Dramatic east-facing (sunrise) entrance to FAM, the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The stainless steel sculpture is “Touch to Above” by Cherokee artists Demos Glass and Bill Glass, Jr. From a placard nearby, “The cross symbolizes the sacred number four; found in the Creator’s order for the directions, seasons, stages of life, and the logs of the stomp dance fire, among others.”
“We were always here.”
In the 1400’s, around 18 million humans were already living in what is today the United States, before Europeans arrived. By 1800, Native numbers were down 95% (to less than one million.) The FAM – First Americans Museum – a new, world-class museum and cultural center in Oklahoma City, tells their story largely as it unfolded in the state of Oklahoma.
There are 39 tribes in the state, so there are a lot of stories to tell.
It seems hard to imagine that there wasn’t always someplace built specifically to celebrate Oklahoma’s rich Native culture, but I remember a visit to OKC in the early 2000’s when there was really only a small Native art gallery downtown and some items in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, unless you happened to visit during a Red Earth event or pow wow.
In 2010, I visited the construction site of what would become FAM, and wrote about this “dream in progress” right here on the Perceptive Travel Blog. Then, progress halted because of economic crashes, funding issues, etc. So much work had already gone into not only building, but simply getting the site ready starting in the mid- 1990’s. There used to be 57 oil wells located there in Oklahoma City’s drilling heyday.
Years went by. FAM supporters never gave up. I knew they wouldn’t, so I didn’t either, and lo and behold, it’s now open and I went to visit a couple of weeks after the grand opening.
Here are some highlights…
The museum is built as a spiral mound (the design is called “Of the Earth”) that meets a curved building topped by the curved glass above the central Hall of The People. The glass part is tall; it’s visible from the nearby freeway intersection of Interstate 35 and Interstate 40, and it’s an architectural nod to Wichita tribal grass houses.
Tall glass interior of the Hall of The People at FAM First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. It’s a place to gather and relax, unless it’s booked for an event.
From the Hall, you can look out onto the expansive Festival Plaza and over to the FAM Mound, which has a path for walking across the top and is a tribute to the Mound Builder culture.
It fits onto the site in a specific way, so that the sun sets in a special tunnel or atop the mound for winter and summer solstice.
Looking out toward the FAM mound at First Americans Museum, from the Hall of The People.
I mention all these details because that was one of the things that impressed me the most during my visit; how careful and intentional every single part of the complex is, even if you don’t realize what you are seeing.
There is even a small display containing ashes from the 2005 ground blessing fire before construction started; it was attended by representatives of all 39 tribes. Some determined person carefully held onto those ashes for years, knowing that somehow, some day, the ashes would have a home because the project WOULD be completed.
I know I missed a lot, so when I go back I plan to take one of the FAM guided tours.
The museum walks visitors through a long and (mostly) painful history of the tribes in Oklahoma, including the 1830 Indian Removal Act that resulted in the horrific Trail of Tears, and how all of these people ended up crammed into what used to be called “Indian Territory.” It gets pretty depressing to work your way through this, but FAM isn’t a pity party – it showcases and celebrates Native survival, resilience, and determination.
One of the first sections you come to is the Origins Theater, which tells several different tribal origins stories (“how we came to be”) using fantastic animation and graphics. The theater itself is circular and the sound quality is excellent. The exterior was inspired by Caddo pottery and designed/crafted by artist Jeri Redcorn, who is Caddo and Potawatomi.
That’s another very impressive aspect of FAM; so many curators, artists, architects, and others contributed, and their names are always recognized, then followed by their tribal affiliation.
Part of the exterior of the museum’s Origins Theater resembles Caddo pottery; this also looks into the museum’s gallery of modern life and achievements by Oklahoma’s tribes.
There are a lot of audio features at FAM, and I grew to appreciate how they convinced me to slow down and listen to voices telling stories and explaining things. The Community Voices Theater has a series of recordings that invite you to sit on one of the benches (laid out in the shape of the state of Oklahoma, complete with a little Panhandle section) and take the time to hear sounds from nature, tribal songs, and thumping drum beats. As with the Origins Theater, the sound is all-enveloping, and it offers a somewhat soothing counterpoint to going through the painful history in the previous gallery.
