The First Americans Museum (FAM) is a museum in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. It was previously known as the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. It officially opened on September 18, 2021.
Background
The center was initiated in the 1990s and previously was named the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum.
Construction began in 2006, was interrupted in 2012 when state funding ran out, but resumed in 2019, after the responsibility for the museum was transferred from the State of Oklahoma to Oklahoma City.
Mission
The mission of First Americans Museum is, "To serve as a dynamic center promoting awareness and educating the broader public about the unique cultures, diversity, history, contributions, and resilience of the First American Nations in Oklahoma today."
Staff
The FAM's executive director is
James Pepper Henry
James Pepper Henry is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American museum director and vice-chairman of the Kaw Nation. He is the executive director of the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which opened on 18 Septembe ...
(
Kaw/
Muscogee).
[ Deputy director is Shoshana Wasserman ( Thlopthlocco Muscogee). Chief curator is Heather Ahtone (]Choctaw
The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...
/ Chickasaw). Loretta Barrett Oden (Potawatomi
The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
) is a culinary architect in the museum's on-site Thirty Nine Restaurant.
See also
* Center of the American Indian
The Center of the American Indian (CAI) was an intertribal, Native American-led museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was housed in the second floor of the Kirkpatrick Center.
The Center of the American Indian produced a quarterly journal, ''The ...
, Native-American led intertribal museum in Oklahoma City, active from 1978 to 1992
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2021 establishments in Oklahoma
Museums established in 2021
Museums in Oklahoma City
Native American museums in Oklahoma
Native Americans in Oklahoma City