaties with the U.S. government and lobbied Congress to allow them to retain communal control of their lands as sovereign nations. In the wake of the Civil War, while a dozen bills in Congress proposed changing the status of Indian Territory, the Five Tribes sought strength in unity. The Boomer movement and seven land dispensations—beginning with the famous run of 1889—nevertheless eroded their borders and threatened their cultural and political autonomy. President Theodore Roosevelt ultimately declared his support for the merging of Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory, paving the way for Oklahoma statehood in 1907—and shattering the state of Sequoyah dream.

Yet the Five Tribes persevered. Fixico concludes his narrative by highlighting recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, most notably McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), that have reaffirmed the sovereignty of Indian nations over their lands and people—a principal inherent in the Sequoyah movement.

Did the story end in 1907? Could the Five Tribes revive their plan for separate statehood? Fixico leaves the reader to ponder this intriguing possibility.

18/10/2024

This week we were saddened to learn of the passing of OUP author and photographer, Quinta Scott, known for her scholarship of Route 66. We had the pleasure of working with Scott on her books "Route 66: The Highway and Its People" and "Along Route 66".

18/10/2024

Lunchtime Listen not to be missed! OUP author Cate Denial sat down with Amanda Irvin of Columbia's Center for Teaching and Learning to talk about A PEDAGOGY OF KINDNESS. Give it a listen!

Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning is a podcast from the Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning. Our mission is to encourage instructors, students, and leaders in higher education to reflect on what they believe about teaching and learning.

18/10/2024

We spot THE BONE PICKER! What a great list of reads for October. Check it out!

A roundup of new books with Southern connections released this month.

17/10/2024

📢 Voice It! Tell Us About Oklahoma Textbooks! A request for Oklahoma history educators. Please read and share!

Educators, we know you are deep into the fall semester, so we won’t take up much of your time, but we hope you can help us by participating in a brief survey.

As you may be aware, the University of Oklahoma Press has been publishing a state-adopted Oklahoma History textbook used in 8th and 9th grade classrooms since 1994. It’s a legacy that we are immensely proud of!

We know that textbook use and format has changed A LOT in just the past 5 years, and we need your input as we look to the future. The survey will take less than 2 minutes to complete. Your time and attention to this survey would be invaluable to us..

Please fill out on JotForm (click on link below) our quick survey about your current practices using textbooks in the classroom.

There are 5 questions total. 3 multiple choice and 2 write-in responses. The write in responses are optional!

Please share widely with anyone you think would have an opinion about classroom materials. Retired teachers, librarians, school administrators – all are welcome regardless of whether they are currently teaching Oklahoma history!

Thank you,

The University of Oklahoma Press Textbook Committee

Please click the link to complete this form.

16/10/2024

We'll miss being neighbors with WHQ here in Norman but send hearty congratulations to CSU and OUP author, Jared Orsi!

We are happy to announce the new institutional home for the Western Historical Quarterly. We are grateful to Anne Hyde and the WHQ Staff at the University of Oklahoma. We look forward to the work from the new editor Jared Orsi and the Colorado State University Staff.

15/10/2024

Out Now! "Colonizing Ourselves: Tejano Back-to-Mexico Movements and the Making of a Settler Colonial Nation" by José Angel Hernández! https://www.oupress.com/9780806194592/colonizing-ourselves/

In the late nineteenth century, the Mexican government, seeking to fortify its northern borders and curb migration to the United States, set out to relocate “Mexico-Texano” families, or Tejanos, on Mexican land. In Colonizing Ourselves, José Angel Hernández explores these movements back to Mexico, also known as autocolonization, as distinct in the history of settler colonization.

Unlike other settler colonial states that relied heavily on overseas settlers, especially from Europe and Asia, Mexico received less than 1 percent of these nineteenth-century immigrants. This reality, coupled with the growing migration of farmers and laborers northward toward the United States, led ultimately to passage of the 1883 Land and Colonization Law. This legislation offered incentives to any Mexican in the United States willing to resettle in the republic: Tejanos, as well as other Mexican expatriates abroad, were to be granted twice the amount of land for settlement that other immigrants received. The campaign worked: ethnic Mexicans from Texas and the Mexican interior, as well as Indigenous peoples from Mexico, established numerous colonies on the northern frontier.

Leading one of the most notable back-to-Mexico movements was Luis Siliceo, a Texan who, with a subsidized newspaper, El Colono, and the backing of Porfirio Díaz’s administration, secured a contract to resettle Tejano families across several Mexican states. The story of this partnership, which Hernández traces from the 1890s through the turn of the century, provides insight into debates about settler colonization in Mexico. Viewed from various global, national, and regional perspectives, it helps to make sense of Mexico’s autocolonization policy and its redefinition of Indigenous and settler populations during the nineteenth century.

