Walton L. Brown. "The Forgotten Heritage: African-Amerindian Relations in America" from Proteus, Volume 9, Number 1, Fall 1992. Published by Shippensburg University The history of the New World has been written as a record of the European experience. Yet, the New World developed as a result of interactions between the "Old World" peoples of Africa and Europe and the Amerindians of the New World. For Europerans the discovery of the Western Hemisphere was a source of renewal, hope, prosperity, and mission. For Africans and Amerindians the discovery of the Western hemisphere set into motion a series of tragic historical events; the holocaust of the trans-Atlantic slaver trade; territorial wars between Amerindians and europeans; territorial displacement, the destruction and the defeat of Amerindians nations; and the significant loss of African culture and history. Columbus's discovery of the New World opened the door for a new era of long and intense contacts between Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians. The existing body of scholarly literature on african Amerindian relations, however, has not been incorporated in the mainstream of literature on American history. The history of relations between the two groups has been obscured and neglected because of the emphasis placed upon the Euro-American experience. This trend has persisted despite the fact that throughout the Americas African-Amerindian relations provided the basis for the re-peopling of the Americas;led to the development of systems of racial classifications, social stratification and social mobilization; and led to the institutionalization of the concept of race. In North America relations between Amerindians and Africans played a significant role in the territorial wars between Amerindian nations and Europeans. The presence of Africans in Amerindian nations was a significant factor in the transformation of Amerindian national politics, economics, and culture. In light of the Columbus Quincentenary the time is ripe for the reassessment of African-Amerindian relations. Goals of the quincentennial should be to incorporate the existing body of literature on african Amerindian relations into the mainstream historical record and to raise new questions about the significance of African Amerindian relations in the Historical development of the Americas. This should be done in order to produce an inclusive multicultural historical view of the American experience. The task is immense and challenging. The history of contacts between the Africans and Amerindians in North, South, And Central America vary. This selection will focus primarily upon interaction between Africans and Amerindians during the colonial, antebellum and post bellum eras in the United States. Before proceeding, however, it is worthwhile to discuss some of the new research findings which suggest that Africans and Amerindians were in contact before Columbus's voyage and that columbus's voyage brought the two peoples into contact in Europe. Early contacts: New Questions; New Findings Several authors have begun to explore the historical and archaeological evidence that African-Amerindian contacts occurred before Columbus's expedition to the western Hemisphere. It is argued that Africans Reached the Americas because they knew of the Atlantic Ocean currents that led to the Americas. It is conversely argued that some Amerindians may have used the same knowledge to reach the west coast of Africa. Even more intriguing is the Argument that Columbus had knowledge of the early voyages of Africans and used the same ocean currents to reach the western hemisphere. Some researchers assert that the Emperor of Mali, Bakery the II, crossed the Atlantic in 1312 and that columbus came across Bakary's logs in 1480. This evidence, they conclude, suggests that Columbus use Bakary's southern route from the Cape Verde Islands to Trinidad in his voyage of 1498. The argument is further supported by evidence that Columbus observed similarities between the clothing of Amerindians and africans. It is noted that he saw well made multicolored scarves or sashes, identical with those of Sierra Leone, but because of the distance he thought that the two peoples ought not to be in communication. Thus, Columbus wanted to verify the truth of what the americans of Haiti had stated previously, to the effect that black people had come from the south and southeast and that their azagaya heads were made of guanin, a brass or bronze like moisture of gold, silver and copper. While debated will rage, in some quarters, about the possibility that contacts occurred between Africans and Amerindians in Central America and the Caribbean prior to Columbus's voyage, there is little question that Africans and Amerindians made contacts as a result of his voyage. At least one member of Columbus's crew. Pedro Alonso Nino, was an African and Africans from the Iberian peninsula were heavily represented in the early colonization of the Americas. Africans accompanied Balboa to the Pacific and were a part of Cortes expeditions in Mexico. Estevanico, and African, was the first to discover what is now known as New Mexico and Arizona. Columbus's voyages to the Americas occurred after the collapse of the Moorish power base in the Iberian peninsula: After 800 years of Muslim domination and the victory of the Catholics. During the Inquisition, which began in 1492, the Moors and other non-Catholics were expelled from the peninsula. The period of expulsion, however, did not eliminate the African Culture or racial presence. Thus, Columbus importation of Amerindian slaves facilitated the contact between Amerindians and Africans in the cities of the peninsula and along the coasts of Africa because of Euro-African contacts. Through the process of amalgamation over centuries Amerindian and Africans were absorbed into the general populations of Spain and Portugal. The interactions between Africans and the indigenous