Although the east and west coasts are usually more associated with the hippie revolution of the 1960s, a new book by a Cameron University history professor shows that Oklahoma had its own brand of student activism.

As part of the Phi Alpha Speaker Series, Sarah Janda will discuss her book, Prairie Power: Student Activism, Counterculture, and Backlash in Oklahoma 1962-1972, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU Texas.

Janda used underground newspapers, declassified FBI documents, and interviewed former activists and government officials to show that Oklahoma had its share of student dissidents. These activists drew not only from grassroots socialism and older precedents such as a back-to-the-land movement, but also their Christian evangelicalism and traditional gender roles to fight for change.

Janda has taught at Cameron University since 2001. She is the author of Beloved Women: The Political Lives of LaDonna Harris and Wilma Mankiller, which offers a comparative analysis of two prominent Native American women and the interplay between feminism and Indian identity in their politically active lives. She is also the author of Pride of the Wichitas: A History of Cameron University, a special publication focusing on Cameron University's 100-year history, from its inception as the Cameron State School of Agriculture in 1908 through the university's yearlong Centennial Celebration in 2008.

The event is sponsored by the Department of History and the Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and admission is free. Phi Alpha Theta is an honor society for undergraduate and graduate students, and history professors, with more than 400,000 members nationwide. Contact Dr. Whitney Snow at whitney.snow@msutexas.edu or 940-397-8917 for more information.