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Alpha Plus Blog: Alpha Plus News, Materials, Partners, and Education Mateirals

Alpha Plus Blog

Our latest press releases, and Oklahoma Education news. Subscribe for our teaching tips and resources for school improvement.

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DYK BaseballDream

In Oklahoma history, many times it is surprising where a person’s dreams can take them. One little boy’s dreams led to a lifetime of public service.

From Chilocco to Yankee Stadium

      As a little boy, Emmett Seeley always had big dreams. He played baseball every day after his chores were finished and his mother gave him permission. Late in life he became a popular coach of Little League teams in Murray County and, in between, he served his country. Emmett Seeley was a little boy who made his dream come true, then returned home to Oklahoma to fuel the dreams of other little boys.

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DYK BessColeman

In Oklahoma history, Bessie Coleman was just a freshman attending the Colored Agricultural and Normal University at Langston in the early 1900s. She went on to become the first black woman and the first Native American woman to receive an international pilot’s license. Read more in this sneak peek of our 6th grade ELA book! 

 Her Dreams Were in the Sky

In 1919, 27-year-old Bessie Coleman was doing nails in a Chicago barbershop. Born in Texas, she had saved up her money and moved to Oklahoma to attend what is now Langston University. She could only afford one semester so she went to live with family in Chicago and attended beauty school.

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In Oklahoma history, few dates have greater significance than April 19, 1995. In honor of the 25th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony this week, we would like to share this part of Oklahoma’s history.

On April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City and the nation experienced something they had never experienced before. The United States, and Oklahoma specifically, was under attack. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was the target of a homemade bomb. Many people including children did not get to go home that day. People around the country mourned the loss of lives in Oklahoma.

Although the country was feeling a sense of loss, the country also felt a togetherness. That feeling of unity was heard in messages that went around the world. The President offered words of support, hope, and comfort. Countless firefighters, police officers, and paramedics flooded the streets to help those in need.

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DYK Debo

In Oklahoma history, teacher and scholar Angie Debo used her study of Native American history to innovate new research methods that are widely used today.

Angie Debo: Pioneer in Native American History

In January 1890, Angie Elbertha Debo was born in Kansas. At the age of nine, she and her family moved to Indian Territory. They settled in the small town of Marshall, about fifty miles north of what would become Oklahoma City.

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DYK ellison

In Oklahoma history, a musician born in Oklahoma City in 1914 grew up to write one of the most influential novels in American history. During Black History Month, we remember the life of Ralph Ellison and the first great novel by an African-American writer, Invisible Man, published in 1952.  

Ralph Ellison: An Oklahoma Treasure

Oklahoma has a rich history of people who have made a lasting mark on their profession and the world. Ralph Ellison is one such figure. Born in 1914, in Oklahoma City, Ralph Ellison walked the halls of Frederick Douglass School and learned from early hardship that life was difficult but beautiful. Pulling from his roots and life experiences, Ellison wrote Invisible Man, one of the most influential novels in American history.

Ralph Ellison was named after his father’s literary hero, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ellison’s father had wanted his son to be a poet, just like his namesake. Unfortunately, when Ellison was three, his father was killed in a terrible accident. After the tragedy, Ellison’s mother was forced to work multiple jobs to support her family. But even in this, Ellison could see good, as his mother brought him books to read given to her by residents in the houses she cleaned. Ralph Ellison grew up poor but was able to attend school in Oklahoma City, learned to play the trumpet, and found good mentors.

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