people of the Americas have not been fully explored in the research on ancient people and cultures. The contacts in Africa continue to remain unexplored. The significance of the contact is not fully understood. The oral history of some South American native peoples tells of a relationship with Africans that was spiritual in nature: Thus was the spirit powers of black Africans are said to have established a close cooperative relationship with the spirit powers of the Americans. The spiritual relationship of cooperation in ancient times was rectified in the post Columbus history of the western hemisphere. The relationship between Amerindians and African played a major role in the political, economic, and social development of the United States for many centuries after Columbus's voyage. Contacts in the North America Relations between africans and the various Amerindian nations in North America underwent profound changes during three distinct historical periods; the early colonial period, the period of removal and the development of the Oklahoma territory, and the aftermath of the civil war. During each era, relations between the two groups were influenced by the international relations between the Amerindians and Euro-americans, the emergence of the American institution of slavery, the penetration of European values and notions of slavery in Amerindian culture and the changes in the balance of power between the proponents of slavery in the United states. Conflicts among the competing European powers and the numerous Amerindian nations created a web of international alliances, coalitions, betrayals, and manipulations. Conflicts among the three European powers catalyzed the transformation of international relations between the various Amerindian nations and the political goals, societies, and cultures of the individual Amerindian nations. The common view is that the cultural and military superiority of the European facilitated their conquest of the American territory. Another prevailing view is that Amerindians were hostile and unwilling to negotiate and coexist with the emerging United states. A more sober and balanced view is one that recognizes the relationships that developed between Amerindians, European immigrants, and the emerging American Government. Amerindians nations were intricately involved in the wars and political negotiations that led to the creation of the United States. The historian, Gary Nash, opined: That they were eventually the losers should not obscure that fact that the interaction was truly a two way process Europeans used Indians to enhance their own power and Indians used Europeans in precisely the same way. The missing element in the recorded history of the relationship between Europeans and the amerindians is the role that Africans played. In the south east, the role of the Africans was especially important in the development of international treaties between Euro-americans and the Amerindians, the international relation between the various Amerindian nation and the development of the removal policy. Finally the presence of Africans in the political process that eventually led to the creation of the state of Oklahoma. The African slave trade was one of the most important migratory phenomena in the history of the western hemisphere. In the classic work on the transatlantic slave trade. The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States, W.E.B. Dubois, using the original records from slave ships and early census reports, argued that over a period of four hundred years, the late 15th to 19th centuries, 10 million or more. Countless numbers of Africans lost their lives in transit or simply disappeared. Even after the North American slave trade was officially outlawed in 1808, the traffic continued as African slaves were illegally smuggled into North America through Cuba and Mexico. By the end of the Brazilian slave trade in 1888, far more Africans had crossed the Atlantic than Europeans. Not only was the slave trade important in economic terms but also in cultural and genetic terms. Africans "africanized" the cultures of the Americas, despite the denials of the impact upon the civic and social cultures of North And Latin America. The Slave trade created new systems of communication, agricultural techniques, medical knowledge, food consumption patterns, patterns of civility, and new systems of racial classification that have lasted well into the 20th century. During the colonial period in North america, the status of Africans as slaves or free persons and their role in the colonial American politics varied from colony to colony. In the early development of the North Americans system of slavery both Africans ad Amerindians were enslaved or bound as indentured servants. During that period especially in the New England colonies, Africans and Amerindian were enslaved or bound as indentured servants. During that period especially in the New England colonies, Africans and Amerindians were enslaved or bound as indentured servants. During that period, especially in the New England colonies, Africans and Amerindians amalgamated to the degree that it was difficult to distinguish the populations. The increased importation of African labor to North America spared the Amerindians of North America the fate of further enslavement. Africans were given the odious distinction of being better fit for slavery because of their immunity to many Europeans diseases. The slave trade brought a larger number of Africans in proximity to Amerindians than any previous phenomena. In North Americas the greatest contact between the two peoples occurred in the English colonies of South Carolina and Georgia and the Spanish colony of Florida. The populations of both groups exceeded the European population prior to the American Revolution. Great efforts were made to keep the populations separate. Resistance coupled with the potential for slave revolts frightened English settlers