|
Sugar T. George
Also Know as George Sugar
By Angela Y. Walton-Raji
Sugar T. George a.k.a. George Sugar was born in approximately 1827,
as a slave in the Muskogee Nation. This former slave from the Muskogee
Nation went from poverty to prominence in his lifetime, serving in the
House of Warriors, House of Kings, having been an African Town King,
coming first from the town of North Fork, he emerged as a tribal leader
in the nation of his birth. By the time of his death in 1900, Sugar
T. George was also said to have been the "wealthiest Negro in the
Territory." (1)
His father was Sorrow Pigeon, and his mother was Nancy Lovett. Sorry
was a slave of David Pigeon, and George himself had been a slave of
Mariah McIntosh. When the Dunn Roll was created, he was enrolled at that
time as Sugar T. Hared. He was enrolled in the town of North Fork at the
time.
He escaped form bondage when Opthole Yahola took a band of people
into Kansas to avoid the war. He did not hesitate to join the Union Army
serving in company "H" of the 1st Indian Home Guards.
Because he could read and write and because of his natural skills as a
leader he quickly became a 1st Sgt. in his unit. Historian Gary
Zellar of the University of Arkansas, notes that while a soldier, Sugar
George acted as the unofficial leader taking charge after the white
officer and Indian officer had been dismissed for improper behavior. For
some time the unit actually was run under his direction, although black
soldiers were not to be elevated to any rank of authority as an officer.
Thus this man remained as a 1st Sgt, though clearly could have been an
officer.
In 1867 after the War, Sugar T. George was one of the first soldiers
to file a claim as part of the Loyal Creeks. His claim for compensation
can be found at the National Archives, as part of Record Group 75 (1)
Among these documents his claim would be one of over 300 Freedmen, and
of 60 black soldiers who served with the Indian Home Guards.
The next several years, Sugar T. George, rose to prominence, amassing
money, and influence in the nation, and he subsequently rose to
prominence. For some time he lived in North Fork, Colored Town, in
the Creek Nation. He became a Town King, and served on the
Muskogee Creek Nation Tribal Council.
He married twice in his lifetime, first to Mariah McIntosh and lived
with her until she died in 1867. In 1876, he then married Betty Rentie.
They were married by another prominent Freedman, Monday Durant.
Sugar George and his wife, Betty had no children, but they adopted and
raised James Sugar as their own son. (Also living with Sugar T. George
at the time of the Dawes Enrollment were his step grandchildren, Rena,
and Julia Sugar.)
During his lifetime, Sugar George had a strong reputation, and his
name appeared on many critical documents. He served as
witness for many people, and often he prepared letters for illiterate
people in the community.
In addition to his being a veteran of the Union army, his serving as
part of the leadership of the Muskogee nation, Sugar George had a strong
interested in the plight of his people. Being a literate man
himself, he supported educational causes of the Indian Territory
Freedmen. He served on the board of the Tullahassee Mission
School, a school for Creek and Seminole freedmen. Because of his
strong sense of finance, he also was requested to keep the financial
records of the school.
Sugar T. George died on June 30, 1900. He is buried in the
Agency Cemetery in Muskogee. A beautiful gray granite tomb with large
marble monument about five feet high with the following inscription:
"In memory of Rev. SUGAR GEORGE. Died July 31, 1900. Aged 82
years. The day is past and gone the evening shadows appear. O may we all
remember well the night of death draws near." (3)
Note---A visit to the Creek Council House in Okmulgee will provide
little information on Sugar T. George, although he served on the tribal
council of this nation for many years. Authorities will claim no
knowledge of his history.
Sugar George is buried under a five-foot marble marker in the
now-abandoned Agency Cemetery. This burial ground is in complete
abandon, off Highway 69 in Muskogee, behind a truck repair shop. Sugar
George and other African leaders rest in the over-grown thicket, now
forgotten by townspeople and historians alike.
1. Document found in Civil War Pension File of Sugar T. George
2. Claims of the Loyal Creeks, RG 75 National Archives
3. Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma LDS
Microfiche #6016976 Volume111---Cemeteries
Source: www.african-nativeamerican.com and "Sugar T. George" by Angela Y. Walton-Raji
* * *
* *
* * * * *
 |
Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All
By Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons knows firsthand that
wealth is rooted in much more than the
stock
market. True wealth has more to do with
what's in your heart than what's in your
wallet. Using this knowledge, Simmons
became one of America's shrewdest
entrepreneurs, achieving a level of
success that most investors only dream
about. No matter how much material gain
he accumulated, he never stopped lending
a hand to those less fortunate. In
Super Rich, Simmons uses his rare
blend of spiritual savvy and
street-smart wisdom to offer a new
definition of wealth-and share timeless
principles for developing an unshakable
sense of self that can weather any
financial storm. As Simmons says, "Happy
can make you money, but money can't make
you happy." |
* * * * *
|
The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
*
* * * *
 |
Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
|
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
update 8 December 2011
|
