A Broader View: The 1893 Land Run in an Era of American Change exhibit closes

The exhibit A Broader View: The 1893 Land Run in an Era of American Change pinpoints the era of the Cherokee Outlet Opening to examine the broader changes occurring across the nation. It will remain open at the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center through November 2.

Comprising approximately seven million acres, the Cherokee Outlet was acquired by the Cherokee Nation under the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. Following the Civil War, the United States forced the Cherokee Nation to relinquish some lands in the Cherokee Outlet to create reservations for other tribal nations. Remaining lands in the Outlet opened to settlement at noon on September 16, 1893. Tens of thousands of individuals participated in the largest land run in Oklahoma history.

The Cherokee Outlet Opening occurred in a year that marked immense change throughout the United States. A stock market crash and widespread bank closures triggered the Panic of 1893, which was the worst economic depression until the Great Depression in the 1930s. While the Columbian Exposition in Chicago sought to highlight American progress and ingenuity, an agricultural crisis and widespread labor unrest exposed growing inequality. Immigration was an important issue as well, specifically an influx of migrants from southern and eastern Europe.

A Broader View will expand visitors’ understanding of the context in which the 1893 land run took place. The exhibit will display advancements in mass production while speaking to contributions made by industrialists and labor organizations. Deteriorating work conditions prompted many to take a chance on the land run, where men and women assumed new roles to promote political causes and establish homesteads and businesses.