14/10/2024

Don't miss THE BONE PICKER by Devon A. Mihesuah and published The University of Oklahoma Press, which earned a Kirkus star! Our editors named it one of "5 Novels That Will Scare You Silly".

14/10/2024

It’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day here in OKC, with lots of free activities happening at First Americans Museum! Beyond the capital city, Oklahoma is home to 39 diverse tribal nations—many of which were forcibly removed to this area. You can access current information directly from each tribe via our clickable list at okhistory.org/indigenous

Photo of Osage dancers at Gray Horse, Oklahoma, c. 1913
(15637, Ruth Mohler Collection, OHS) Made By Us

14/10/2024

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬' 𝐃𝐚𝐲!

Join us in celebrating and honoring the vibrant histories, cultures and contributions of Indigenous communities with a full day of events on our Norman campus.

Indigenous Peoples' Day honors and gives recognition of tribal nations across North, Central, and South America and the Pacific Islands. This year's events are sponsored and organized by OU's American Indian Student Association.

Celebrations include tribal flag walk, tipi setup, drum and song, dance performances, various cultural workshops, and cultural foods and beverages.

Celebrated annually on the second Monday of October, Indigenous Peoples' Day is meant to honor and celebrate the holiday with a glimpse into many activities showcasing Indigenous culture.

Learn more: https://link.ou.edu/3NqTS1O

08/10/2024

Happy Publication Day to THE BONE PICKER by Devon A. Mihesuah! https://www.oupress.com/9780806194677/the-bone-picker/

Under the shadow of gray clouds, three children venture into the woods, where they spot the co**se of an old man on a scaffold. Suddenly a wild figure emerges, with long fingernails and tangled hair. It is the Hattak fullih nipi foni, the bone picker, who comes to tear off rotting flesh with his fingernails. Only the Choctaws who adhere to the old ways will speak of him.

The frightening bone picker is just one of many entities, scary and mysterious, who lurk behind every page of this spine-tingling collection of Native fiction, written by award-winning Choctaw author Devon A. Mihesuah. Choctaw lore features a large pantheon of deities. These beings created the first people, taught them how to hunt, and warned them of impending danger. Their stories are not meant simply to entertain: each entity has a purpose in its behavior and a lesson to share—to those who take heed.

As a Choctaw citizen, with deep ties to Indian Territory and Oklahoma, Mihesuah grew up hearing the stories of her ancestors. In the tradition of Native storytelling, she spins tales that move back and forth fluidly across time. The ancient beings, we discover, followed the tribe from their original homelands in Mississippi and are now ever-present influences on tribal consciousness.

While some of the horrors told here are “real life” in nature, the art of fiction that Mihesuah employs reveals surprising outcomes or alternative histories. It turns out the things that scare us the most can lead to the answers we are seeking and even ensure our very survival.

04/10/2024

ICYMI!

In her new book on monarch butterfly migration, Monika Maeckle considers how pollinators are affected by climate change and habitat loss.

04/10/2024

02/10/2024

25/09/2024

Save the Date! Indigenous Chicago - Native American Dance and Regalia with Sharon Hoogstraten on September 28th. https://www.newberry.org/calendar/native-american-dance-and-regalia

23/09/2024

Please join us for the Indigenous Truthtelling of Boarding Schools public event next week on the National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools on September 30, 4:30 pm-6 pm CT, at the NNC event room 233 Copeland Hall.

23/09/2024

kicks off today! Let’s stand together to champion our right to read and be . Find graphics to help spread the word and ways to get involved at: https://ala.org/bbooks/banned
And stay tuned for the release of 2024 preliminary book challenge data on Monday.

20/09/2024

We’re at the American Society of Ethnohistory in Fargo this week. Stop by the booth to check out our new and backlist titles. If you’re at the conference, you can use promo code 18ASE24 for 30% off. Can't be with us in person? Shop our virtual booth now through 10/20 and save on select titles. https://www.oupress.com/exhibits-ase-2024/

19/09/2024

On Saturday, Oct. 19, the Day of Action, communities across the country will gather to celebrate the power of libraries and their vital role in democracy.

Sign up to host a local event, find resources to help plan & promote your event & see a list of events to attend ➡️ https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/day-of-action/

Organized by ALA, the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL), Brooklyn Public Library, NYPL The New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, and Unite Against Book Bans.

18/09/2024

Thank you Current for interviewing Jeremy Beer about his new book BEYOND THE DEVIL'S ROAD! https://currentpub.com/2024/09/18/the-authors-corner-with-jeremy-beer/