Zoe Agnes Stratton Tilghman (November 15, 1880- June 1964) [1] [2] was an American writer and historian, best known for her biography of her husband, lawman Bill Tilghman.
Stratton was born in Greenwood County, Kansas, to Agnes M. Stratton, a homemaker mother, and rancher Mayo E. Stratton. [3] : 161 In 1887, the family moved to what would become Osage County, Kansas; in 1893 they moved again, this time to the Cherokee Outlet. [3] : 161 Throughout her childhood, Stratton became familiar with the region's flora and fauna, [3] : 161 and when she was older she would ride with her father's cowhands. [1]
Although mostly taught at home by her mother, for a time Stratton did attend public school in Arkansas City. [3] : 161 She went on to attend the University of Oklahoma's preparatory school for a year and a half, and then, in 1897, the university itself. [3] : 161 While at the University of Oklahoma, Stratton became the literary editor of Umpire Magazine, the school's literary magazine, and began to write poetry. [3] : 161
Stratton met Bill Tilghman, a friend of her father, in 1900. [1] The two sent letters to each other while Stratton was at university, and Tilghman proposed to her in 1902. [1] The couple married on July 15, 1903, [1] [3] and had a short honeymoon in Kansas City. [1] Now Zoe Tilghman, she moved into the house her husband had shared with his previous wife, Flora, and their three children. [1] Flora's children and Zoe had a tense relationship. [1] Tilghman had three sons with her husband. [1]
TIlghman worked as a schoolteacher for three years. [3]
Tilghman began writing during her marriage. [1]
From 1925 to 1934, Tilghman worked at Oklahoma City newspaper Harlow's Weekly as a literary editor. [2] [3] : 164 Tilghman was involved in organizations such as the YWCA, the Oklahoma Federation of Women's Clubs, and later became president of the Oklahoma Writer's Club. [3] : 164-165
Tilghman drew on her own experiences when writing about the early history of Oklahoma. [3] Her 1925 book, The Dugout, was approved as a textbook in Kansas and Texas, in addition to Oklahoma. [3] : 163 In the 1950s, Tilghman wrote several books aimed towards children. [3] : 164
Tilghman's historical works have been noted for their bias towards "officers of the law," and unflattering and stereotypical depictions of Native Americans, with the exception of her biography of Comanche leader Quanah Parker. [3] : 163 However, Tilghman also did not erase Native Americans and their culture from her works on Oklahoma's history. [3] : 164
In the 1930s, she also published two articles in American Anthropologist . [3] : 165
In 1915, Tilghman won the Oklahoma Federation of Women's Clubs's annual poetry contest. [3] : 166
Tilghman taught a YWCA class on poetry, and taught a poetry correspondence course through an organization in St. Louis, Missouri. [3] : 164, 166
Beginning in 1935, Tilghman became the assistant director of the Federal Writers' Project in Oklahoma, [2] through which she organized the Oklahoma Poetry Society. [3] : 167 In 1936, the group produced a poetry anthology that was used in state public schools. [3] : 167 Also through the Federal Writers' Project, Tilghman wrote Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner State. [3] : 168-169
Tilghman died of natural causes in 1964, at age 83. [1] [2] She was buried next to her husband, in Oak Park Cemetery in Chandler, Oklahoma. [1]
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ is a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Gene Stratton-Porter, born Geneva Grace Stratton, was an American writer, nature photographer, and naturalist from Wabash County, Indiana. In 1917 Stratton-Porter urged legislative support for the conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in Indiana. She was also a silent film-era producer who founded her own production company, Gene Stratton Porter Productions, in 1924.
Quanah Parker was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwahadis, the son of Kwahadi Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, an Anglo-American who had been abducted as an eight-year-old child and assimilated into the Nokoni tribe. Following the apprehension of several Kiowa chiefs in 1871, Quanah Parker emerged as a dominant figure in the Red River War, clashing repeatedly with Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie. With European-Americans hunting American bison, the Comanches' primary sustenance, into near extinction, Quanah Parker eventually surrendered and peaceably led the Kwahadi to the reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Cynthia Ann Parker, Naduah, Narua, or Preloch, was a woman who was captured by a Comanche band during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836, where several of her relatives were killed. She was taken with several of her family members, including her younger brother John Richard Parker. Parker was later adopted into the tribe and had three children with a chief. Twenty-four years later she was relocated and taken captive by Texas Rangers, at approximately age 33, and unwillingly forced to separate from her sons and conform to European-American society. Her Comanche name means "was found" or "someone found" in English.
William Matthew Tilghman Jr. was a career lawman, gunfighter, and politician in Kansas and Oklahoma during the late 19th century. Tilghman was a Dodge City city marshal in the early 1880s and played a role in the Kansas County Seat Wars. In 1889 he moved to Oklahoma where he acquired several properties during a series of land rushes. While serving as a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma, he gained recognition for capturing the notorious outlaw Bill Doolin and helping to track and kill the other members of Doolin's gang, which made him famous as one of Oklahoma's "Three Guardsmen".
Meish Goldish is an author of fiction and nonfiction books and poetry. He has written over 500 books, ranging from 8-page and 16-page readers for schoolchildren to books over 100 pages long for libraries. One of his biggest-selling books is called 101 Science Poems and Songs for Young Learners. Another big seller is Making Multiplication Easy. Both are published by Scholastic.
Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program.
Muna Lee was an American poet, author, and activist, who first became known and widely published as a lyric poet in the early 20th century. She also was known for her writings that promoted Pan-Americanism and feminism. She translated and published in Poetry a 1925 landmark anthology of Latin American poets, and continued to translate from poetry in Spanish.
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The Battle of Pease River, also known as the Pease River Massacre or the Pease River fight, occurred on December 19, 1860, near the present-day town of Margaret, Texas in Foard County, Texas, United States. The town is located between Crowell and Vernon within sight of the Medicine Mounds just outside present-day Quanah, Texas.
Jan Beatty is an American poet. She is a recipient of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, and the Creative Achievement Award in Literature.
The Five Moons were five Native American ballerinas from the U.S. state of Oklahoma who achieved international recognition during the 20th century. The five women were Myra Yvonne Chouteau, Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin, and sisters Maria Tallchief and Marjorie Tallchief. With their great success in the dance industry, there are several artistic tributes across the Oklahoma area. The most well-known and significant tribute is the Five Moons (2007), a bronze sculpture installation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that portrays the five ballerinas. Other tributes include the Flight of Spirit mural in the Oklahoma State Capital and dance festivals in their honor. These five women defied racial barriers and opened a door for women of color in the ballet industry.
Annette Arkeketa is a writer, poet, and playwright, and a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma. She has conducted professional workshops in these fields, in addition to the creative process, script consulting, and documentary film making. She directed Native American film studies at Comanche Nation College.
Ágnes Lehóczky is a Hungarian-British poet, academic and translator born in Budapest, 1976.
Anna Emmaline McDoulet, known as Cattle Annie, was a young American outlaw in the American Old West, most associated with Jennie Stevens, or Little Britches. Their exploits are known in part through the fictional film Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981), directed by Lamont Johnson and starring Amanda Plummer in her film debut as Cattle Annie, with Diane Lane as Little Britches.
Ágnes Gergely is a Hungarian writer, educator, journalist and translator.
Ágnes Nemes Nagy was a Hungarian poet, writer, educator, and translator.
Beatrice Witte Ravenel was an American poet associated with the Charleston Renaissance in South Carolina.
Marie C. Cox (1920-2005) was a Comanche activist who worked on legislation for Native American children. She received many accolades for her efforts including the 1974 Indian Leadership Award from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and state recognition that same year as the Outstanding Citizen of Oklahoma from Governor David Hall. She was named as an Outstanding Indian Woman of 1977 by the North American Indian Women's Association, and served on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education from 1983 to 1990. In 1993, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame for her work with foster children and the founding of the North American Indian Women's Association.
Wendy Ponca is an Osage artist, educator, and fashion designer noted for her Native American fashion creations. From 1982 to 1993, she taught design and Fiber Arts courses at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) of Santa Fe and later taught at the University of Las Vegas. She won first place awards for her contemporary Native American fashion from the Santa Fe Indian Market each year between 1982 and 1987. Her artwork is on display at IAIA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Philbrook Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.