|
|
|
|
Black Indians
|
| |
|
| |
Black Indians is a term that refers to people of African American descent with or without significant Native American descent, who were, or are, embedded with Native Americans, or who possess strong cultural, social and political ties to their indigenous American heritage. This article treats Black Indians in the United States.
can slaves brought to the United States and their descendants have had a history of cultural exchange and notably intermarriage with Native Americans and other African slaves who possessed Native American ancestry (largely in the American South).
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Black Indians' Start a new discussion about 'Black Indians' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Black Indians is a term that refers to people of African American descent with or without significant Native American descent, who were, or are, embedded with Native Americans, or who possess strong cultural, social and political ties to their indigenous American heritage. This article treats Black Indians in the United States.
Overview
African slaves brought to the United States and their descendants have had a history of cultural exchange and notably intermarriage with Native Americans and other African slaves who possessed Native American ancestry (largely in the American South). Subsequently, although no longer having social, cultural or linguistic ties to Native peoples, many African Americans have Native American ancestry. This mixing is also believed to be the reason certain phenotypes (physical characteristics) common within Native peoples also occur in the African American population. These may include longer and/or less kinky hair texture than commonly appears in people of sub-Saharan African origin (sometimes called "Indian hair" by fellow blacks), slanted eyes, many times with an epicanthal fold also common among many Native people as well as Asians, eyes sometimes widely spaced apart, an aquiline nose or hooknose, and skin coloration that can range from light brown/tan to reddish.
Native American groups have had both positive and strained relationships with Africans and African Americans they encountered. Some groups were more accepting of Africans than others and welcomed them as full members of their respective cultures and communities. Some Native Americans, especially as they became more assimilated into the dominant American culture (aided in large part by White intermarriage with Natives), came to treat African Americans with contempt, as did much of the White population. There were disagreements among Native peoples concerning the role of African people in their communities. Some tribal factions (notably the Keetoowah Society of the Cherokee) were opposed to slavery. Other Native Americans saw uses for slavery and did not oppose it for others; this was part of a wider split among Native people who were either for or against assimilation into the increasingly dominant European American culture of the early-to-mid 19th century.
There are efforts underway to promote greater cooperation and understanding among both contemporary African American and Native American tribal groups. Some intermarriage still occurs between these groups; some African Americans who descend from or who identify as Black Indians identify strongly with the Native cultural traditions with which they were raised. Interracial relations between Native Americans and African Americans has sadly been a part of American history that has been neglected. It is argued that presently most Caucasians shake their heads in disbelief or smile at what appears to be a joke when strong relationships between African Americans and Native Americans are put together.
After the American Civil War, some African Americans participated in warfare against Native Americans, especially in the Western frontier states as members of military units such as the Buffalo Soldiers. On the other hand, many Native Americans and African-descended people fought alongside one another in armed struggles of resistance against U.S. expansion into Native territories, as well as resistance against slavery and racism.
History
Colonial America
The earliest record of African and Native American relations occurred in April, 1502, when the first African slaves were brought to Hispanola. Some escaped and somewhere inland on Santo Dominico life birthed the first circle of Black Indians. In addition, an example of African slaves' escaping from European colonists and being absorbed by American Indians occurred as far back as 1526. In June of that year, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon established a Spanish colony near the mouth of the Pee Dee River in what is now eastern South Carolina. The Spanish settlement was named San Miquel de Guadalupe. Amongst the settlement were 100 enslaved Africans. In 1526, the first African slaves fled the colony and took refuge with local Native Americans
Intermarriage between African slaves and Native Americans began occurring in the early 1600s. In 1622 Native Americans overran the European colony of Jamestown. They killed the Europeans but brought the African slaves as captives back to their communities, gradually integrating them. It is a common misconception that people of African and Native American descent are descendents of only the five civilized tribes. However, interracial relationships between African Americans and many other tribes occurred on the coastal states of the United States. Several colonial advertisements for runaway slaves made direct reference to the integration of African Americans into the Native American communities. For example ...ran off with his Indian wife... had kin among the Indians...part Indian and speaks their language good.In published Massachusetts vital Records prior to 1850 Marriages of "negroes" to "Indians" are noted.
In South Carolina, colonists became so concerned about the possible threat posed by the mixed African and Native American population that was arising as runaway Africans escaped to the Native Americans that they passed a new law in 1725. This law stipulated a fine of 200 pounds on anyone who brought a slave to the frontier regions of the colony. In 1751 the colony of South Carolina found it necessary to issue another law, warning that having Africans in proximity to Native Americans was deemed detrimental to the security of the colony.
