OKIE STATE!!
In my work I can see the Grapes of Wrath story. I'm a Petroleum Landman and I do mineral title reports for the evil oil companies. When I work Western Oklahoma especially the Panhandle area I can see this story in the courthouse records. There are tons of sheriffs deeds and tax deeds from when people lost their land through this time period. Also I find a bunch of current mineral owners with California addresses. These are the descendants of the few who managed to hang on to their land. Sad but interesting at the same time.
And there is this from World Lingo.com:
It has been said that some Oklahomans who stayed and lived through the Dust Bowl see the Okie migrants as being quitters who fled Oklahoma; but there is hardly a native Oklahoman who does not have some family member who made the trip. Most Oklahoma natives are as proud of their Okies who made good in California as are the Okies themselvesand of the Arkies, West Texans, and others who were cast in with them.[2]
In the later half of the twentieth century, there became increasing evidence that any pejorative meaning of the term "Okie" was changing; former and present "Okies" began to apply the label as a badge of honor and symbol of the Okie survivor attitude.[3]
In one example, Republican Oklahoma Governor Dewey F. Bartlett launched a campaign in the 1960s to popularize Okie as a positive term for Oklahomans;[4] however, the Democrats used the campaign, and the fact that Bartlett was born in Ohio, as a political tool against him,[5] and further degraded the term for a time.
However, in 1968, Governor Bartlett made Reddick, the originator of the California usage, an honorary Okie. And in the early 1970s, Merle Haggard's country song Okie from Muskogee was a hit on national airwaves.
Also during the 1970s, the term Okie became familiar to most Californians as a prototype of a subcultural group, just like the resurgence of Southern American regionalism and renewal of ethnic American (Irish American, Italian American or Polish American ) identities in the Northeast and Midwest states at the time.
Since the 1990s, the children and grandchildren of Okies in California changed the very meaning of Okie to a self-title of pride in obtaining success, as well to challenge what they felt was "snobbery" or "the last group to make fun of" in the state's urban area cultures.
Oklahomans usually use Okie without prejudice, but it is often used jocularly too; similar to the use of Hoosier by Indianans, Yankee by New Englanders, or Canuck by Canadians, none of whom consider their terms for themselves particularly denigrating.
It has been said that some Oklahomans who stayed and lived through the Dust Bowl see the Okie migrants as being quitters who fled Oklahoma; but there is hardly a native Oklahoman who does not have some family member who made the trip. Most Oklahoma natives are as proud of their Okies who made good in California as are the Okies themselvesand of the Arkies, West Texans, and others who were cast in with them.[2]
In the later half of the twentieth century, there became increasing evidence that any pejorative meaning of the term "Okie" was changing; former and present "Okies" began to apply the label as a badge of honor and symbol of the Okie survivor attitude.[3]
In one example, Republican Oklahoma Governor Dewey F. Bartlett launched a campaign in the 1960s to popularize Okie as a positive term for Oklahomans;[4] however, the Democrats used the campaign, and the fact that Bartlett was born in Ohio, as a political tool against him,[5] and further degraded the term for a time.
However, in 1968, Governor Bartlett made Reddick, the originator of the California usage, an honorary Okie. And in the early 1970s, Merle Haggard's country song Okie from Muskogee was a hit on national airwaves.
Also during the 1970s, the term Okie became familiar to most Californians as a prototype of a subcultural group, just like the resurgence of Southern American regionalism and renewal of ethnic American (Irish American, Italian American or Polish American ) identities in the Northeast and Midwest states at the time.
Since the 1990s, the children and grandchildren of Okies in California changed the very meaning of Okie to a self-title of pride in obtaining success, as well to challenge what they felt was "snobbery" or "the last group to make fun of" in the state's urban area cultures.
Oklahomans usually use Okie without prejudice, but it is often used jocularly too; similar to the use of Hoosier by Indianans, Yankee by New Englanders, or Canuck by Canadians, none of whom consider their terms for themselves particularly denigrating.
Just kidding. LOL. 
Oklahoma State gets "shorthanded" verbally as "O- K STATE" by some media comentators in other parts of the country.
"Okie State"?.... he's just another fatheaded, broadbutted broadcaster with a lazy tounge.
And I really don't know were the "Hoosier" thing came from...unless they were watching the Indiana game up in the booth while they were working the OU-OK State game. Even the most inane East Coast media **** knows that Indiana is the West Virginia of the Midwest- not to be confused with the Grapes of Wrath Dustbowl we now call "Oklahoma".
<sarcasm off>
"Okie State"?.... he's just another fatheaded, broadbutted broadcaster with a lazy tounge.
And I really don't know were the "Hoosier" thing came from...unless they were watching the Indiana game up in the booth while they were working the OU-OK State game. Even the most inane East Coast media **** knows that Indiana is the West Virginia of the Midwest- not to be confused with the Grapes of Wrath Dustbowl we now call "Oklahoma".
<sarcasm off>
Please allow me to weigh in on this topic. As for bona fides, I was raised in Cimarron County in the Panhandle, and I am 64 years old, so I am well acquainted with many of the original Okies.
In spite of the Californians attempt at cutting down Okies in the '30's, I view both those that left and those that stayed as very courageous people.
These were people who lived with the double whammy of depression and the dust bowl days. Those that chose to leave and move to other states, whether California or not, did so with the full knowledge that they were moving their families with very few possessions into an area where there were no guarantees of work. Keep in mind that those folks definitely had the work ethic. Would many of us today have done the same?
Those that chose to stay also displayed courage in deciding to stay and fight with nature and the economy, doing whatever work they could find in order to keep their families sheltered, clothed and fed. If you've never stood and seen your land blowing away and creating "drifts" at the ends of the fields, you can't begin to understand the horror that they faced.
A few of my extended family went to Oregon but most, including all of my parent's brothers and sisters stayed in Oklahoma. At least until WWII broke out. Then all my dad's brothers enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific.
So, if you want to call me an Okie, go right ahead. I stand with a lot of courageous fellow Okies. As far as I'm concerned, there is no shame in the term, even if some folks try to make it so. When they try, I just throw this same explanation to them and they become dumb-struck.
Also, I welcome those wishing to come here, as long as you don't come here and try to make Oklahoma like a failed state.
.
In spite of the Californians attempt at cutting down Okies in the '30's, I view both those that left and those that stayed as very courageous people.
These were people who lived with the double whammy of depression and the dust bowl days. Those that chose to leave and move to other states, whether California or not, did so with the full knowledge that they were moving their families with very few possessions into an area where there were no guarantees of work. Keep in mind that those folks definitely had the work ethic. Would many of us today have done the same?
Those that chose to stay also displayed courage in deciding to stay and fight with nature and the economy, doing whatever work they could find in order to keep their families sheltered, clothed and fed. If you've never stood and seen your land blowing away and creating "drifts" at the ends of the fields, you can't begin to understand the horror that they faced.
A few of my extended family went to Oregon but most, including all of my parent's brothers and sisters stayed in Oklahoma. At least until WWII broke out. Then all my dad's brothers enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific.
So, if you want to call me an Okie, go right ahead. I stand with a lot of courageous fellow Okies. As far as I'm concerned, there is no shame in the term, even if some folks try to make it so. When they try, I just throw this same explanation to them and they become dumb-struck.
Also, I welcome those wishing to come here, as long as you don't come here and try to make Oklahoma like a failed state.
.
Okie is a cool term! I love it. I dont care where it came from! However there is even a song by Merle Haggard, Okie from Muskogee!! So it cant be a bad thing. Also consider OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY is the STATE's University!!!
