For many Oklahomans, Lake Thunderbird is familiar landscape. A manmade body of water in the center of the state, this reservoir and the surrounding forests have drawn naturalists, boater, bicyclists, campers, fishermen, and swimmers since the 1960s. Yet few know the unsettling story behind the lake's construction, a tale of Native American persistence and forethought in the face of enormous loss and unresolved injustice.

Truden, John. The Absentee Shawnees and the True Story of Lake Thunderbird. Oklahoma Humanities: Crossroads 14, no. 2 (2021): 12-16. https://www.okhumanities.org/doccenter/a72dc12fc1ee4ad2a2e8afca3f468a2b

John Truden is the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Native American and Indigenous Studies, Center for the Futures of Native Peoples at Dickinson College.

For more information on the published version and access to the article, visit Oklahoma Humanitie's Website. https://www.okhumanities.org/news/fall-winter-2021-crossroads

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