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Former names | Indian University (1880–1910) Bacone Indian University (1910) |
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Motto | A Place of Value & Opportunity |
Type | Private tribal college |
Established | 1880 |
Religious affiliation | American Baptist Churches USA (former) |
President | Nicky Michael (interim) |
Students | 270 |
Location | , , United States |
Campus | Suburban |
Colors | Red & White |
Nickname | Warriors |
Sporting affiliations | NAIA – Continental |
Website | www |
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Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a private college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affiliated with the mission arm of what is now American Baptist Churches USA. Renamed as Bacone College in the early 20th century, it is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma. The liberal arts college has had strong historic ties to several tribal nations, including the Muscogee and Cherokee. The Bacone College Historic District has been on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Muskogee County, Oklahoma since 2014. [1]
In 2018, the college was struggling financially. Several tribal nations agreed that year to a consortium and chartered it as a tribal college to secure federal funding under the government's treaty obligations to support Native American education. However, the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not approve conversion, leaving the college with financial issues. The college subsequently suspended operations for the spring semester of 2024 and filed for bankruptcy. [2] [3]
Some accounts credit Almon C. Bacone, a missionary teacher in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, with asking the American Baptist Home Mission Society for support to start a school in the Cherokee Baptist Mission at their capital, Tahlequah in 1867. Bacone had previously taught at the Cherokee Male Seminary established in Indian Territory. [4]
According to historian John Bartlett Meserve, Bacone College can be traced to a Baptist mission school at Valley Town in western North Carolina, which was part of Cherokee homelands. Evan Jones, one of the earliest missionaries to the Cherokee, led the school. After most of the Cherokee were removed to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, the Valley Town school moved to a site near what developed as present-day Westville, Oklahoma.
In 1867, Evan Jones' son, John B. Jones, moved the school to Tahlequah in the Cherokee Nation. In 1885, the mission school moved to Muskogee, Creek Nation, and changed its name to Bacone, after its first teacher. [5]
When Bacone College was founded (at the time more of a seminary or academy in curriculum level) in 1867, Almon C Bacone was the sole faculty and three students were enrolled. By the end of the first semester, students had increased to 12. By the end of the first year, the student population was 56 and the faculty numbered three.
Bacone appealed to the Muscogee Creek Nation's Tribal Council to donate 160 acres (0.65 km2) (a quarter section) of land for the college in nearby Muskogee. It was the capital of the Creek Nation, and informally known as the "Indian Capital of the World".[ citation needed ] The Nation granted the land to Bacone and the Baptists.
In 1885, Indian University was moved to a new building at its present site in Muskogee. It continued to develop here. In 1910, it was renamed Bacone College, after its founder and first president. [6]
In the spring of 2018, the college struggled with severe financial difficulties. It began to lay off most employees following commencement and reported that it needed an immediate infusion of $2 million in order to continue to operate: to complete the 2018–2019 academic year and to open in the fall of 2019. [7] The school reopened after cutting programs, reducing the number of faculty, and selling property. Among the properties sold was Bacone Commons, for $2.85 million as part of the college's 2018-2019 financial restructuring. [8] [9]
The tribal nations in Oklahoma collaborated to take over control of the college as a consortium to revive its history as a tribal college established for Indian education. The tribes hoped that they would be able to control education of their students, and that the arrangement would enable them to secure federal funding from the Bureau of Indian Education (in the BIA) as part of the government's treaty responsibilities to educate American Indian students. [9]
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians approved a charter agreement in April 2019. [10] In July 2019, the Osage Nation announced that it would charter the school as a tribal college. [9] In August 2019, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians also agreed to charter the college. [10] The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes approved a charter in September, [11] and the Kiowa Tribe in February 2020. [12] (The Muscogee (Creek) Nation had previously chartered its own College of the Muscogee Nation.) [9] However, Bacone did not officially become a tribal college because the BIA declined to approve the conversion, although it recategorized the college as an Indigenous-serving institution. [13] This left each student to individually apply for a Pell Grant, tribal scholarship, or other financial aid. [13]
An HVAC firm called MHEC LLC (Midgley-Huber Energy Concepts) obtained a judgment of approximately $1 million against the school on November 13, 2022 for installation of materials and energy conservation services. [14] [15] The school said it was unable to pay due to debt accumulated under previous administrations, and so Muskogee County District Judge Timothy King authorized having the campus auctioned to satisfy the judgment in April of 2023. [14] MHEC rescinded its request to auction the college at that point, but after declining an offer to be paid over time, pursued foreclosure again in November of 2023, getting an auction date set for December 14, 2023. [14] [15] On December 13, 2023, that auction too was called off; however, the school had already laid off the bulk of its teachers in anticipation, and was trying to get its students enrolled in other colleges for the next semester. [16] [17] The college then suspended classes for the Spring 2024 semester. [2] The administration hoped the shutdown was temporary but had to raise significant funds to avoid permanent closure. [2]
