Choctaw Capitol Museum

The Choctaw Capitol Museum at Tuskahoma occupies the historic Choctaw Capitol building, once the center of the Choctaw Nation's government in Indian Territory. The building gives visitors a direct connection to a sophisticated tribal political system that included elected officials, legislative processes and national institutions. Exhibits cover Choctaw removal, government, education, culture, military service and community life. The late nineteenth-century political story is especially important because the Choctaw Nation faced growing pressure from federal allotment policies and the movement toward Oklahoma statehood. The surrounding grounds remain a major gathering place for the Choctaw Nation, particularly during the annual Labor Day Festival. That continuing use reinforces the fact that the site is not simply a memorial to a government that disappeared. Visitors interested in Choctaw history can pair the museum with Wheelock Academy, Fort Coffee, Peter Conser's home and Skullyville. Together, these locations reveal the depth of Choctaw governmental, educational and community institutions across southeastern Oklahoma.