Durant is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States that serves as the headquarters of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The population was 18,589 in the 2020 census. Durant is the principal city of the Durant Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 46,067 in 2020. The city is the largest in the Choctaw Nation, ranking ahead of McAlester and Poteau. Durant is also part of the Dallas–Fort Worth Combined Statistical Area, anchoring the northern edge.
Ardmore is the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 24,725 at the time of the 2020 census, a 1.8% increase over the 2010 census figure of 24,283. The Ardmore micropolitan statistical area had an estimated population of 48,491 in 2013. Ardmore is 90 miles (140 km) from both Oklahoma City and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, at the junction of Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 70, and is generally considered the hub of the 13-county region of South Central Oklahoma, also known by state tourism pamphlets as "Chickasaw Country" and previously "Lake and Trail Country". It is also a part of the Texoma region. Ardmore is situated about 9 miles (14 km) south of the Arbuckle Mountains and is located at the eastern margin of the Healdton Basin, one of the most oil-rich regions of the United States.
Southeastern Oklahoma State University is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had a total enrollment of 5,376 in 2022.
Betsy Mix Cowles was an early leader in the United States abolitionist movement. She was an active and influential Ohio-based reformer, and was a noted feminist and an educator. She counted among her friends and acquaintances people such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry C. Wright, and Abby Kelley Foster.
Sandy Garrett is a retired American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Garrett is the former Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Norma Jean Paulus was an American lawyer and politician in the state of Oregon. A native of Nebraska, she was raised in Eastern Oregon before becoming a lawyer. A Republican, she first held political office as a representative in the Oregon House of Representatives, and then became the first woman elected to statewide public office in Oregon when she became Oregon Secretary of State in 1977. Paulus later served as Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction for nine years. She made unsuccessful bids to become Governor of Oregon and United States Senator. Prior to her death on February 28, 2019, Paulus lived in Portland, where she was involved with several non-profit groups and sponsored a ballot measure to create open primaries in Oregon's statewide elections.
Susan Paddack is a Democratic politician and former educator in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. She served in the Oklahoma State Senate representing District 13, which includes Pontotoc and Hughes counties and parts of Garvin and Coal counties, since 2004. As of 2013, she served as Minority Whip and Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee.
Johnnie C. Crutchfield is an American politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. He served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1998 to 2010, representing District 14, which included Carter, Garvin, Love and Murray counties.
Joe Anna Hibler is an American educator. Much of her career was spent teaching business at the university level. Retired from active teaching, she is the former president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), an inductee into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, and currently a regent of the Regional University System of Oklahoma.
Angela Z. Monson is an American politician from Oklahoma who served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives, representing District 99 from 1990–1993, as well as the Oklahoma Senate, representing District 48 from 1993–2005. In 2003, she became the first African American woman assistant majority floor leader in the Oklahoma legislature. Monson defeated incumbent Kirk Humphreys, a former Oklahoma City mayor, for the school board chairman's position in 2009, serving until 2013.
Dr. Isabel Keith Baker was a former educator in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Throughout her 43 years as an educator, Baker taught in several Oklahoma schools, retiring as Professor Emeritus from Northeastern State University in 1994. Baker served on the Oklahoma State University A&M Board of Regents from 1991 until 1999. She played a major role in the renovation of Willard Hall, the home of OSU's College of Education. During her career and throughout her life, Baker has been recognized as a champion of gender equity. In the 1980s, Baker ran for Congress and was defeated by Republican candidate, Tom Coburn.
Kate Vixon Wofford was an educator from South Carolina. In 1922, she became the first woman in the state to hold elected office when she was elected superintendent of schools of Laurens County.
Kate Frank was a Missouri-born, Oklahoma teacher who taught for nearly 50 years. She was instrumental in the founding of the Oklahoma Education Association, served as its first president, and later, donated the initial monies for the trust that became a legal defense fund for educators. She served as vice president of the National Education Association in the 1940s and was the first national Retired Teacher of the Year recipient. Honored by many awards, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1983.
Joy Lynn Hofmeister is an American educator and politician who served as the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2015 to 2023. Hofmeister was sworn in as Oklahoma's 14th State Superintendent on January 12, 2015, after defeating the incumbent Republican candidate, Janet Barresi, in the primary election and Democratic candidate John Cox in the general election. Hofmeister was re-elected on November 6, 2018, and sworn in for a second four-year term as State Superintendent on January 14, 2019. Hofmeister won re-election after facing Democrat John Cox a second time, as well as independent candidate Larry Huff.
Estelle Chisholm Ward was a Chickasaw teacher, journalist, and magazine publisher from Oklahoma. She was active in politics both civic and tribal and was elected as county treasurer of Johnston County, Oklahoma. Ward was the first woman to represent the Chickasaw Nation as a delegate to Washington, DC.
Carolyn Rexroat Warner was an American politician who served as the 15th Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Arizona, elected as a Democrat, from 1975 to 1987. Warner was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Arizona in 1986, but was defeated by former state senator Evan Mecham, who would go on to be impeached and removed from office by the Arizona legislature.
Cora Louise Boehringer was the first female superintendent of schools in Yuma County, Arizona. She has been called "the mother of the Arizona educational system". In 2008 she was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.
Nettie Bayless Courts Depp was an education reformer and the first woman elected to public office in Barren County, Kentucky when she was elected Superintendent of Barren County Schools in 1913. She served from January 1, 1914, through December 31, 1917.
Mary Adair is a Cherokee Nation educator and painter based in Oklahoma.
Maude Brockway was an American teacher, milliner, and activist. She was born in Arkansas in 1876 and moved to Indian Territory after completing her education at Arkansas Baptist College. Initially, she worked as a teacher around Ardmore, Chickasaw Nation and then opened a hat-making business. In 1910, she moved to Oklahoma City and became involved in the Black Clubwomen's Movement. She was one of the founders of the state affiliate, Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and city chapter, Oklahoma City Federation of Colored Women's Clubs of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. She served as president of the city chapter from 1925 to 1950 and of the state federation from 1936 to 1940, as well as holding offices in the national organization.