Following a leadership change in April 2024, Bacone announced nine students would be graduating on May 11, and that after production of a "detailed revitalization plan" the school would not be closing. [18] Two months later, however, the college filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to remain closed for the 2024-2025 academic year to reorganize. The college's leaders hope to merge with or be acquired by another institution. [3]
One of the first buildings to be erected was Rockefeller Hall, a three-story building made possible by a $10,000 contribution from philanthropist John D. Rockefeller. "Old Rock," as it came to be called, served as classroom, dormitory, dining hall, chapel, teacher quarters and administration building. It was razed in 1938 and a Memorial Chapel was built in its place. That was destroyed by fire but was reconstructed in the 1990s. The historic buildings of the campus contribute to the Bacone College Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
The campus contains many other reminders of Bacone's history, tradition, and goals. One of these is a small cemetery, the final resting place of Bacone presidents Almon C. Bacone (1880–1896) and Benjamin D. Weeks (1918–1941), as well as others associated with the school. A "stone bible" sculpture marks the spot on which President Bacone and Joseph Samuel Murrow and Daniel Rogers, two Baptist missionaries and trustees, knelt in prayer to dedicate the college. The names of all the college's presidents are inscribed on its surface.
Other structures on campus include The Indian Room at the Bacone College Library, which holds many of the papers of Almon C. Bacone; and, the McCombs Gallery, which features a large cross-section of Native American art. This includes artwork by Richard "Dick" West (Southern Cheyenne), an alumnus, former director of the art department and professor emeritus. This artist is best known for his traditional Plains-style artwork. The gallery also holds work by Woody Crumbo (Citizen Potawatomi), the only American Indian to receive a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship. Collectively, the modernist Flatstyle painting movement developed by Blue Eagle, Crumbo, West, and others is known as the Bacone school.
In 2011 Bacone College acquired the Northpointe Shopping Center, which it renamed the Bacone Commons. The college moved the campus library and important offices there. [19]
Bacone College has three centers to help fulfill its historic mission of American Indian and Christian education.
Center for American Indians:
Center for Christian Ministry:
Center for Church Relations:
Initiated by Mary “Ataloa” Stone McLendon after her arrival at Bacone in 1927, the Bacone Indian Art Program became nationally known for its association with respected Native American artists such as W. “Dick” West, Acee Blue Eagle and Woody Crumbo. [20] It fostered that school of Native American art that came to be known as the ‘’Bacone style”. [20] The college possesses the Ataloa Lodge Museum, built in 1932 and housing more than 20,000 pieces of traditional and contemporary Native American art, including the largest collection of Kachina dolls in the country. [21] [22] The fireplace of the lodge is constructed of stones sent to the college from various indigenous communities, and includes rocks from the grave of Sitting Bull, and from the field where Custer made his last stand. [2] In January, 2022, the college officially opened the VanBuren Sunshine Gallery, being exhibition space in McCombs Hall used to display new student art. [23]
The Bacone athletic teams are called the Warriors. The university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing as an NAIA Independent within the Continental Athletic Conference since the 2019–20 academic year. The Warriors previously competed in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) from 2015–16 to 2018–19; and in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) from 1998–99 to 2014–15. The Bacone football team competed in the Central States Football League (CSFL) until the sport was discontinued after the 2018 fall season (2018–19 academic year).
Bacone competes in 11 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf and soccer; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball and volleyball. Former sports included football, wrestling, and rodeo.
The Bacone baseball team won the Junior College World Series in 1967; a school with total enrollment of 250 competed with schools that had over 20,000. They were led by coach Enos Semore, who went on to coach at Oklahoma for 23 years.
Because of financial difficulties, in 2018 Bacone dropped its football, volleyball, golf, wrestling and rodeo teams. After several tribes agreed to charter the college in 2019 and ensure its survival, the college reopened.
As of February 2020, the college has the following sponsored sports returned: men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's cross country teams.
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Native Americans headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. According to the UKB website, its members are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers" or "Western Cherokees," those Cherokees who migrated from the Southeast to present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma around 1817. Some reports estimate that Old Settlers began migrating west by 1800, before the forced relocation of Cherokees by the United States in the late 1830s under the Indian Removal Act.
The Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma, showcases the art, history, and culture of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes": the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole tribes. Housed in the historic Union Indian Agency building, the museum opened in 1966.
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic Santa Fe Federal Building, a landmark Pueblo Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Federal Building. The museum houses the National Collection of Contemporary Indian Art, with more than 7,000 items.
Woodrow Wilson Crumbo (Potawatomi) was an artist, Native American flute player, and dancer who lived and worked mostly in the West of the United States. A transcript of his daughter's interview shows that Mr. Crumbo was born on January 31, 1912, so there is a discrepancy of the date until confirmation. As an independent prospector in New Mexico in the late 1950s, he found one of the largest beryllium veins in the nation, valued at millions of dollars.
Johnny Moore Tiger Jr., was a Native American artist from Oklahoma.
Willard Stone was an American artist best known for his wood sculptures carved in a flowing Art Deco style.
Cecil Dick, or Degadoga (1915–1992) was a well-known Cherokee artist often referred to as "the Father of Cherokee Traditional Art".
Walter Richard West Sr., was a painter, sculptor, and educator. He led the Art Department at Bacone College from 1947 to 1970. He later taught at Haskell Institute for several years. West was an enrolled citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
The Bacone school or Bacone style of painting, drawing, and printmaking is a Native American intertribal "Flatstyle" art movement, primarily from the mid-20th century in Eastern Oklahoma and named for Bacone College. This art movement bridges historical, tribally-specific pictorial painting and carving practices towards an intertribal Modernist style of easel painting. This style is also influenced by the art programs of Chilocco Indian School, north of Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Haskell Indian Industrial Training Institute, in Lawrence, Kansas and features a mix of Southeastern, Prairie, and Central Plains tribes.
Virginia Alice Stroud is a Cherokee-Muscogee Creek painter from Oklahoma. She is an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
Marcelle Sharron Ahtone Harjo is a Kiowa painter from Oklahoma. Her Kiowa name, Sain-Tah-Oodie, translates to "Killed With a Blunted Arrow." In the 1960s and 1970s, she and sister Virginia Stroud were instrumental in the revival of ledger art, a Plains Indian narrative pictorial style on paper or muslin.
David Emmett Williams was a Native American painter, who was Kiowa/Tonkawa/Kiowa-Apache from Oklahoma. He studied with Dick West at Bacone College and won numerous national awards for his paintings. He painted in the Flatstyle technique that was taught at Bacone from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Jimmie Carole Fife Stewart is a Muscogee (Creek) art educator, fashion designer, and artist. After graduating from the Chilocco Indian School and taking courses at the University of Arizona, she earned a degree from Oklahoma State University and began working as a teacher. After a six-year stint working for Fine Arts Diversified, she returned to teaching in 1979 in Washington, Oklahoma. Primarily known as a painter, using watercolor or acrylic media, Fife-Stewart has also been involved in fashion design. Her works have been shown mostly in the southwestern United States and have toured South America. Having won numerous awards for her artworks, she was designated as a Master Artist by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in 1997.
Valjean McCarty Hessing was a Choctaw painter, who worked in the Bacone flatstyle. Throughout her career, she won 9- awards for her work and was designated a Master Artist by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in 1976. Her artworks are in collections of the Heard Museum of Phoenix, Arizona; the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma; and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian of Santa Fe, New Mexico, among others.
Mary Adair is a Cherokee Nation educator and painter based in Oklahoma.
Jane McCarty Mauldin was a Choctaw artist, who simultaneously worked in commercial and fine art exhibiting from 1963 through 1997. Over the course of her career, she won more than 100 awards for her works and was designated as a "Master Artist" by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She has works in the permanent collections of the Heard Museum, the Heritage Center of the Red Cloud Indian School and the collections of the Department of the Interior, as well as various private collections.
Solomon McCombs was a Native American artist from Oklahoma known for his paintings, murals, and illustrations.
Mary "Ataloa" Stone McLendon (1896–1967) was a Native American musician, storyteller, humanitarian, and educator, who was a member of the Chickasaw Nation. McLendon was an important figure in Native American arts education. She was a concert vocalist, known for her contralto voice. She was influential in the creation of the art department at Bacone College, serving as the first director.
Ferlin Clark is an American academic administrator and educator. He is a member of the Navajo Nation and currently works as an administrator in the Office of Dine School Improvement of the Department of Dine Education. From 2018 to 2022 he served as president of Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma.