The 2026 Summer Institute will feature the first conference playtest of one of our newest Games Under Review, Oklahoma Revolution: Radicalism vs. Racism, by Jace Weaver and Raymond Kimball. Last month, Intern Kyla Toombs sat down with Jace to talk about the development of the game and how it tackles its unique topic. 

Can you introduce yourself and tell me how you got involved with Reacting to the Past?

I'm Jace Weaver, and I’m the Franklin Professor of Native American Studies and Religion at the University of Georgia. In 2006, the Coordinator for Reacting at UGA got some funds to pay UGA faculty to sit in on a Reacting game in a class. They paid us $300, so I sat in on a French Revolution game. As is the case for most people that experience Reacting to the Past, after two sessions, I had an idea for my own game.

In those early days of reacting, I just picked up the phone and I called Mark Carnes. I didn't know Mark Carnes and he just happened to be in his office at the time. We spoke for 45 minutes about my idea, which ultimately became Red Clay 1835, the Cherokee Removal game. He told me about the annual institute at Barnard. So again, the coordinator here at UGA for Reacting got me the funds to go to New York, and I went to that 2007 Summer Institute. I've been hooked ever since.

You have a new game out, Oklahoma Revolution that is featuring at the 2026 Summer Institute. Can you tell me what it is about and why should people play it?

Oklahoma Revolution takes place in 1923, and it is about the struggle against the so-called “Second Klan.” The first Ku Klux Klan largely petered out after Reconstruction ceased. The Second Klan, which began in 1915, was much more small ‘c’ catholic in its hatred. They hated blacks. They hated Jews. They hated American Indians. They hated organized labor. They hated socialists. And ultimately, they became far more widespread geographically, encompassing a lot more of the United States than the first Klan, which was pretty much limited to the eleven states that had been the Confederate States of America. And it was much more numerous and much more powerful. So, in short, Oklahoma Revolution is about the struggle against that version of the Ku Klux Klan and the racism it engendered.

What is the general narrative arc of Oklahoma Revolution?

It situates the students in Oklahoma in 1923 within the context of earlier incidents. The so-called Tulsa Outrage in 1917, when the Klan first came to Oklahoma and attacked organized labor, specifically the Industrial Workers of the World or IWW. Then it takes up in its contextual narrative the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Oklahoma became a state in 1907, and when it becomes a state, there are three things true of Oklahoma that are not true of any other state. One, it has the highest American Indian population of any state in the country. Two, it was the most socialist state in the country. In 1912 and 1916, it gives the Socialist Party candidate for president a much higher percentage of the vote than they got nationally. There were socialists in the legislature, and there were towns controlled by socialists. Three, after 1917 and the Tulsa Outrage, it has the highest Klan population per capita in the country, estimated at over 10% of the male population involved in its activities.

These forces necessarily come into conflict. World War I nationally destroys the Socialist Party because they opposed United States entry into the Great War and favored strikes and slowdowns to impede the war effort. So, after the war, the Socialist Party in America is destroyed, but there are still all of these socialists in Oklahoma. They hold a meeting, and they say it's impossible to rebuild the party in Oklahoma, what should we do? They ultimately decide to take over the Democratic Party. And in 1922, they do.

They nominate their candidate, John C. or Jack Walton, for governor. He wins in a landslide. And he, in his inaugural address, advances an agenda that is the most progressive that has been offered in the state thus far, which is still quite a young state, and rams his policies through the state legislature. Unfortunately, about half the state legislature are Klansmen, and there is an uptick in Klan violence after Walton's inauguration in a town called Okmulgee. Walton declares martial law in Okmulgee County, sends the National Guard, and shuts it down. Then there's another flare up in Tulsa County, the largest county in the state. Walton declares martial law sends the National Guard again, and begins trying Klansmen before military tribunals. He ultimately suspends the writ of habeas corpus to more effectively stamp out the Klan. So, Oklahoma gets the first convictions against the Second Klan. But those Klansmen in the state legislature then move to impeach Governor Walton, resulting in a trial on whether remove him from office. And it is that impeachment and that trial that are the fulcrum for Oklahoma Revolution.

