BY: LEON KWASI KUNTUO-ASARE

Origins

The black Seminoles are the descendants of both free blacks and escaped slaves, known as Maroons. They are black Indians, mostly associated with the Seminole Native Americans of Florida and Oklahoma, but there are members living in Texas, the Bahamas and Mexico.

The black Seminoles lived in their own groups, called freedman bands, that were closely associated with the Seminole Nation. the Black and Native Seminole groups did intermarry on occasion, and some Black Seminoles adopted Indian customs.

The Black Seminoles and the Native Seminole people united in both of the Seminole wars.

Seminole Nation Today

Today the two Freedmen bands of the Black Seminoles; the Caesar Bruner Band and Dosar Barkus Band are represented on the General Council of the Seminole Nation.

Red Racism

Despite being on the General Council of the Nation, as a collective Black Seminoles still deal with racial discrimination from the Native Americans of the Seminole Nation.

Since the 1930’s many black Seminoles have had to deal with being excluded from the tribe.

In 2000, approximately twelve hundred Black Seminoles were excluded from the tribe they were previously members of. Unfortunately, Red on Black Racism is several centuries old, prior to the American Civil War, many Native American tribes made their money enslaving Black people and being slave catchers, and during the Civil War the Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole fought for the Confederacy.

WATCH SHORT VIDEO FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE HISTORY OF THE BLACK SEMINOLES :

THE BLACK SEMINOLES OF TODAY:

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION USE LINK BELOW :

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Seminoles