In 1726 the British governor of colonial New York exacted a promise from the Iroquois Confederacy to return all runaway slaves who had joined up with them. This same promise was extracted from the Huron tribe in 1764 and from the Delaware tribe in 1765. Despite their promises, the tribes never returned any escaped slaves.. They continued to provide a safe refuge for escaped slaves. In 1763 during Pontiac's Native American uprising a Detriot resident reported that Native Americans killed whites but were "saving and caressing all the Negroes they take." He worried lest this might "produce an insurrection." Chief Joseph Brant's Mohawks in New York welcomed runaway slaves and encouraged intermarriage. Native American adoption systems knew no color line and accepted the breathless fugitives as sisters and brothers. Woodson's notion of an escape hatch notion proved correct: Native American villages welcomed fugitives, and even served as stations on the Underground Railroad.
1800s through Civil War
In the early 1800s it was not uncommon to learn that many tribes were simply believed to be "terminated" which was deliberate effort of the United States. As a result, among those families where Native American ancestors lived, they were frequently listed as mulatto, or as white, depending upon the complexion of the individuals enumerated. This official "termination" gave the impression that the population in the United States was either black or white. An 1835 census of the Cherokee showed that fully 10% were of African descent. Frontier artist George Catlin described "Negro and North American Indian, mixed, of equal blood" and stated: "the finest built and most powerful men I have ever yet seen."
By 1860 African Americans had so thoroughly mixed with Native Americans throughout the Atlantic seaboard that white legislators wanted to revoke their tax exemptions. Just as freed African Americans, Black Indians and Native Americans fought in the civil war against the Confederate Army. During the November of 1861, the Creek and Black Indians of their tribe were led by Creek Chief Opothle Yahola, fought three pitched battles against Confederate whites and other Native Americans that joined the Confederates to reach Union lines in Kansas, and offer their services. It is known that people whom were Black Indians served in colored regiments with other African American soldiers. Black Indians clearly served in the following regiments: The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, The Kansas Colored at Honey Springs, The 79th US Colored Infantry, and The 83rd US Colored Infantry along with other colored regiments that included men that were only listed as Negro. Civil War battles also occurred in Indian Territory. The first battle occurred July 1-2 1863 which involved the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry. The first battle against the Confederacy outside of Indian Territory occurred at Horse Head Creek, Arkansas February 17, 1864 and involved the 79th U.S. Colored Infantry. Many Black Indians returned back to Indian Territory once the Civil War had been won by the Union. Unfortunately, when the defeat of the Confederacy and its Native American allies occurred, northerners sought revenge and the U.S. scrapped existing treaties with Native American nations.
Native American slave ownership
Slavery existed among Native Americans before it was introduced by the Europeans, although it was unlike chattel slavery. In oral tradition, for instance, Cherokees saw slavery as the result of failure in warfare, and as a temporary status pending adoption or release. As the US Constitution and the laws of several states permitted slavery, Native Americans were legally allowed to continue owning slaves, including those brought from Africa by Europeans. The Cherokee tribe had the most members who held black slaves, more than any Native American tribe.
In the history of the United States, the primary exposure that Africans and Native Americans had to each other came through the institution of slavery, and this is basically because it was the institution of slavery that brought the Africans to America. Records from the time period show several cases of brutal treatment of black slaves by their masters. However, most Native American masters rejected the worst features of southern white bondage. Travelers reported enslaved Africans "in as good circumstances as their masters." A white Indian Agent, Douglas Cooper, upset by the Native American failure to practice a brutal form of bondage, insisted that Native Americans invite white men to live in their villages and "control matters." Though less than 3% of Native Americans owned slaves, bondage created destructive cleavages in their villages and promoted a class hierarchy based on "white blood." Native Americans of mixed white blood stood at the top, "pure" Native Americans next, and people mixed with of African descent were at the bottom. Numerous African-descended people were held as slaves by members of Native groups. Some later recounted their lives for a WPA oral history project in the 1930s.
Cherokee Freedmen
After the Civil War in 1866, Cherokees were required to grant their slaves citizenship and membership in the tribe, as the United States freed slaves and granted them citizenship by amendments to the US Constitution. Many Cherokee Freedmen, as they were called, played active political roles in the nation. In the late 20th century, the tribe moved to take the descendants of Freedmen off the tribal rolls, except for those who had an ancestor on the Dawes Roll. A political struggle over this issue has ensued and the matter went to the tribe's Supreme Court.