and slave holders. Both African slaves and Amerindian were viewed to be threats to and enemies of the Euroamericans. The strategy of divide and rule was attempted in order to keep the two groups from joining forces. The strategy was implemented through the fomentation of disputes among the various Amerindian nations--Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Seminoles, and Chicksaw--and the prohibition of contacts between slaves and nations. The former was achieved through international manipulation and the latter was achieved through the former legislative process. For example Laws were passed prohibiting Afro Americans, whether slave or free from traveling in Indian Country as traders of traders helper. Patrols were used in frontier areas to prevent slaves from reaching Indian Country. Another strategy was to foment tensions between Africans and Amerindians. African slaves were incorporated in the forces of slaveholders during the Indian wars and used to suppress Amerindian insurgency. Euroamericans formed coalitions with Amerindians in order to suppress African slave rebellions and escapes. The strategy intended to sow the seeds of mistrust between Africans and Amerindians and to create the illusion of European military superiority in terms of the numbers of men in battle. The efforts of the colonial governments and slave holders to divide and limit contact between the two peoples were not altogether successful. Often during wars between Euro-americans and Amerindians the lives of African Slaves were spared by the warriors. Numerous escaped slaves were given refuge in Amerindian nations. Alliances between Africans and Amerindians were consolidated through the methods of tribal adoption, intermarriage, and their common desire to defeat or, at least, keep the europeans at bay. In some Amerindian nations-Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw-Africans were enslaved. Slavery among the Cherokee, for example, as an existing practice. They enslaved other amerindians captured in war centuries before the spread of African Slavery. Africans also become interpreter and intermediaries between Amerindians and European because of their familiarity with european culture, their fluency in the English, Spanish, and other languages and their familiarity with the territory. Africans became the middlemen between Amerindians and Europeans. Africans acquired leadership positions in some Amerindian nations. In addition, African agriculture and technology expertise was far more advanced than those of most Amerindian nations. Therefore, economically, Africans became an indispensable source of new agricultural technology and information. Tensions between Europeans and Amerindians often arose over africans. African slaves were more often than not the central issue in the diplomatic relations between the two groups. One indication of this tension is the fact that Indian tribes were repeatedly asked to return fugitive slaves, and treaties signed with Creeks, Cherokees, and other tribes almost always included a clause stipulating that escaped slaves must be turned over...Bounties were offered to Indians for the capture and return of escaped slaves. While Europeans slave holders view Africans as their property, therefore entitling them to the return od escaped slaves, the view was not always the same for Amerindians. In some cases, the return of european property meant the return of family. After the American war of Independence and the annexation of Florida, one of the longest and the most expensive wars between the United States troops and the seminole nation erupted. Some believe that the cause was the seizure of Chief Osceola's Africa wife, Morning Dew. Relations between Africans and Seminoles were much closer than those Between Africans and the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee. Unlike and other Amerindian nations in the southeast, the Seminole national identity transformed into one that was literally "Afroindian." The bonds between the two groups withstood several centuries of assault from Euro-americans and the other Amerindian nations that eventually adopted a negative view of Africans. There was several possible reasons for the loyalty that developed between Africans and Seminoles. To begin with, the term Seminole is the Muskogee term from runaway. The Seminole wee runaways from the Creek and other smaller nations. Therefore their experiences and status as runaways could have made them more inclined to accept slaves that sought freedom through escape rom the surrounding plantations. Secondly. the relationship was primarily shaped by political exigencies, military imperatives, and international pressures. Seminoles and Africans were forced to become comrades in arms. Africans and Seminoles formed strong ties through kinship and political allegiance against the southern slave-holders, the English, the Spanish, and the United States Government. Finally, among the Seminoles. Africans were able to acquire land, establish enterprises, farm from themselves, and secure a great degree of independence. Africans and seminoles fought together to prevent the expansion of the United states into the Florida territory. From the patriot war of 1812 to the first Seminole War of 1818. Africans and Seminoles fought together to prevent the expansion of the United States into florida. The 1821 annexation of florida disrupted and demoralized the seminole nation and the independent African American communities that developed in Florida during the latter part of the 1700s. Annexation increased tensions between the Seminoles and the slave holders of Georgia and Florida and created a dilemma for the United States government. Although Amerindians had never attempted to instigate slave uprisings and revolts on southern plantations, white slave holders feared that the pressure of Africans in the Amerindian nations under a different system of bondage, or as in the case of the