First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City
March 1, 2022
First Americans Museum
659 First Americans Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73129
405.594.2100 | famok.org
Oklahoma City is proud of its new First Americans Museum (FAM) – the largest single-building tribal cultural center in the country. The museum honors Oklahoma’s 39 tribal nations and houses the National Native American Hall of Fame.
The museum opened in September 2021 after three decades of planning and design and ongoing problems with financing. But those difficulties are in the past, and the effort turned into an exquisite facility dedicated to Oklahoma’s native tribes and culture. The tribute to the state’s tribal nations begins before you even walk through its doors. In the shape of two partial, intersecting circles, the museum grounds function as a huge cosmological clock, tracking seasons by showing the movement of the sun across the circles and highlighting the equinoxes. The museum buildings make up one circle, and an enormous earthen mound made from 500,000 cubic yards of dirt forms the other.
Visitors can walk to the top of the earthen mound to get a sprawling view of Oklahoma City, and on the equinoxes, they can have an extra special experience. On the winter solstice, the sun shines directly through a tunnel cut into the mound, flooding the interior field with light. On the summer solstice, the sun sits perfectly at the apex of the mound.
Getting the museum built was a difficult process that started back in the late 1990s. Funded by the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, and the Chickasaw Nation, agreeing on a design was an arduous task. To accomplish that, architects, the design team, landscape architects, Native consultants, a theatrical consultant, and other stakeholders worked closely with tribal members from each nation to pick the site for the museum and to listen and learn about their different traditions.
The challenge for architects was to find symbolism and design that wasn’t specific to any one tribe but to find common elements familiar to all of them. Circle and spiral shapes hold symbolic meaning in First Americans’ spirituality, and it was important to include them in the design. Time is circular in Native cultures, so there is no end, much like the continuous rising and setting of the sun.
A philosophical approach to the natural world guided design and operations: life-sustaining elements like fire, wind, water, Earth. The two circles of the museum pay tribute to ancient and modern Native communities and intersect at a space called the Hall of People, a 110-foot-tall glass dome designed after the grass lodges used by the Native Wichita and Caddo communities. Ten columns in the Hall of People represent the ten miles a day Indigenous people have forced the walk during relocation to Oklahoma, walking the path now known as the Trail of Tears.
The FAM has three main exhibit galleries, two theaters, and a restaurant. The collection explores the authentic history of First Americans, their contributions to society, and the cultural diversity among the tribes in Oklahoma. Highlights include artwork throughout the exhibits, traditional pottery, an explanation of the symbolism of stickball and game artifacts, and first-person stories told inside the “Okla Homma” exhibit.
The FAM has a partnership with Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The Smithsonian loans the FAM items, from clothing and textiles to tools and toys, for ten years. The artifacts were all collected in Oklahoma and are on display in the gallery “Winiko: Life of an Object.”
The FAM shares the cultural diversity, history, and contributions of the First Americans by showcasing state-of-the-art exhibits in First American history, culture, and art; live public and educational programs; a family discovery center with family-friendly activities; restaurants presenting unique Native inspired cuisine, and a museum store offering authentic one-of-a-kind hand-made items by premiere First American artists.
If you and your family want to explore Oklahoma history, this museum should be on your bucket list. A beautiful facility with history you probably won’t find anywhere else in the country … an experience unique to Oklahoma and Oklahoma City. Right in our own backyard! Check the website for hours of operation and pricing.
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