Oklahoma Social Studies OKH.C.8

Standard Cluster

Investigate how post-war social, political, and economic events continued to transform the state of Oklahoma from the 1950s through the present. Evaluate the progress of the Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma by describing the goals, strategies, and accomplishments toward equality. Examine judicial interpretation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Describe issues and decisions of the landmark Supreme Court cases of Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents for Higher Education. Assess the leadership of Governor Raymond Gary in the integration of the public common and higher education systems. Explain the strategy and effectiveness of nonviolent lunch-counter sit-ins, such as those organized by Clara Luper, local churches, and the NAACP. Compare the consequences of Tulsa Public School’s voluntary desegregation initiated at Booker T. Washington High School to Oklahoma City Public Schools delayed compliance resolved by a lawsuit and subsequent rulings and enforcement. Analyze the impact of growth in various sectors of the state economy. Describe the value of agribusiness to the state economy, producing commodities, such as wheat and livestock, for the nation; examine water use issues impacting agribusiness. Examine the development of defense-related, aerospace, and aviation industries (e.g., Fort Sill, Tinker Air Force Base, FAA, weather research, and national disaster preparedness). Analyze recent oil and gas boom-and-bust cycles, such as new discoveries in the Anadarko Basin and the growth of alternative energy sources, such as wind power. Describe the state’s connection to international trade through construction of transportation infrastructures (e.g., interstate highway system, McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System). Evaluate the impact of tourism as an industry, boosted by the construction of Route 66, state parks, and museums. Examine the growth of Tribal enterprises, their effects on the state’s economy and on the financial stability of American Indian Nations, including examples of state and Tribal cooperation (e.g., gaming compacts, cross-deputization agreements). Identify the causes and consequences of rural to urban to suburban migration, as well as urban renewal efforts (e.g., Oklahoma City’s MAPS Project). Analyze the historical and contemporary relationship between the State of Oklahoma and Oklahoma’s thirty-nine federally recognized Tribal governments. Explain how Tribal governments in Indian Territory were altered or disestablished by congressional acts prior to Oklahoma statehood, including the effects of allotment policies and the dissolution of many tribal governing institutions. Key context teachers could reference: Dawes Act, Curtis Act, Oklahoma Statehood. Describe concerns expressed by Tribal citizens during the transition to statehood, including the loss of land, self-government and legal jurisdiction. Explain how federal legislation in the twentieth century supported the reorganization or strengthening of Tribal governments and self-determination. Examples teachers may reference: Indian Reorganization Act, Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Examine the structure and authority of modern Tribal governments, including constitutional or traditional governing systems and the powers exercised over Tribal citizens, lands, and resources. Analyze major court decisions affecting jurisdiction and sovereignty between Tribal, state, and federal governments. Examples teachers may reference: McGirt v. Oklahoma, Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta. Students should understand how these rulings affect: criminal jurisdiction, state authority, tribal authority, citizens living within reservation boundaries. Explain the ongoing role of Tribal governments in preserving Native cultures, languages, and community institutions. Summarize the contributions of Oklahoma leadership in a changing political environment. Identify the contributions of contemporary politicians and public servants (e.g., Speaker Carl Albert, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, and educators/historians Eddie Faye Gates, Angie Debo). Describe trends in political realignment from dominance by the Democratic Party following the Great Depression to the emergence of the Republican Party, exemplified by the election of Governor Henry Bellmon. Analyze Oklahoma’s response to acts of domestic terrorism. Identify the effects of the domestic terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Describe the volunteerism and heroism of responding Oklahomans, exhibiting the “Oklahoma Standard.” Examine the purpose of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and how it continues to fulfill its mission of remembrance and education. Examine recent contributions by Oklahomans to the public’s quality of life. Describe migrations of recent cultural and ethnic groups to Oklahoma and their impact on the social and economic transformation of the modern state. Analyze the influence of Oklahomans in various fields, such as the arts, literature, and sports (e.g., Ralph Ellison, Jim Thorpe, Bill Mauldin, the Five Moons [Indian Ballerinas], Allan Houser, N. Scott Momaday, Reba McIntire, Joy Harjo, Te Ata). Explain changing perceptions, both internal and external, of the state and its citizens, comparing the images from Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, to the musical Oklahoma!, and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026)