The Atlanta History Center opens Exile From Georgia: The Cherokee and Muscogee Trails of Tears on Thursday, November 19, 2026, at its Buckhead campus. Built in close collaboration with Oklahoma-based Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) Nation partners, the exhibition tells the story of two nations’ removal from Georgia largely through Native voices.
Key Takeaways
- Exile From Georgia opens to the public on Thursday, November 19, 2026, during Native American Heritage Month.
- History Center members get a first look during regular hours on Wednesday, November 18.
- Cherokee Nation and Muscogee (Creek) Nation leaders, artists, scholars and advisors from Oklahoma helped develop the exhibition.
- A series of original immersive short films, created with contributions from Native artists, sits at the center of the exhibition.
- The exhibition treats the Cherokee and Muscogee removals as distinct histories that happened at different times and under different circumstances.
- It is the final exhibition of the Atlanta History Center’s centennial year.
Cherokee And Muscogee Partners Shaped How The Story Is Told
The Atlanta History Center developed Exile From Georgia in close collaboration with leaders, artists, scholars and advisors from the Cherokee Nation and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, both now based in Oklahoma. The History Center says the exhibition centers Native voices and perspectives in telling what it calls a consequential chapter of Georgia and American history.
That approach shapes the experience from the start. Rather than presenting removal mainly through government records and military accounts, the exhibition draws on original artwork by Native artists, contemporary interviews and oral histories. The result is a story told largely by descendants of the people who were forced to leave, a perspective that sits alongside Atlanta’s ongoing conversation about how Atlanta’s diaspora communities put cultural identity at the center of public conversation.
Two Nations, Two Removals, One Exhibition
Exile From Georgia does not fold the Cherokee and Muscogee experiences into a single narrative. The History Center notes that the two peoples were removed at different times and under different circumstances, and the exhibition examines those histories separately.
What the two nations shared is laid out plainly: broken treaties, the loss of their homelands and forced journeys west to Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. The exhibition focuses on the human consequences of that removal, which the History Center describes as the loss of home, community and connection to place.
Immersive Short Films Anchor The Exhibition
The centerpiece of Exile From Georgia is a series of original immersive short films designed to place visitors inside the emotional reality of exile from ancestral homelands. Native artists contributed to the films’ creation, bringing their own perspectives directly into the work.
Multimedia installations, artwork, interviews and oral histories surround the films. The History Center frames the exhibition as one that confronts a painful chapter of American history while ultimately telling a story of endurance and resilience, with the nations’ survival and continuing presence as much a part of the story as their removal.
Exile From Georgia Builds On The Native Lands Gallery
The new exhibition adds to work the History Center already does. Its long-running gallery Native Lands: Native Americans and Georgia explores the art, music and ceremony of the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee peoples, including contemporary art and video interviews with Cherokee and Creek citizens.
Where Native Lands surveys the two nations’ lives and cultures in Georgia, Exile From Georgia turns to removal itself and the journeys west. Visitors interested in the fuller picture can move between the two, seeing what was built in Georgia before tracing what was lost in exile.
The Final Exhibition Of The History Center’s Centennial Year
The Atlanta History Center was founded in 1926 as the Atlanta Historical Society, and 2026 marks its 100th year. The centennial calendar has included Atlanta in 100 Objects and a two-phase overhaul of its Civil War exhibition, alongside other stories of how the city became what it is today, from its origins to how the 1996 Summer Olympics reshaped Atlanta’s global identity.
Exile From Georgia closes that year by looking back to the people who lived on this land before the city existed. Opening in November also places it within Native American Heritage Month.
Planning A Visit To The Buckhead Campus
The exhibition is at the Atlanta History Center’s Buckhead campus, 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW. The campus is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., historic houses open at 11 a.m., and parking on site is free. History Center members can preview the exhibition during regular hours on Wednesday, November 18, the day before the public opening.
Ticket details are available through the Atlanta History Center. Visitors building a fall itinerary around the city’s past can pair the visit with the history tours at Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery, which marked their 20th year this fall.
FAQs
When Does Exile From Georgia Open At The Atlanta History Center?
Exile From Georgia: The Cherokee and Muscogee Trails of Tears opens to the public on Thursday, November 19, 2026. Members can preview it during regular hours on Wednesday, November 18.
Who Helped Create Exile From Georgia?
The Atlanta History Center developed the exhibition in close collaboration with Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation and Muscogee (Creek) Nation leaders, artists, scholars and advisors. Native artists also contributed to the exhibition’s original short films.
What Will Visitors See In Exile From Georgia?
The exhibition centers on a series of original immersive short films, supported by original artwork by Native artists, multimedia installations, contemporary interviews and oral histories.
Where Is The Atlanta History Center Located?
The Atlanta History Center’s Buckhead campus is at 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW in Atlanta. It is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free onsite parking.
