Sooners

For the University of Oklahoma's athletic teams, see Oklahoma Sooners. For the Canadian football team, see Ottawa Sooners. For other uses, see Sooner (disambiguation).
Unassigned Lands – 1885

Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands illegally in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, were to be opened to American settlement in 1889. President Benjamin Harrison officially proclaimed the Unassigned Lands open to settlement on April 22, 1889. As people lined up around the borders of the Oklahoma District, they waited for the official opening. It was not until noon that it officially was opened to settlement. The name derived from the "sooner clause" of Proclamation 288 — Opening to Settlement Certain Lands in the Indian Territory, which stated that anyone who entered and occupied the land prior to the opening time would be denied the right to claim land.[1]

The designation "Sooner" had a very negative connotation.[2] While "Boomers" were merely expressing "pioneer spirit" in their desire to take and settle former Indian territory, Sooners were essentially stealing from other white settlers by cheating on the claim requirements to get better land. However, these negative connotations cooled as time passed after 1889 and land claims were settled. In 1908, the University of Oklahoma football team adopted the nickname "Sooners". The U.S. state of Oklahoma at times has been controversially nicknamed the "Sooner State" since the 1920s.[1]

  1. ^ a b Blochowiak, Mary Ann. "Sooners". Oklahoma Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2006-02-18. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
  2. ^ Hoig, Stan (2009). "Boomer Movement". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (online ed.). Oklahoma Historical Society.