Muscogee Creek Nation

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Who are the Muscogee Creek Nation?

Early ancestors of The Muscogee Creek Nation constructed magnificent earthen pyramids along the rivers of what is now the Southeastern United States as part of their elaborate ceremonial complexes. The Muscogee later built expansive towns within these same broad river valleys in the present states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Official Tribal Name: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation

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Official Website: Muscogee Creek Nation 

Recognition Status: Federally Recognized

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Region: Southeastern

State(s) Today: Oklahoma 

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Confederacy: Muscogee

The Muscogee were not one tribe but a union of several. This union evolved into a confederacy that was the most sophisticated political organization north of Mexico. Member tribes were called tribal towns. Within this political structure, each tribal town maintained political autonomy and distinct land holdings.

The confederacy was dynamic in its capacity to expand. New tribal towns were born of “Mother towns” as populations increased. The confederation was also expanded by the addition of tribes conquered by towns of the confederacy, and, in time, by the incorporation of tribes and fragments of tribes devastated by the European imperial powers. Within this confederacy, the language and the culture of the founding tribal towns became dominant.  

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Black Creeks adopted through the Dawes Commission between 1898 and 1916

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Bands, Gens, and Clans

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The Seminole were originally part of the Muscogee tribes.

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Common rituals included:

  • Conducting a wake service the night before burial;
  • Never leaving the body alone before burial;
  • Enclosing personal items and food in the casket;
  • Digging graves by hand;
  • Each individual throwing a handful of dirt into the grave before covering, called giving a “farewell handshake”;
  • Covering the grave completely by hand;
  • Building a house over the grave;
  • Waiting 4 days before burial;
  • Using medicine/purification; and
  • Adhering to a socialized mourning period.

Burial customs practiced by Creek Freedmen

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Tribal College:  College of the Muscogee Nation
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Muscogee Creek Chiefs and Leaders

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