Oklahoma culture Silent Sunday: 1/23/11 ~ A City Celebrates, History Reminds Us, and Animal Rights v. Cowboys in 1911 January 23, 2011 Red Dirt Kelly What's fun about having some time on the front row at a OKC Thunder game? Seeing Rumble rev up the crowd! ~ photo by Nancy Potts What's more fun when having some front row time at a Thunder game? Seeing Amar'e Stoudemire of the Knicks slide around on the court, up close and personally. ~ photo by Nancy Potts How about when your boots get to meet the basketball? Hello, basketball! Well, hello boots! ~ Photo by Nancy Potts What's more fun than getting some front row time at a Thunder-Knicks game that almost sends the fans to the emergency room? How about a last minute buzzer-basket and a little packed-house celebration time!? Ohhh, YEAAH! ~ Photo by Nancy Potts. Ruth Muskrat-Bronson was the daughter of James and Ida Muskrat. Her father was Cherokee and her mother was of Irish and English decent. In a meeting with the President in December 1923, she is presenting him with a book titled "The Red Man ...In The United States" written by Protestant Missionaries, on behalf of a group called The Committee of One Hundred, of which she was a member. Ruth is said to have worn a mixture of traditional clothing styles taken from the Cherokee, Mescalero Apache and Southern Cheyenne to emphasize the Pan-Indian character of her message when she gave her speech. To her right is Rev. Sherman Coolidge (Arapaho) - 1923. Public domain photograph. In 1911, an article on the front page of the Daily Oklahoman described a bill introduced by Representative Peters that would put an end to "roping contests" as the "days of the cowboys are now" bygone, passe, etc. The bill asserted that the contests were rough and/or brutal, and that a fine would be levied. This was especially interesting because the bill came out of Osage county, evidently a place where the longhorns were still grazed and managed by cowboys. So, it's not a recent philosophical process between the cowboy and those who feel they have animal's welfare of high interest. I wonder what these roping contests entailed? Comments comments