| dc.description.abstract | The topic of this thesis revolves around Oklahoma Jews and how their lives and works have shaped and challenged conceptions of Oklahoma History. Like many in the American West, Jews came to Oklahoma for economic opportunities and new beginnings. These Jews were both legally white and could readily pass as such. The frontier realities of Oklahoma, however, only exacerbated the differences in, and the positionality of, different peoples. As merchants and other professionals, Oklahoma Jews found themselves in a curious place between the various nonwhite ethnic groups that existed in the state, and white Christians whose populations would eventually dominate the state’s demographics. In this middle ground, Jews would negotiate their own identities as both Jews and Oklahomans in the face of cross-cultural interactions, shifting racial hierarchies, and dramatic demographic change.
I argue that these Jews, rather than just contributing to the growth of capitalism and colonization, extend the frontier well beyond its proverbial “closing” in 1890. This thesis considers a frontier to consist of different groups both coexisting and negotiating their own identities in the face of cultural exchange. Jews, occupying a middle ground between whites and nonwhites, extended the frontier by maintaining and adapting their own identities as both Jews and Oklahomans throughout tumultuous shifts in population, economic change, and insidious racial politics. Rather than providing a massive account of Oklahoma Jewish history as a complete story, I have selected specific historical actors, communities, cities, and time periods in order to give readers a sense of historical cohesion without being bogged down in detailed exposition. Indeed, through the examples of Muskogee, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Ardmore, I argue that the state’s history lies in the stories of cultural interaction and identity preservation, rather than in the whitewashed narratives of Land Run centric Christian pioneers. | en_US |
