First Americans Museum (FAM)

The 39 tribal nations represented at FAM share one defining historical fact: each was forcibly relocated to what is now Oklahoma during the 19th century. The forced removals began in the 1830s with the Cherokee Trail of Tears under President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, expanded through the 1830s and 1840s with the removal of the other Five Civilized Tribes, and continued through the post-Civil War period with the relocation of dozens of Plains and southwestern nations to Indian Territory reservations.

The result was an extraordinary cultural concentration: by 1900, what would become Oklahoma contained more distinct Native nations than any other geographic area in North America. Today, those 39 nations remain federally recognized, maintain sovereign tribal governments, operate their own healthcare and education systems, and collectively represent over 500,000 enrolled citizens. The museum's mission is to tell these cultural histories from the nations' own perspectives rather than the dominant non-Native curatorial framing that has shaped most American museums of Native culture for the past century.

FAM was founded in 1997 as a state-of-Oklahoma project but transitioned to operation by the American Indian Cultural Center Foundation, a nonprofit specifically created to manage the museum. The 39 nations themselves are represented on the foundation's board and are integrated into curatorial decisions through formal tribal advisory groups. This governance model — Native communities exercising meaningful curatorial authority over their own representation — is uncommon in major American museums and is one of the most-discussed aspects of FAM's institutional design.

The 175,000-square-foot main building was designed by Hornbeek Blatt Architects (Denver) with extensive consultation from a 39-nation advisory committee. The building's form is dominated by two architectural moves: a sweeping curved Hale (gathering place) at the center of the structure, and an earthen mound that wraps around the southern and western sides of the building, integrating the architecture with the surrounding landscape.

The Hale is the main public hall and is the building's most striking interior space. The curved roof rises to roughly 110 feet at its highest point and is supported by an exposed steel and laminated-wood structural system that explicitly references traditional Native architectural forms. Natural daylight floods the space through expansive glass walls; the floor is polished concrete inlaid with abstract patterns drawn from the visual traditions of the 39 nations.

The earthen mound is approximately 100 feet tall and is constructed from compacted soil planted with native Oklahoma grasses. The mound is climbable — visitors can ascend an exterior path to the top for panoramic views of the Oklahoma River, downtown Oklahoma City, and the surrounding landscape. The mound deliberately references the historical earthworks of pre-contact Native communities across the American Southeast and Midwest, and connects FAM architecturally to indigenous building traditions that predate European arrival.

The Origins gallery is the museum's introductory exhibition and walks visitors through the creation stories and pre-contact histories of the 39 nations. Each nation contributes its own origin narrative in its own voice — through audio recordings, video interviews, traditional storytelling, and curated artifacts. The gallery uses immersive multimedia technology to allow visitors to select specific nations to explore in depth, rather than presenting a single homogenized 'Native American' narrative.

The OKLA HOMMA gallery (the name comes from Choctaw for 'red people') explores how Oklahoma's 39 nations have shaped the state's modern culture, music, sports, food, government, and economy. The gallery covers topics including the role of Native-owned businesses in the contemporary Oklahoma economy, the influence of tribal music traditions on Oklahoma popular music (Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys included Native musicians; Wayne Newton is Cherokee), Native athletes who have represented Oklahoma at the highest levels, and the impact of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 on tribal economies.

The Tribal Nations galleries provide individual focused exhibitions on specific nations and cultural topics. These rotate every 12 to 24 months and have included Cherokee history and contemporary art, Comanche horse culture, Caddo pottery traditions, Chickasaw governmental history, and contemporary Native fashion. The galleries provide depth in addition to the breadth of the Origins and OKLA HOMMA exhibitions.

The Thirty Nine Restaurant on the main floor of the museum is a contemporary Native cuisine restaurant that operates as a serious dining destination in its own right. The restaurant is named for the 39 nations represented at the museum and serves a menu rooted in traditional Native ingredients and contemporary technique, executed by chef Loretta Barrett Oden (Citizen Potawatomi) and her culinary team.

Signature menu items include bison short rib with three-sister succotash (corn, beans, and squash — the foundational agricultural triad of pre-contact Native cuisine), frybread tacos with seasonal proteins and salsas, blue corn cornbread, smoked trout, and a rotating set of dishes drawn from specific tribal culinary traditions. Lunch entrees run $15 to $25; the dining room is open during museum hours plus extended hours on Thursday and Friday evenings.

The restaurant is open to the public without museum admission — visitors can enter via the museum lobby and walk directly to the restaurant. It is one of the most distinctive dining experiences in Oklahoma City and is worth visiting on its own even if you cannot stay for the full museum. Reservations are recommended for weekend lunches and Thursday/Friday dinners; available through opentable.com or the museum website.

FAM is open Wednesday through Monday from 10am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, free for children 12 and under, free for enrolled members of any of the 39 Oklahoma tribal nations (with valid tribal ID), and free for active military and veterans. Tickets can be purchased on arrival but are recommended in advance at famok.org during peak tourism seasons.

Plan 2.5 to 3 hours minimum for the museum itself, plus 60 to 90 minutes if you eat at the Thirty Nine Restaurant. The on-site museum store carries an exceptional selection of contemporary Native art, jewelry, books, and crafts — most items are made by artists from the 39 nations represented and are sold on a fair-trade basis with profits returned to the artists.

FAM is located in southeast Oklahoma City on the south bank of the Oklahoma River, about 10 minutes by car from downtown OKC via I-40. Free parking is available in the museum's own surface lot. The natural day-plan pairing is FAM (morning), lunch at Thirty Nine, then a downtown afternoon at the Oklahoma City National Memorial (15 minutes north). Both are emotionally substantial experiences but they pair well — FAM is broadly celebratory of Native sovereignty and culture; the Memorial is somber but focused on a single event.