The Black Seminoles are a small offshoot of the Gullah slaves who escaped from the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia. They built their own settlements on the Florida frontier, fought a series of wars to preserve their freedom, and were scattered across North America. They have played a significant role in American history, but have never received the recognition they deserve. Today, Black Seminole descendants live primarily in rural communities within the reservation of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; its two Freedmens bands are represented on the General Council of the Nation. Other centers are in Florida, Texas, the Bahamas and Northern Mexico. Since the 1930s, the Seminole Freedmen have struggled with cycles of exclusion from the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma.[1] In 1990, the tribe received the majority of a $46 million judgment trust by the United States, for seizure of lands in Florida in 1823, and the Freedmen have worked to gain a share of it. In 2004 the US Supreme Court ruled the Seminole Freedmen could not bring suit without the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, which refused to join it on the claim issue. In 2000 the Seminole Nation voted to restrict membership to those who could prove descent from a Seminole Indian on the Dawes Rolls of the early 20th century, which excluded about 1200 Freedmen previously included as members. yale.edu/glc/gullah/07.htm
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:55:20 +0000