Dr. Kly proposes closer scrutiny historical accounts of the events prior to and during the civil war which traditionally have excluded or minimized the participation of African Americans in the push for their own freedom. He proposes that between 1739 , the date of the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, and 1858, the closing of the Third Seminole War fought in Florida, that the Gullah/ Geechee peoples, of whom the Black Seminole are a part of, organized slave uprisings, waged warfare and engaged in ongoing resistance to slavery. In it he provides recorded documentation, such as military correspondence and records of historical events which defy the view that African chattel slaves as a group displayed minimal resistance to their forced immigration and captivity.
Bird, J.B. Buried History: 1838 – Present. Rebellion: John Horse and the Black
Seminoles, The First Black Rebels to Beat American Slavery. June 5, 2005. www.johnhorse,com
In this article, Bird raises the question about why historian, both black and white, have overlooked the single largest Black slave rebellion on American land. He holds it is easy to understand Southerners’ need to conceal defeat at the hand of Black Seminoles, yet it is difficult to imagine why Black scholars continue to uphold the suppression of this history.
Periodical Articles
Weik,Terrance M. The Role of Ethnogenesis and Organization in the Development of African-Native American Settlements: an African Seminole Model. International Journal of Historical Archeology, Volume 13, Number 2/ June, 2009, Pages 206-238.
This article is an archeological study which examines the community structure and everyday life of Pilaklikaha, a nineteenth century Seminole community which existed in present day Florida. Its credibility can be attributed to its appearance in a professional academic archeological publication.
Klos, George. Blacks and the Seminole Removal Debate, 1821-1835. The Florida Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, Number 1 /July, 1989, Pages 55-78.
Published by: Florida Historical Society. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30148038
This article examines pre-Civil War, Spanish Florida's African-Native American relationships.
Monday, November 16, 2009
RJA #13a: Field Research Report
I just returned from a trip to the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina to experience Gullah/Geechee culture. The Black Seminoles, an offshoot of Gullah/Geechee peoples, escaped slavery via the 'Second Underground Railroad' which led southward into Florida. I had the opportunity to visit several battle sites on four islands, one of which was Bloody Marsh on St. Simons where converged several competing factions for control. One of the tour guides, historian and former attorney, Jamal Toure, spoke specifically about the Black Seminoles, the misrepresentation of the group as solely Indian and their suitability for guerilla warfare in the Florida swamps. Their resistance ultimately garnered them their freedom.
RJA #12b: Presentation Plan
In my presentation I will outline the significant points of my findings and attempt to tie it all together to show that my essay will in fact do what is promises to do.
Historical Context: American chattel slavery system
The misrepresentation of African-Americans as docile, compliant, content slaves.
Introduce the Black Seminoles:
Not purely indigenous peoples
War: The Civil War and guerilla warfare waged against re-enslavement.
Emancipation
Why the story is not being told
Disservice to American democracy
Historical Context: American chattel slavery system
The misrepresentation of African-Americans as docile, compliant, content slaves.
Introduce the Black Seminoles:
Not purely indigenous peoples
War: The Civil War and guerilla warfare waged against re-enslavement.
Emancipation
Why the story is not being told
Disservice to American democracy
RJA #12a: Progress Report
I've gathered quite a bit of information and have quite a number of sources that center on the Black Seminoles and the Civil War. The bibliography pages of most of the books and articles I've collected have provided more information than I'll ever use in this essay, but I'll definitely archive my findings for future use. I am presently sifting through all of this to make my argument as strong as possible with supporting references.
As is always the case, I am not completely clear on what I really want to say, or my point doesn't begin to take shape until I start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as it were). I find outlines confining, an exercise in frustration, and I have great difficulty in generating them. Consequently, I'm still struggling with that portion of this assignment. I'm starting to realize that I may want to argue less for the significance of the story of the Black Seminoles and leaning more towards showing how inaccuracy and exclusion of their and other African-American contribution to American history discourse is a disservice to American democracy.
As is always the case, I am not completely clear on what I really want to say, or my point doesn't begin to take shape until I start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as it were). I find outlines confining, an exercise in frustration, and I have great difficulty in generating them. Consequently, I'm still struggling with that portion of this assignment. I'm starting to realize that I may want to argue less for the significance of the story of the Black Seminoles and leaning more towards showing how inaccuracy and exclusion of their and other African-American contribution to American history discourse is a disservice to American democracy.
