Pulling Together
Family History
My family story begins with my grandmother (Katie
Island), loving grandmother and a storytelling grandmother.
And I'm sure some of you had a person like that in your life. They are
a God send. She was in her 80s and I, 10 or 11 years old, in Oklahoma,
in the 1930s, Depression time. She told me how they followed the Civil
War soldiers at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, then now Oklahoma, for
their survival. that she did not know her exact birthdate, said it was
at pumpkin time. The day her mother died she was about 9 years old and
on that same day they heard about the emancipation proclamation. So
these bits and pieces served me very well and they festered in my mind
for more than 50 years.
Through the years at family gatherings I asked questions, trying to
find the continuity of our family heritage often to the chagrin of
some. And yet I was hoping someone else would go about preserving our
history. Too soon I neared my own retirement. Suddenly I realized I
was at the end of my generation. What should I do? Who do I know?
Lord, is it I?
I decided to send more than 46 SASE letters to first cousins. I
received five responses. But those five were so strong--we decided to
do the statistics of the immediate families. Geraldine
Robinson
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The real problem is that Ms. Davis is black, in a
tribe that is struggling mightily to distance itself from a history in
which black Seminole warriors and chiefs had starring roles. The
question of whether the tribe can legally deny federal money to the
black Seminole will be decided in a closely watched federal lawsuit
known as Sylvia Davis vs. the United States. The case has a deeper
significance for historians, who see yet another example of how the
American multicultural past is papered over by the myth of racial and
ethnic purity.
Modern Americans are typically surprised to learn
that Native American tribes had any black members. In most cases, as in
several other tribes moved to Oklahoma, black members began as slaves.
But even though blacks in the Seminole tribe sometimes posed as slaves
to avoid capture, they were in fact full tribal citizens from the very
beginning. African
Seminoles
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There were other black
interpreters, but Cow Tom was described in the book by John H. Major as
the Negro Creek upon whom General Jessup most trusted. (1) The African Creek
-- the Negro Indians -- were the basis of all
official action, because "they were as important in any negotiation
as the most exalted person present." (2) Tom was insightful, and he realized that it would be to his advantage
and the advantage of all of the other blacks who lived among the Creeks
to relocate from their southern white slave masters, and thus Tom made
sure that it was clear to the military that the slaves were to move
westward with the Creeks. Just as Abraham, the black Seminole, had done so for the Africans
living among the Red Stick warriors who later became the Seminoles, Tom
insured the safety of several hundred Africans who moved with the Creeks
during the removal.
After arrival in Indian Territory, Chief Yargee depended further upon Cow Tom. Although a cattle man in his youth,
Cow Tom's job became primarily as a
negotiator and interpreter for the chief. As the chief knew no English
and had no interest in the language, the role of Cow Tom was critical,
and made him even more valuable to the Chief.
Cow Tom Bio
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