Vote for the Oklahoma Quarter

The choices have been narrowed down to the top five. You can cast your vote for which one will be on our state quarter, to be released next year. Voting will be open until 5 p.m. Friday, April 27.

http://www.ok.gov/governor/coin.php

The one least offensive to my sensibilities is the one with the scissor-tail flycatcher, so I guess I'll vote for that one.

Interesting theme with the woman and the child in the others, but all those designs strike me as a stamp on attempts to justify the rape of the land and the theft of it. I find it offensive that Oklahoma's native heritage is always presented as a pipe, rather than a person, while the invader image is always an archetypal individual. I guess those who made these designs were trying to use the woman/child construction to draw attention away from that, which only makes me dislike those designs even more.

The designs with oil wells are particularly disgusting.

Oh well ... I'm leaving here soon, so I suppose I'm not supposed to care. Fed up with this place, I am.

That woman & child represents the Pioneer Woman statue that is is front of the museum of the same name in Ponca City.

The statue, dedicated to all pioneer women of the United States, carries the following inscription: “In appreciation of the heroic character of the women who braved the dangers and endured the hardships incident to daily life of the pioneer and homesteader in this country.”




I like that the Oklahoma quarter might feature a woman, I haven't seen one on any of the other quarters.

I do appreciate the Pioneer Woman image, but, while taking nothing away from that archetype, I still find it offensive in the context of Oklahoma history. The Pioneer Woman is the front for the rapists, so to speak, and "she" should be, in my view, offended as well. The patriarchal society thrust these women and their children into the most dangerous of situations so that the men could rape the land and steal the wealth from those who came before. She is deserving of praise, if for no other reason than the fact she survived this abuse. And, it is abuse. She should be recognized for that, as should her children. But, imo, she's still a front. The Pioneer Woman in Oklahoma cleared the land and made the home while the men went out and pillaged.

They were invaders and occupiers, and I, sadly, am a descendant of the original occupiers. I don't think my family should be honored for that. I think the people my family displaced should.

But that part seems to be left to the image of a pipe.

The scissor-tail flycatcher--that's a cool bird, though. I wouldn't mind that one. The oil wells are just :wtf:, and your analysis on the other imagery is interested.

Oh well ... I'm leaving here soon, so I suppose I'm not supposed to care. Fed up with this place, I am.
Any idea where you're headed, RoyGBiv?

:hi:

Gotta go see about a girl. :-)

(Actually, it's all a part of my devious plan to invade all the large-vote red states with freaky liberals like myself and take over.)

More seriously, though ... following dreams, finding people that are important to me, one of whom is a woman I lost and who found me again, doing the things I want to do with my life ... making a difference.

Can't do it here.

Will always be an OU fan, though. Sooner born and Sooner bred. :hi:

congrats and good luck! :)

Why isn't there one with native americans on it in some way? The only one one I remotely like is the one with the scissor tail flycatcher. The other ones are just glossing over the history of Oklahoma.
Duckie

I sent this to a few historian friends. Appalled would be a kind word to describe their reaction.

Hi all,

First, an introduction. My name's Lizzie, and I grew up in OKC. I'm now in college in Philly and am working on a research paper on the state quarter selection process. It's for a course I'm taking called The Production of History, in which we're looking at the various processes through which history is made (everything from historical fiction novels, to historical reenactments, to museums and monuments, to textbooks.)

I see state quarters as being an interesting window into historical production, in that the process more or less involves Oklahomans creating an idea of and voting on how they want to remember and understand themselves historically and how they want to represent themselves and their state to the rest of the nation. This process of course raises the sensitive question of just who is included within the category of Oklahoman and which groups are being excluded, their histories (and thus the state's) silenced.

I stumbled on this conversation doing some research, and I was gratified to find that a few people are talking about the quarter designs. Quite frankly I had expected to find a lot more controversy surrounding the designs than I have been able to locate thus far, but maybe I've just been away from Oklahoma for too long. It struck me immediately that there was a great deal of historical rewriting going on in the designs, as many of you have noted in you comments about the lack of Native American representation and the lionizing of the "original" settlers.

I guess my question, then, is why. Why aren't people speaking out about the designs? Gov. Henry himself acknowledged the discursive power these quarters will have as he announced the start of the voting process:


"While we Oklahomans have a definite vision of Oklahoma, studies have shown that many outside the state don’t have any strong impressions of what Oklahoma is like. It’s not that they think poorly of Oklahoma or Oklahomans; they simply don’t know much about our state.

Now, in the year of our centennial, we have a chance to change that."


I haven't been around for all the steps of the selection process, so I'm trying to get caught up on the process. Were there more representative quarters in the earlier voting round? What was the quarter selection committee's role in all of this? Have any groups spoken out? More generally, what would you like to see on a quarter if you could submit a last minute design?

Obviously I'm tossing around quite a few questions. I'd love to get some feedback on this issue and to talk about it if anyone's willing. Message me here, or my email is ethrelk1@swarthmore.edu. Thanks so much!

Lizzie

From the link I first posted:

"As you might remember, last year I asked the public to select their top five quarter designs from 10 that had been recommended by two separate ad hoc committees. People responded with enthusiasm and cast more than 267,000 votes."

There were hundreds of designs submitted. The committees didn't design the quarters, they narrowed down the choices to the 10 that were voted on last year. These 5 received the most votes.

You asked "Why aren't people speaking out about the designs?"

I would guess people aren't speaking out because these 5 designs were the peoples' choice winners. Those who don't like them had a chance to vote against them & they were out voted. I don't see what the problem is? Isn't that how the voting process is supposed to go?

"Isn't that how the voting process is supposed to go?"

Yes, definitely, if this quarter is supposed to convey the idea that the majority of Oklahomans have of their state in 2007. My only question is if that is an adequate representation of the state's history.

It seems like it would have been possible to set up certain criteria on a state level that would have to have been met in the quarter's design, like, for example, highlighting the state's Native American history. Of the five finalist quarters, two have a pipe in the background. I understand that the Indian Paintbrush in the scissored-tail flycatcher are supposed to represent this heritage as well, but to an outsider the flowers will hardly carry that significance.

On the other hand, four of the five quarters feature the pioneer woman and her now problematic lack of a Bible. By showcasing the pioneers who settled Oklahoma, are we not glossing over the fact that they weren't the first one's here?

Obviously this viewpoint isn't wide-held enough to impact the voting process, but should that be a reason to discount it entirely?

Also, speaking of the Bible controversy, what do people think?

Lizzie

that bird attacking small animals (like our dachshund) and small children. While it's a beautiful bird, it can be pretty aggressive.

But, I like it on the quarter better than the other choices. Wish there had been a finalist that had the seven tribes feathers.