Seminoles, a partnership would cause their slaves to rebel. By the end of the 1830s the plans for removal were finalized. Increasingly, is become clear that the strong alliance between and the extensive amalgamation of africans and seminoles had been grossly underestimated. For the U.S. government the decision to remove the Seminole nation, as well as the other nations from the southeast to the oklahoma territory, was as much a strategy to solve the problems of the African Seminole alliance and escaped slaves as it was to solve the Amerindian problem. The removal option placed the Seminole in a major dilemma. For them resistance to removal as a nation meant their return to the various groups of the Creek nation. On the other hand, removal meant that the Creek would forcibly take their African allies and kin. Neither option was satisfactory. For the African Seminoles removal was a perilous option because of uncertainties about their status in the new territory and their safety during passage through white slave holding territory. It was observed that when to appeared for a time that removal would take place, the blacks began to exert influence over the Indians, playing on the Seminole fear of the Creeks, urging their master and allies not to emigrate... Negotiations for the final removal of the Seminole nation were conducted in a atmosphere of great tension and uncertainty. A principle interpreter during the removal negotiations was Abraham, a close African advisor to the seminole leaders, Miconopy and Jumper. Abraham had signed past treaties for the Seminole nation. He inspected the Oklahoma territory to which the seminole nation was to be removed and argued vehemently against removal to no avail. Removal and the Post-Civil War Era The removal of the five civilized tribes of the southeast to western territory marked the beginning of dramatic changes in African and Amerindian relations. Africans accompanied their Amerindian allies, friends, family, masters to the new territory. Amerindian nations had become multiracial. However, the presence of Africans, slave and free, and mixed bloods in Amerindian nations and the requirements for citizenship. In spite of the levels of intermixture that occurred between Africans, the Cherokee, and the Creek, the political and military alliances between Africans and these two nations were not strong. Over time, both the Cherokee and the creek became more inclined to use Africans as political pawns. Before removal, Cherokee attitudes toward Africans had already gone change. The Cherokee developed self interested policies which led to the return of African Slaves for bounty, political or territorial concessions and recognition form the Euro Americans. Many Creeks owed their riches to the African slave labor. The same pattern was to be followed by the Choctaw, Creek, And the Chickasaw nations. The systems of slavery in these nations increasingly resembled that of southern white plantation owners. But the Cherokee sought to prove to whites that they had gone further in their acceptance of European attitudes toward Africans. Emphasis was increasingly placed upon the concept of national racial purity. The superiority of a nation began to be measured by the extent of intermixture with Africans. As the view of Africans changed among the various nations, tensions among nations also increased. Conflicts arose over the issue of ownership and the property rights of African slave owners among the nations. The bonds between Seminoles and african Exacerbated fears that the Seminole blacks would encourage slave revolts. International conflicts in the new territory were further induced by the efforts of two Seminole leaders. Wild cat and John Horse, to lead African Seminoles and other African Indian slaves to create a separate nation. Wild Cat also attempted to enlist the Plain Nations- Apaches, Lipans, Kickapoos, and Tonkawas-against the Creek and other slave holders. The U.S. government supported there enslavement of Africans by the Amerindian Nations. Eventually, however, Wild Cat and some African Seminoles were able to settle in Mexico. As to the economic system of slavery began to politically and militarily divide the United states, the american proved to be true among the Amerindian nations in the Oklahoma territory. At the outbreak of the Civil War it became clear that may Amerindian slave holders shared the same interests as the plantation owners in the southern states. Surrounded by the confederacy, the nations in the new territory aligned themselves with the Confederacy. There were those that sympathized with the union but an alliance with the union was nearly impossible. The distance between Washington and the territory was too great. Also, pro-slavery members of the United States had gained a greater degree of influence in the new indian territory. At the end of the civil War, as punishment for the allegiance with the confederacy, the lands of the five nations were confiscated by the U.S. government an redistributed to the plains nations-Shawnee and Delaware. Post war emancipation was extended to the African slaves of the Amerindian nations. While this was a complete reversal of the previous demands of the US government that enforce slavery of Africans, some nations was receptive. The Choctaw delayed the full enfranchisement of Africans until 1885. The Chickasaw, however, remained defiant. Eventually, the policies of the Amerindian nation was reversed and African was given full citizenship in the individual nations. Some Africans remained in the nations and other chose to leave. By the close of the 19th century, thr Oklahoma territory became a prime area for the western migration of whites and former slaves form the southern plantations. By 1890, Oklahoma was no longer Indian territory. Several independent African american towns and communities developed. Between 1890 and 1910 twenty five black communities were formed in Oklahoma. The states black