WILMA ELIZABETH MCDANIELFriends of Libraries in Oklahoma dedicated a Literary Landmark Sunday, April 28, 2013 during National Poetry Month. The late poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (1918- The dedication featured award- Born near Stroud in 1918, Wilma Elizabeth was the daughter of Benjamin and Anna McDaniel. Her father was a sharecropper and her mother was a homemaker. Her siblings were Verne, Roy, Allen, Keith, Harold, Opal, and Kenneth. Wilma lived in Lincoln and Creek counties until the effects of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl led her family to migrate to California in 1936. Her writing validated the migrant experience and she continues to influence many people to see the worth of their own stories and lives. Wilma became known as the “Okie Poet” in the Central Valley of California and was named Tulare’s Bicentennial Poet and Poet Laureate. There are 29 collections consisting solely of Wilma's poetry; six more editions of poetry and prose, and an additional 16 editions of only prose. Her writing is frequently included in anthologies of literature of working- For researchers, the Oklahoma State University Library has a website that includes oral history interviews with people who knew Wilma http://digital.library.okstate.edu/mcdaniel and materials in special collections. Other Oklahoma archives are at the Stroud Public Library and the Lincoln County Museum of Pioneer History. In California archives are at the Livingston Historical Museum, Merced County Courthouse Museum, Tulare Historical Society Museum, and University of California, Merced. Karen Neurohr, OSU Librarian, Researcher, and Coordinator for the Dedication notes “A 28- The Stroud Public Library co-
Changes of 1936 Poor girl The dark blue call Here is here not a single firefly
“Changes of 1936” appeared in Man With a Star Quilt, Chiron Review Press, 1995. Printed with permission of the literary estate of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, ©Back40 Publishing/Stone Woman Press, Joshua Tree, CA.
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