Monday, November 2, 2009
RJA #10b: Argument
Research claim: The history of the ongoing active African resistance to slavery remains, in large part, suppressed and or censored in the discourse on American history.
Thesis: The truth of ongoing African resistance to the institution of slavery, such as that of the so-called Seminole Wars, is crucial not only to discourse concerning the Civil War, but vital to the lexicon of American history.
Ethos: It is illogical to assume that the kidnapped Africans were content in the captivity and incapable of organizing and strategizing their won liberation. The Declaration of Independence declares that all humans, of which the African were most certainly, were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.“
Pathos: No human should ever be subjected to the torture slavery posed for the African captives. America was founded on the pursuit of life and liberty but built upon the captivity of kidnapped human.
Logos: Much of the rhetoric about the Civil War relegates the entire affair to conflict between the southern states and the northern states over the issue of slavery. It would seem natural that the humans over whom the conflict surrounded would have had a vested interest in actively strategizing their own liberation.
Reason 1: The Black Seminoles were instrumental in garnering not only theirs, but freedom for all African captives.
Reason 2: Historians of the Civil War period routinely omitted facts that showed Anglo-Americans at a disadvantage to Africans. This omission of facts has bearings upon social interactions.
Reason 3: This history is important to clarifying relationships between African-American and the dominant culture. Race is the big pink elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss. Dialogue begins with acknowledgment of t he issues.
Thesis: The truth of ongoing African resistance to the institution of slavery, such as that of the so-called Seminole Wars, is crucial not only to discourse concerning the Civil War, but vital to the lexicon of American history.
Ethos: It is illogical to assume that the kidnapped Africans were content in the captivity and incapable of organizing and strategizing their won liberation. The Declaration of Independence declares that all humans, of which the African were most certainly, were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.“
Pathos: No human should ever be subjected to the torture slavery posed for the African captives. America was founded on the pursuit of life and liberty but built upon the captivity of kidnapped human.
Logos: Much of the rhetoric about the Civil War relegates the entire affair to conflict between the southern states and the northern states over the issue of slavery. It would seem natural that the humans over whom the conflict surrounded would have had a vested interest in actively strategizing their own liberation.
Reason 1: The Black Seminoles were instrumental in garnering not only theirs, but freedom for all African captives.
Reason 2: Historians of the Civil War period routinely omitted facts that showed Anglo-Americans at a disadvantage to Africans. This omission of facts has bearings upon social interactions.
Reason 3: This history is important to clarifying relationships between African-American and the dominant culture. Race is the big pink elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss. Dialogue begins with acknowledgment of t he issues.
RJA #10a: Thesis Statement
The truth of active African resistance to the institution of slavery, though largely suppressed, such as in the case of the so-called Seminole Wars, is crucial not only to discourse concerning the Civil War, but vital to the lexicon of American history.
RJA #11b: Visual Aids
Civil War artifacts.
Civil War photos.
Black Seminoles photos
Video of Black Seminoles
Animation of migration south
Civil War photos.
Black Seminoles photos
Video of Black Seminoles
Animation of migration south
RJA #11a: Introduction
The history of the ongoing active African resistance to slavery remains, in large part, suppressed and or censored in the discourse on American history. One such group, a fragment of the Gullah from the barrier Sea Island along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, made their way along the second Underground Railroad, the one leading south to Spanish Florida promised freedom from American slavery if the runaways could make it to St. Augustine. There they intermingled and cooperated with indigenous peoples. The Africans, having been forcibly migrated from a climate very similar to the Florida swampland, was better suited for survival and waging warfare against encroaching bounty hunters and later encroaching armies. Much of this information seems to have been suppressed. It is understandable that in the interest of maintaining a hold on their “property” slaveholders would censor news of slave insurgencies. However the question remains, who benefits from the suppression of that information now? The truth of ongoing African resistance to the institution of slavery, such as that of the so-called Seminole Wars, is crucial not only to discourse concerning the Civil War, but vital to the lexicon of American history.
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