Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration brings native culture, hope for national park to Macon

On a cool Saturday morning, a group of dancers in colorful skirts and vests gathered in a grassy clearing in front of the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park’s visitors center.

The music is entirely their own, woven from traditional songs and the rhythmic jingling of the shakers at their ankles as they move in a circle. Maconites and members of the Muscogee (Creek) — the Native American tribe that once inhabited Middle Georgia — stood captivated as they watched the dance, known as a stomp dance.

It was the opening performance of the 32nd annual Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration, which brings together Macon residents and members of indigenous groups who have historically lived in the area. The event features demonstrations, dances, storytelling and stands selling goods from indigenous artists.

“Every time I come back, it feels like there’s different reasons why I’m coming back,” said Del Beaver, second chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. “My personal feeling is that (coming back) is about feeling complete.”

This year, the event took on a new dimension as a bill to make Ocmulgee Mounds Georgia’s first national park makes its way through Congress.

Returning home

For the Muscogee (Creek), the mounds are home.

According to the National Parks Service, Ocmulgee has been inhabited for more than 12,000 years. The iconic man-made mounds that rise above the surrounding forest were built more than 1,000 years ago by a chiefdom that many southeastern Native American tribes trace their ancestry to.

The Muscogee (Creek) are especially close to the mounds, with their oral tradition holding that Ocmulgee is where their ancestors first settled after migrating east. The tribe occupied the land for more than 200 years, according to the National Parks Service .

But in 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law. The legislation authorized the U.S. government to forcibly remove thousands of natives, including the Muscogee (Creek), from their land over the course of the decade.

The Muscogee (Creek) were marched to Oklahoma, where they still live today. The capital of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is named Okmulgee for their ancestral home in Georgia.

Now, the Indigenous Celebration offers a chance for the Muscogee (Creek) to return to their land and share their culture with the people of Macon.

ShaVon Agee, program manager with the Muscogee (Creek) National Cultural and Archives Center and a citizen of the tribe, reviews applications from artists and performers who wish to be part of the celebration. She said she receives far more applicants than she can take because going to Ocmulgee is such a coveted opportunity.

“Everyone wants to go down there,” Agee said. “Everyone is always willing to go down there and share our history and culture.”

Agee said this year the tribe brought a bus of 40 to 50 dancers, the principal and second chiefs and members of the National Council, which is the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s legislative body. People and families also traveled to Georgia for the celebration.

For some, it was their first time seeing a place they had heard so much about through tribal history and family stories. Others have been coming to the celebration for years, but are still finding new ways to look at Ocmulgee.

RaeLynn Butler, secretary of culture and humanities with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation who traveled for the celebration, has been to the site before and teared up as she described Ocmulgee’s meaning to her.

“So many of our sites have been destroyed, there’s not many places we can come back and visit,” Butler said. “We’re glad that we’re welcome back, it’s good to be here.”

A national park in Georgia

This year’s celebration took on a new tone of importance, as Ocmulgee is in the process of becoming a national park.

A bill to make the change was introduced into the Senate at the end of May by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff. It is currently in committee.

In addition to making Ocmulgee a national park, the first in Georgia, the bill would also establish a co-management system that would allow the Muscogee (Creek) to be directly involved with the park. While four other national parks have a similar setup, it would be a big step in Georgia, which has no federally recognized tribes.

The exact details of the co-management agreement will need to be fleshed out in a management plan created after Ocmulgee is officially a national park, but just the idea grants huge amounts of power to a tribe that the U.S. government once tried to erase entirely in Georgia.

“I never thought that this could become a national park, or even have the chance to,” Beaver said. “A partnership with the city, a partnership with the state and a partnership with the federal government at making this a national park would just mean the world to us.”

While the idea to turn the mounds into a national park dates back to the 1930s, for many years the tribe was not involved in decisions concerning the area. Between 1933 and 1936, the U.S. government excavated the site and discovered around 2.5 million artifacts.

The tribe was not consulted about the dig, and while there are differing beliefs among the Muscogee (Creek) about how to go about such excavations, many feel what is in the ground should not be disturbed.

A chance to understand

In the meantime, park staff and citizens of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation see the Indigenous Celebration as an important opportunity to educate Maconites about native culture and issues, and remind people that they are still here.

“It gets rid of stereotypes and myths of how you think the Muscogee people or the Cherokee or the Seminole look and live today,” said Carla Beasley, the park’s superintendent.

Beasley, along with Agee and Ocmulgee Mounds Association Director Lisa Lemon, said people in Macon often think the Muscogee (Creek) are a people of the past, and don’t realize their culture and society is still thriving.

Lemon and Beasley said literature and exhibits in the park have historically contributed to that idea, and park staff have worked with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to make it clear to visitors that native people are alive and well. The Indigenous Celebration and the artists and performers it brings are a key part of that.

“This is probably the one time out of the year that tribal citizens tell our story, and (Macon residents) can actually visit with us one-on-one and they can hear our story from our perspective,” Agee said. “We’re able to celebrate our culture, and they can share that with us.”

As attendees fill the park during the celebration, the people that occupied this land before there was a city called Macon seem omnipresent. Tribal citizens in traditional dress and t-shirts bearing the seal of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation wander the mounds alongside Macon residents. The sound of Muscogee (Creek) song and flute music echoes through the trees to the very top of the Great Temple Mound, where people look reverently at the rolling hills and winding river all around them.

“I think we’re in the footprints of our ancestors, and that’s a big deal,” Butler said. “I think it’s very important for people to reconnect to where they came from, to see the landscape, to see the mounds.”