Connecting the past to the present: Muscogee language to be added to downtown street signs

Macon-Bibb County officials and members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation unveiled their newest effort to honor the Muscogee history rooted in Macon last Friday at Macon City Hall. 

In the fall, 104  signs will be installed in downtown Macon with the Muscogee translation of each street name. 

“It’s important for us to feel recognized in our homeland,” Muscogee Secretary of Culture and Humanities Raelynn Butler said. 

Macon was the capital of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation until the 1830s when the Muscogee population was forcibly removed and resettled in Oklahoma.  

This recent initiative to acknowledge Macon’s role in Muscogee history comes after the county commission passed an ordinance to permanently fly the Muscogee flag over city hall in December of 2022. 

“When we take these pieces of the past and decide what we can do with them today, for sure, there are unpleasant portions of that history here,” Muscogee Principal Chief David Hill said. “But we’re changing that narrative by reclaiming history with authentic, Muscogee ownership of the story.”

The street sign initiative came about as a collaboration between the Muscogee Nation, the county, Visit Macon, Urban Development Authority and Newtown Macon.

Inspired by a visit in 2022 to Okmulgee, Oklahoma – the Muscogee Nation’s capital – for its annual Muscogee Nation Festival parade, Visit Macon CEO Gary Wheat wanted to bring the multi-lingual signage he saw on the streets in Okmulgee to Macon. 

“It’s my hope, Chief Hill, that this honors the legacy and honors the story, and honors the culture,” he told attendees at city hall. “And we’re so thankful to be able to tell that story.”