Black Indians: an American Story--Video

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Does this surprise you?....it shouldn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJVNjDYE7Q&NR=1

This video also alludes to a once held "pecking order" of the races found very prevalent in our historical Southeastern U.S. (despite Indian genetic blending and adoption of culture).

The pecking order then: Caucasion European-->African Black--> Indian

Twas not an uncommon practice in this U.S. region for a person of mixed race (Caucasion Indian or Black Indian) to attempt escape from the severe prejudice held against being known as an Indian. If one had more dark or light skin, most identified openly as being either Black or White...for survival sake. One has to understand that much of the current prejudicial thought at the time was that Indians were either savages, soulless, or not being even a human being. Choosing to identify as either Black or White (despite one's true heritage) elevated oneself into being a member of the human race, more civilized/civilizable, and more worthy of respect (the little that it gained) in this part of the country.

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Case in point:

Indians were seen as unclean, savage pagans and most Anglo-Americans refused to accept them in their schools, churches, schools, towns or even in their states. Racial groups targeted Native people and even President Theodore Roosevelt remarked "I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian."

The above taken from THE NATIVE TRUTH

Taken from the website: http://www.angelfire.com/la/brantley/

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Another history lesson/video:

Black Seminole Indians in Central Florida

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OZWVlqP13E[/YOUTUBE]

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Here are some additional discussions on our Black Indians (as related to the Seminoles) and on some of their history...contained in 3 parts.

Black Seminoles / pt. 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2C6VPX6EZY&NR=1

Black Seminoles / pt. 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7KR97d02co&feature=related

Black Seminoles / pt. 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dwLAxgYrF0&feature=related

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Another video mentioning the Black Seminoles in Texas, who also became known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

Texas Music Museum-Kickapoos and Black Seminoles

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]
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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

a most wonderful website devoted to a particular cherokee-blackfeet culture. tons of reading, chocked full in fact. for those who wish to explore indepth into the black indian experience, i highly recommend this site.

http://cherokeeblackfeetcultural.bizopiaweb.com/default.aspx?tabid=663424

[color=#a52a2a]chief-reddeer.jpgreddeer-on-rock.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]ceremonial shaman red deer

[color=#a52a2a]crazy-fox-family.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]chief crazy fox of the c.b.c.c. dines with wife gentle horse, family and friends

[color=#a52a2a]crazy-fox.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]chief crazy fox standing front, standing along side chief crazy fox is chief grey wolf means of the eastern cherokee band

[color=#a52a2a]eagle-thunder.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]clan mother brown eagle and mc thunder cloud thunder in the sky from chicago illinois

[color=#a52a2a]margarita-pocahontas.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]margarita pocahintas medicine woman the world greatest indigenous indian story teller and poet in the 21st century at the speaker stand

[color=#a52a2a]richard-jones.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]mr. richard p. jones esq addressing the audience

[color=#a52a2a]silver-feather.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]chief silver eagle washington d.c. chapter of the c.b.c.c.

[color=#a52a2a]triangle-unity.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]a triangle of indigenous unity and leadership shared moments ceremony, ceremonial shaman red deer (l) tuscaloosa ohoyo (black woman warrior, red feather showcase) angela molette, black indians united legal defense & education fund, enid, oklahoma © mr.richard p. jones esq ®

[color=#a52a2a]c-issac-windstorm.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]chief issac windstorm washington

[color=#a52a2a]angela-molette.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]tuscaloosa ohoyo (black woman warrior, red feather showcase) angela molette and clan mother brown eagle of the eastern cherokee's of new york

[color=#a52a2a]brown-eagle-2.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]clan mother brown eagle of the eastern cherokees of new york

[color=#a52a2a]cherish-moments-ceremony.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]more cherish moments ceremony chief red deer(l) tuscaloosa ohoyo (black woman warrior, red feather showcase) angela molette © mr. richard p. jones eqs ®

[color=#a52a2a]chief-angela-richard.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]ceremonial shaman red deer

[color=#a52a2a](l) tuscaloosa ohoyo (black woman warrior, red feather showcase) angela molette © mr.richard p. jones esq ®

[color=#a52a2a]earth-mother.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]supreme clan mother and earth mother faye shabazz shared moments.

[color=#a52a2a]group.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]chief silver eagle of washington d.c. chapter of the c.b.c.c., tuscaloosa ohoyo (black woman warrior, red feather showcase) angela molette of black indians united enid oklahoma mr. richard p. jones esq. chief louise thunder cloud of washington d.c. chapter of the c.b.c.c. and chief issac of the c.b.c.c. new york city

[color=#a52a2a]jennifer-golden-eagle.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]sister jennifer (l) golden eagle ® in attendence from uptown sister books

[color=#a52a2a]supreme-clan-mother.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]supreme clan mother at the speaker stand addressing audience chief silver eagle standing security

[color=#a52a2a]thunder-cloud.jpg

[color=#a52a2a]clan mother cherokee (l) end of the the table chief luoise thunder cloud® of washington d.c. standing is chief grey wolf means of the eastern cherokee band.

pictures taken from that wonderful site to help our members appreciate this one side of the indian experience often left forgotten by many.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

If this thread makes you think....good.

