Tulsa’s Native Heritage

By Kristi Eaton and Tim Landes

Tulsa sits at the confluence of three tribal nations: the Muscogee, Cherokee and Osage nations.

In the 1830s, a group of Muscogee arrived in Indian Territory from their ancestral lands in present-day Georgia and Alabama. They created a new town called Talasi that would later transform into Tulsa.

Since then, the City of Tulsa and the tribal nations have created a shared idea toward prosperity. “The City of Tulsa works hand in hand with tribal governments on a variety of projects to further develop the Tulsa community. Mayor Bynum thinks the world of the tribal leaders we have in the Cherokee, Muscogee and Osage Nations as they have been incredibly important collaborators with him during his time as mayor, and they will continue to be in the future,” the City of Tulsa said in a prepared statement. Recently, there have been both positive and less than positive visions toward the future. The City Council has created a new Tribal Relations Committee and will work with tribes on city policy and bridge divides between the City Council. In November 2021, the City also renamed Veterans Park to Dream Keepers Park in honor of Native American contributions to the city. “In these modern times, particularly the past couple of decades, the relationship has just become so positive over time, producing so many great results for Cherokee Nation and the City of Tulsa,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.

The Cherokee Nation, he notes, has been heavily involved in food security and works with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, the Tulsa Area United Way and the Tulsa Dream Center, among other organizations. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Congress never “disestablished” Muscogee Nation’s reservation status, and overturned the conviction of Jimcy McGirt, who was retried in federal court and sentenced to life. The Governor’s office is challenging the ruling that the tribe’s state upholds tribal sovereignty. Because the City of Tulsa sits on three tribal reservations, many local law enforcement officers are cross-deputized with tribal police departments. Cherokee Nation, is the largest tribe in the United States with more than 390,000 citizens — 141,000-plus within the nation’s boundaries in Oklahoma — and is one of the largest employers in the region, offering numerous career opportunities through Cherokee Nation Businesses. Cherokee Nation also partners with the local municipalities through its career services program to help fill jobs at large business operations like the Macy’s Fulfillment Center and Amazon Distribution Center.

Cherokee Nation also is investing heavily in education. The tribe has partnered with Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology as well as Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences to create more STEM career opportunities for tribal citizens. Cherokee Nation also has partnered with OSU-Tulsa to create a state-of-the-art film lab to capitalize on the growing film industry. Speaking of film and television, in 2021, Osage Nation hosted production of the Martin Scorsese movie “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which filmed scenes in Tulsa. There’s also local filmmaker Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee), who cocreated the highly acclaimed FX Networks show “Reservation Dogs” then filmed it in the area, creating more than $10 million in economic impact, according to the Oklahoma Film and Music Office.

In 2019, the Muscogee Nation announced it had an economic impact of $866 million in Oklahoma in 2017, supporting 8,700 jobs that paid $303 million in wages and benefits to workers, with many of those jobs based in Tulsa. That same year, Cherokee Nation announced an economic impact of over $2 billion, including more than $836 million in wages and benefits and more than 9,600 in direct employment with many of those jobs in the Tulsa area.

Creek Council Oak Park sits at 1750 S. Cheyenne Ave. and features an ethno-botanical garden of plants used traditionally by the Muscogee people.