Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This session is part of “Perspectives in History,” the 2021 Oklahoma History Conference. Cora Youngblood Corson was born in Republic, Missouri, on January 19, 1886. Her father purchased a plot in Anadarko, Oklahoma Territory, on August 6, 1901. There Corson formed the first band in the town with her sisters and friends. From this humble beginning, she became one of the most famous women in vaudeville. However, her career has been largely forgotten. Corson earned the moniker “Oklahoma’s Prodigy” and sold out theaters across the world. She created the Cora Youngblood Corson Sextette, which performed extravagant shows and garnered national acclaim. During her illustrious career, she picketed against the trusts that ran the theaters, was arrested, and subsequently blacklisted. This presentation will illuminate this extraordinary woman’s career and legacy.
James Gregory Jr. is a doctoral graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of The Story of One Marine: The World War I Letters and Photos of Pvt. Thomas L. Stewart (Hellgate Press, 2017) and editor of A Poet At War: The Story of a World War I Marine (Hellgate Press, 2018). Gregory’s focus is World War I, the Cold War, American Indian history, and digital humanities.
This session is part of “Perspectives in History,” the 2021 Oklahoma History Conference. Cora Youngblood Corson was born in Republic, Missouri, on January 19, 1886. Her father purchased a plot in Anadarko, Oklahoma Territory, on August 6, 1901. There Corson formed the first band in the town with her sisters and friends. From this humble beginning, she became one of the most famous women in vaudeville. However, her career has been largely forgotten. Corson earned the moniker “Oklahoma’s Prodigy” and sold out theaters across the world. She created the Cora Youngblood Corson Sextette, which performed extravagant shows and garnered national acclaim. During her illustrious career, she picketed against the trusts that ran the theaters, was arrested, and subsequently blacklisted. This presentation will illuminate this extraordinary woman’s career and legacy.
James Gregory Jr. is a doctoral graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of The Story of One Marine: The World War I Letters and Photos of Pvt. Thomas L. Stewart (Hellgate Press, 2017) and editor of A Poet At War: The Story of a World War I Marine (Hellgate Press, 2018). Gregory’s focus is World War I, the Cold War, American Indian history, and digital humanities.