By the tribal Supreme Court ruling of March 2006, the Cherokee Nation was required to reinstate as members about 1,000 African Americans (and descendants) whom they had dropped from the rolls in the mid-1970s. In response, leaders of the Cherokee Nation organized a referendum to vote on qualifications for citizenship in the tribe. The referendum established direct Cherokee ancestry as a requirement, unlike previous qualifications. Only such members were allowed to vote in the referendum. The measure passed in March 2007, thereby forcing out Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants unless they also had direct Cherokee ancestry. This has caused much controversy.. The argument is that the African American descendants hold no Native blood and therefore should not qualify for membership, and voting rights, in the Cherokee Nation.
An advocacy group representing African American members claims that they are entitled to membership as many are indeed part Cherokee by blood. This has not been immediately evident from the existing historical records (most notably the highly controversial Dawes Commission enrollment records, which tended to exclude those of African descent from being officially considered "Indian" for the purposes of tribal enrollment, even if they also clearly possessed Native ancestry and testified as such).
Before the Dawes Commission was established, "(t)he majority of the people with African blood living in the Cherokee nation prior to the Civil war lived there as slaves of Cherokee citizens or as free black non citizens, usually the descendants of Cherokee men and women with African blood...In 1863, the Cherokee government outlawed slavery through acts of the tribal council. In 1866, a treaty was signed with the US government in which the Cherokee government agreed to give citizenship to those people with African blood living in the Cherokee nations who were not already citizens. African Cherokee people participated as full citizens of that nation, holding office, voting, running businesses, etc.
After the Dawes Commission, those African American "freedmen" of the Cherokee and the other Five Civilized Tribes were often treated as harshly as any other African American. Degrees of continued acceptance into tribal structures were low during the ensuing decades. Some tribes restricted membership to those with a documented Native ancestor on the Dawes Commission listings and many restricted officeholders to those of direct Native American ancestry. Because of the apparent deliberate exclusion of most people with African blood on these "blood rolls", it was difficult for Black Indians to establish official ties with those Native groups to which they genetically belonged. Many of the freedmen descendants believe that their continued exclusion from tribal membership, and the continued resistance to their efforts to gain recognition, is racially motivated.
Genealogy
Tracing the genealogy of African Americans and Native Americans is a very difficult process, due to the fact that African Americans who were slaves were forbidden to learn to read and write, and a majority of Native Americans didn't speak English, let alone read or write it. Another factor adding to the difficulty of people of African American descent learning about their Native American heritage is elder family members withholding pertinent genealogical information. However, knowing the family's geographic origins is a key factor in helping unravel Native American ancestry. Many modern African Americans have taken an interest in genealogy and are learning about Native American heritage within their individual families. Some African Americans have knowledge of Native ancestry through oral history of the family and try to confirm these anecdotal stories of Native ancestry through genealogical research and DNA testing. Because of such findings, some have petitioned to be registered as members of Native American tribes and have met with some strain.
However, in part because of continued recent intermarriage between African-Americans and Native Americans, and also due to increased awareness of Black Indians in general, it has been fairly easy for younger generations of mixed African/Native people to become more easily recognized in their respective ethnic groups. It is even debated that Black people have more noticeable Native heritage than many whites claim (a major factor in the Cherokee freedmen controversy). Even among Native peoples themselves, some of these physical features have been confused with being Sub-Saharan African due to the negative influence of the one-drop rule.
Notable Black Indians
See also
External links
Further reading
- Amir Nashid Ali Muhammad; Muslims in America - Seven Centuries of History ISBN 0-915957-75-2
- Bonnett, A 'Shades of difference: African Native Americans' History Today December 2008, 58, 12, Pages 40-42
- Sylviane A. Diouf; Servants of Allah - African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas ISBN 0-8147-1905-8
- Allan D. Austin; African Muslims in Antebellum America ISBN 0-415-91270-9
- --
- Tiya Miles; Ties that Bind : the Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom ISBN 0520241320
- J. Leitch Wright; The Only Land They Knew : American Indians in the Old South ISBN 0803298056
- Patrick Minges; Black Indian Slave Narratives ISBN 0895872986
- Jack D. Forbes; Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples ISBN 025206321X
- James F. Brooks; Confounding the Color Line: The Indian - Black Experience in North America ISBN 0803261942
- Claudio Saunt; Black, White, and Indian: Race and the Unmaking of an American Family ISBN 0195313100
- Valena Broussard Dismukes; "The Red-Black Connection: Contemporary Urban African-Native Americans and their Stories of Dual Identity" ISBN 9780979715303
|
| |
|
|