As the visitor is led into how the tribes fit into the modern world, there is a section pointing out painful stereotypes and sayings – “Primitives. On the warpath. Savages. Redskins. Going off the reservation. Uncivilized heathens. Geronimo!” etc. I’ve used the phrase “Going off the reservation” without even thinking about it, until I learned better, and I’m sure I’ve blundered in other ways.
As the poet Maya Angelou said, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
One of my favorite parts of the gallery was a mocked-up van where you are taken on a visual tour of pow wows around Oklahoma. The male narrator is a fun mashup of knowledgeable guide and slangy Native dudebro – if that makes sense – and I loved seeing the colorful dances and scenes from around the state. There’s also a very interactive gallery about Native sports like stickball, and displays about how Oklahoma Indian tribes played various key roles in American history, including “the original Code Talkers” – the Choctaw Telephone Squad soldiers in World War One, which was new to me.
The WINIKO exhibit upstairs in the Mezzanine features a unique reunion: many of the items are cultural objects that were originally collected from tribal Oklahoma peoples and kept by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and are now back home in Oklahoma. A prolific collector of these objects, Mark Harrington, explained his reasoning for collecting relics in a 1909 letter, saying that he collected to,
“Benefit the Indian in two ways, first by giving them good prices for their old relics, and second by getting the old things, which tend to make them keep up the old ways, out of their hands.” (emphasis mine)
FAM found descendants of some of the original owners of these items (which seems miraculous to me, given that decades and decades have passed) and the photos and videos of today’s tribal peoples being reunited with treasured objects from their ancestors is truly heartwarming.
Quapaw moccasins circa 1908 in the WINIKO exhibit at First Americans Museum OKC – the case had a photo of the original owner, Harry Whitebird (Quapaw) and Harry’s great-niece, Beth Romick Blalock (Quapaw/Kiowa) in 2019.
Other objects connected to ancestors today included a man’s beaded breechcloth (Iowa tribe,) a sash made by the daughter of a Chief of the Muscogee (Creek,) and a painted calendar on buffalo hide (Kiowa.)
From the museum website:
“Winiko is the Caddo word for everything on earth, in the universe, and beyond. This term reflects the Native belief that our cultural materials hold the spiritual essence of their makers and those who wore or used them.”
The craftsmanship of these pieces is awe-inspiring.
Woman’s blanket, Sac & Fox, circa 1910 at FAM First Americans Museum in OKC.
A final highlight is the on-site eatery, Thirty Nine Restaurant, which is “Oklahoma’s answer to modern, indigenous cuisine” using ingredients sourced from First American farms and ranches, and incorporating traditional tribal foods as much as possible.
My husband and I tried different dishes for lunch, and everything was absolutely delicious. His Three Sisters Sauté (see photo below) was made with “Heirloom Beans, Corn, Squash, Indigenous Grains, Wild Rice, Sage-Piñon Pesto, Chickweed, Red Amaranth.” My Hominy Stew included “Braised Pork, Guajillo Chili, Hominy, Scallions, Cilantro, Shaved Radish, Crème Fraîche, Crispy Blue Corn Tortilla.”
Next time we’ll go for the bison burger, and leave room for the Sweet Corn and Lavender Crème Brûlée.
In indigenous foodways, the “Three Sisters” are corn, beans, and squash.
We spent almost five hours at FAM, including the wonderful lunch and some time in the comprehensive gift shop. On a weekday, there weren’t many special programs, but there are more on the weekends, plus public talks, presentations, and film. In future years, there will be a major Chickasaw Nation resort to enjoy; the OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark is going up right next door to FAM.
Do you have a favorite cultural center, museum, or event that teaches you about the First Americans, or other indigenous peoples? Share it down in the comments.
(All photos by the author.)
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