Black Seminoles- the best site to track the migration of a peoples who were oppressed yet stood resilient in the beliefs of their unalienable rights

African-Native Americans- A web page dedicated to the Freedmen of Indian Territory--now Oklahoma, who were the former slaves and also the Free Persons of Color in the Five Civilized Tribes. Within these nations-the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Nations -- genealogists will find thousands of records documenting the history of those African people living within the Indian nations. More than 20,000 Africans were adopted into these nations before the end of the 19th century. The Treaty of 1866 brought about the abolishment of Slavery in Indian Territory, and the adoption of the former slaves into 4 of the 5 nations. Although many of the nations have now chosen to ignore this critical treaty, the history stands as the major official connection of these Oklahoma nations have to their African brethren that cannot be disputed historically.

Black Indians- A wonderful essay on the union of Indigenous Americans with African-American written by William Loren Katz. "Though often unmentioned except in family circles, this biological legacy has been shared by such figures as Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes, Lena Horne, Alice Walker, Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson and L.L. Cool J. Today virtually every African American family tree boasts an Indian branch."

Art T. Burton in the essay titled the Cherokee Slave Revolt of 1842 notes the social issue of slavery amongst some tribes during the legal era of slavery in the United States. Fay A. Yarbough in the book Race and the Cherokee Nation also broaches on the topic that members of the "Five Civilized Tribes" held slaves as well. In fact Yarbough cites some rough statistics "(in the late 1800's slaves were)18 percent of the Cherokee pop. 14 percent of Choctaw, 18 percent of Chickasaw, and 10 percent of Creek." Yarbough also notes the myth that natives were held to a lesser degree than the legally enslaved African-Americans. The reality of the U.S. Government treating many tribes as inependant nations well into the Antebellum periods prior to the Civil War, allowed for a great degree of social autonomy for the Native American compared to their enslaved counterpart in the American of African decent.

Black Seminoles -wiki- In eighteenth-century Spanish Florida, Black Seminoles became a distinct group, as escaped slaves were welcomed by the Spanish government. Spain gave land to some Muskogee (Creek) Indians. Over time the Creeks were joined by other groups of Indians, such as the Miccosukee and the Apalachicola, and formed communities. By 1822, they had formed a new nation and took the name of Seminole.

The Spanish strategy for defending Florida was based, at first, on organizing the indigenous Indians into a mission system with the mission Indians serving as militia to protect the colony from English incursions from the north. But a combination of raids by South Carolina colonists and new European diseases to which they did not have immunity decimated Florida's native population. After the local Indians had all but died out, Spanish authorities encouraged renegade Indians and runaway slaves from England's North American colonies to move south. The Spanish were hoping that these traditional enemies of the English would prove effective in holding off English expansion.