August 2, 1917

As the United States entered World War I, Germany began closing off European markets to United States exports. The resulting recession in prices exacerbated existing problems between poor tenant farmers and wealthy landowners in rural Oklahoma. These tensions mixed with anti-war sentiment and came to a head in 1917 when tenant farmers revolted, burning bridges and cutting telegraph lines. They had hoped to march all the way to Washington D. C., growing as they marched, but local authorities cut them off before they ever reached Missouri, let alone Washington D. C.

A collection of newspapers covering the Green Corn Rebellion, August 2-3, 1917 in Seminole County, Oklahoma. Photo from Wikipedia.

Read more about the Green Corn Rebellion at the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.