Actually, being Indian is a way of life, a culture passed down to you...most often, irrelevant of skin/color.

Many Indian look red, white, black, and yellow...hmmm, the colors of the four directions....hmmm.

Not only has the U.S. white culture become a genetic melting pot of mixing over the centuries....but so have the Indian. Just like there are many who may identify themselves as being Christian "who are unchurched", there are many who are indeed Indian and identify themselves as such "who are not recognized"...either by the Government or by another racial group (Caucasion, Black, Asian, or even Indian).

U.S. history teaches us otherwise, however.

Keep on thinking...tis very good...for it helps break down our own misperceived stereotypes.

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Specializes in Acute rehab/geriatrics/cardiac rehab.
If this thread makes you think....good.

Actually, being Indian is a way of life, a culture passed down to you...most often, irrelevant of skin/color.

Many Indian look red, white, black, and yellow...hmmm, the colors of the four directions....hmmm.

Not only has the U.S. white culture become a genetic melting pot of mixing over the centuries....but so have the Indian. Just like there are many who may identify themselves as being Christian "who are unchurched", there are many who are indeed Indian and identify themselves as such "who are not recognized"...either by the Government or by another racial group (Caucasion, Black, Asian, or even Indian).

U.S. history teaches us otherwise, however.

Keep on thinking...tis very good...for it helps break down our own misperceived stereotypes.

Thanks for these posts. It shows that as nurses we need to be very careful about trying to identify which culture an individual considers themselves part of my their skin color.

As I write this, my mother, sister, brother and I hold citizenship in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma as did my great grandmother and great grandfather and their brothers, sisters and parents and grandparents back for several generations before the Trail of Tears (because I knew my great great grandmother and her children (my great grandmother and her sister and brother) up into my teenage years and and my mother knew her great great grandmother, a lot of information was passed along). We hold this citizenship because our ancestors were "Cherokee Freedmen" which has caused much controversy of late..... though strangely enough in the late 50s and early 60s in Bartlesville, Oklahoma where I was born most of my great grandmother's neighbors identified with the Cherokees, Creeks and Seminoles (mainly there were many Cherokee Freedmen I remember) and I don't remember much controversy. It just was the way things were...

When my mother and aunt were growing up in the 40s, they remember elderly black folks speaking in Cherokee in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.... When I would visit in my childhood and teenage years (in the 60s and 70s) I remember being told of stories that occurred before the Trail of Tears. But like African Americans, the freedmen hold their citizenship in the Native American Nations through slavery... though many can also trace back to a Native American ancestor (just as many African Americans can trace back to an ancestor who was of another race).... though the controversy is that many also cannot... no blood quantum was listed on the freedmen section of the Dawes rolls so much history, ancestry, and "how much blood" was lost....

Another website that may be interesting for nurses to know about is http://www.african-nativeamerican.com which looks at the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Cherokee Freedmen of Oklahoma. It's a little known fact of Oklahoma history. And there are several books which tell about the Oklahoma Freedmen... There's also a book called Abraham's Well which is fictional and from the point of view of a Cherokee freedwoman as a teenager on the Trail of Tears with her family...

Most of the freedmen consider themselves African American but they are strongly influenced, identify with, etc. the Native American culture of their ancestors as well as being African American.

(It's kind of like the man I met the other day in an outpatient clinic when I was a student NP who I originally thought was African American due to his dark skin until he apologized for his broken English.... His native language was Spanish and his home country was Honduras). The United States is a melting pot. My mother and my other ancestors were very influenced by Cherokee culture ....

Blood quantum is a very slippery slope to discuss....

Regardless of whether I and my family keep our citizenship in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (freedmen citizenship has been an in and out reality since 1866 and has caused quite heated arguments in Oklahoma and on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. which will probably continue long after I'm gone... I always say earthly citizenships are fleeting... heavenly citizenships are eternal....), Cherokee culture is a rich culture which I will always cherish (whether or not I find myself out of the Cherokee Nation again :wink2: At this time, I have a citizenship card... which makes me a Cherokee.... but having it invalidated (again) won't change who I am or my cultural values (whether they are African American or Cherokee....).

It probably does help me to be more sensitive to which culture my patients identify with...regardless of the color of their skin....

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