Description
The Kialegee Tribal Town is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma, as well as a traditional township within the former Muscogee Creek Confederacy in the American Southeast. The name "Kialegee" comes from the Muscogee word, eka-lache, meaning "head left." The Kialegee Tribal Town is headquartered in Wetumka, Oklahoma. Of the 700 enrolled tribal members, 629 live within the state of Oklahoma. Its tribal jurisdictional area falls in Creek County, Muskogee County, Tulsa County, County, Okmulgee County, Hughes, McIntosh, Okfuskee counties. The Kialegee Tribe is based in Wetumka, but traces its roots to Alabama and Georgia. Beginning in 1835, the tribe was forcibly relocated to present-day Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears.
Language
Many tribal members still speak the Muscogee language.
Culture
The Kialegee had a matrilineal kinship system, with descent figured through the mother's line. Children are considered to be born into the mother's clan and receive their status from her and her people. It was an agrarian community. Women and children grew and processed a variety of crops, in addition to gathering roots, berries and nuts, while men hunted for game or harvested fish. The tribe's citizenship or membership rules requires individuals to be a full-blood Native American: half to full-blood Muscogee Creek and up to one-half Indian of any other tribe.