Is there a favorite character that you have in Oklahoma Revolution?

There are so many. There's Governor Walton himself, around whom a kind of negative legend has grown: that he was incompetent, that his war against the Klan was insincere and just meant to cover up his shortcomings as governor, and that he really was not anti-Klan. All of these are belied if one looks at his record. He had been the mayor of Oklahoma City before becoming governor, and in that role he had forbade any city employee in Oklahoma City from being a member of the Klan. He had also integrated the Oklahoma City Police Department. He had a long track record of being pro-labor and pro-Indian. And so this idea that he a political opportunist in attacking the Klan  doesn't really hold water.

Another character I really like is Aldrich Blake. He was a close advisor of the Governor who supported his war on the Klan. But Blake believed in prosecuting the war because he thought the Klan would chase blacks out of Oklahoma and would just create problems in other states. He was a white supremacist through and through. So he had very mixed motivations that were absolutely contrary to what I think Governor Walton's were.

And then there's Ernest Bynum. Ernest Bynum was an aide to the governor, whom the governor fired during the crisis and went on to write a book about it. There are always three incidents cited to prove that Walton was just an opportunist who didn't believe in anything. And all of them, and this is often repeated by lazy historians of Oklahoma history, every single one of those three incidents is traceable to Bynum's book. And in every instance, each of those three instances, he and the governor are the only two people in the room when the incident occurred. So, you make a determination of if you believe Bynum or not.

What has your students' reaction to Oklahoma Revolution been?

While they are often sympathetic to the central figure, Oklahoma Governor John C. Walton and his fight against the Klan, they acknowledge that he made some mistakes and was perhaps a flawed character to carry on this struggle.

Were there any other games that were particularly influential in the development of Oklahoma Revolution?

Well, my wife and I wrote Red Clay 1835, and that certainly was my template for my model. I came up with the idea for Oklahoma Revolution during a brainstorming session at the GDC, the first GDC. Additionally, although it's nothing like it in structure, I always thought that Oklahoma Revolution would make a great companion game or a follow-up game to Greenwich Village 1913. So I'd say those are the two biggest influences on it.

Are there any specific classes that you think would be good for Oklahoma Revolution to be played in?

I would think classes on 20th century American history, classes on American labor history, and classes in radicalism and racism in that era. Political science classes would also be a good fit,  and certainly classes on Oklahoma history if you happen to be at a university or college in Oklahoma that teaches that. But I think ultimately a fairly wide variety of classes because it sadly remains all too relevant.

Given the content of Oklahoma Revolution, are there any aspects that students might find controversial?

Well, it deals with race and extreme racism on the part of the Ku Klux Klan. Another model I had in mind as I wrote it was Nick Proctor's Kentucky game, which revolves around whether Kentucky will secede from the Union at the beginning of the American Civil War. And there, when it comes time for someone to utter racist language, he simply has them lay down a card and say, I play the race card. That means I am uttering racist language here, and I don't want to. In this case, in my case, there are certain members or certain characters who are members of the Klan, and there are members who are sympathetic to the Klan, but they are advised not to utter racist language or arguments and merely keep it on the basis of “legalistics” – whether Walton violated the Oklahoma State Constitution in his actions.

Finish this sentence: Reacting to the past needs more games on….

Race in America. Kentucky touches upon it. Nick Proctor's Reconstruction game, of course, deals with it. Oklahoma Revolution deals with it. But we need more. We now have games in development that address the topic from Vertis Robinson and Bill Offutt, like The Fate of John Brown Short Game or Detroit, 1859. Vertis is also working on one that deals with an early slave revolt. But up until fairly recently, race was an unexplored area, unfortunately, for Reacting.

Are there any other projects, Reacting or otherwise, that you are currently working on at the moment?

I'm working on an article about my great-grandfather. He was an engineer, and he moved to Oklahoma and became fabulously wealthy by starting the first public service company, power and light company, in Oklahoma. He played polo with Will Rogers, so forth and so on. So I began this article, but my research has proved that he's a far more interesting character in ways that I didn't expect when I started the article. So it's going to be very interesting to continue working on that.