population rose by 537 percent. It was to these towns that the expatriated African Indians began to migrate. african indians became part of the larger African Community. After the Civil War, many Americans became a pact of the U.S. government's effort to destroy lands and to assimilate amerindians into the American Nation. Former African slaves became Indian scouts, cowboys, and calvary soldiers. African American institutions were used to assimilate Amerindians into American culture. Hampton Institute was one of those institutions. Note the following: In April 1878 came the first Indian students as federal prisoners of war, young Kiowa and Cheyenne braves captured in one of the last major Indian uprisings. Captain Richard R. Pratt who was in charge of these prisoners at Fort Marion, Florida, dreamed of their assimilation into white American society...And fortunately Hampton's charter did not mention race. Yet, race was surely a factor in the federal authorities selection of Hampton, instead of a white school for the training Indians. At the end of the civil War African Indians were given the choice to become citizens of the united States. Unfortunately, departure from Amerindian bondage was exchanged for second class citizenship in the United States. The system of racial classification was designed to perpetuate a two race caste system, white and non white. For peoples of African descent regardless of intermixture, the category was clear, one was black. Columbus's voyage to the Western hemisphere set the stage for the complex and in many ways, tragic relationship that developed between Africans and the native people of North America. A the quincentennial of Columbus voyage to the Americas is celebrated the time is ripe for the rediscovery of the previous bonds that existed between the two peoples and the impact that those bonds had upon the development of the United States. This selection is one effort towards that end. The study of African Amerindian nations is essentially the study of the impact that the politics of race and nationalism and the emergence of race consciousness had upon the development of the United States. The study of relations among African Americans, Amerindians, and Euroamericans is also the study of international bargaining, negotiation, war, and coalition formation. The tragic outcome of the long history of relations between African Americans and Amerindians, however, is the double rejection of African people by their Amerindian allies and Euroamericans. Africans and Amerindians were both victims of Euroamerican expansionism and economic exploitation. Each group was more or less forced to use one another to achieve some sense of security and political advantage. Long debates may be waged over the differences in the conditions od slavery and discrimination experienced by African americans oppressed by whites. Yet, the fact remains the both peoples, Africvans and Amerindians were victims of political manipulation, cultural assimilation, economic expansionism, and exploitation. The same forces that brought the two people together in North America are the same that tore them apart. For countless numbers of African Americans with Amerindian ancestry the legacy of their [past was overlooked and eroded by the tendency to emphasize and recognize their historical relations with Europeans, and in many cases, their european ancestry. To this day some African indians continue to confront the racist attitudes that divided them from their Amerindian ancestry. Recently the issue of race has created divisions between the Pequot nation of Connecticut into two feuding factions, the Eastern Pequot and the Pawcatuck Eastern Pequot. The conflict stems from the fact that the lighter skinned Pawcatuck adamantly refuse to accept documentation that the darker skinned eastern Pequots are indian. At the center of the debate is an early 19th century Connecticut native who one side says was Pequot and the other says was probably black. As Amerindian nations seek to reestablish their national identities and reclaim territory, issue such as these are bound to be duplicated within other nations. The revival of nation requires documentation of ancestry. Many African Americans will be able to provide that documentation. For many it is partially true that the Indian has not disappearance from the land, but is now part of the Negro population of the United States. Notes 1. See Ivan Van Sertima. They became before Columbus (New York, New York; Random House, 1976) See also, Jack Forbes, Black Africans and Native Americans. (New York, New York;Basil Blackwell, 1988) 2. Jack Forbes, Black Africans and Native Americans. (New York, New York;Basil Blackwell, 1988) 14 3. Roberto Rodriguez. "The Columbus, 1492-1992, Quincentennial DeBate," Black issues in Higher Education. 26 Sept. 1991:20-24 4. Forbes 21-25 5. Rodriguez 21. 6. Forbes 21-25 7. Forbes 21-25 8. Forbes 26. 9. Forbes 27 10. Forbes 7. 11. Martin L. Delaney, Blake or Huts of America. (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1970) 87. 12. Gary Nash. Red, White and Black. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1982. 13. See W.E.B. DuBois. Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the Unites States, 1638-1870. (1895: Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana University Press, 1969) and Black Reconstruction in America: 1860-1880. (1935: New York: Atheneum Press, 1973) for detailed figures and calculations of the slave trade. 15. Nash, Red, White and Black 287 16. Nash, Red, White and Black 289. See also, William G. McLoughlin. Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. (Princeton University Press, 1986) 8-9; Theda Perdue. Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 1540-1866. (Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press, 1979) 17. Nash, Red, White and Black 18. Bennett, op. cit. pg 322. See also. Kenneth Wiggins Porter, (Ed) The Negro on the American Frontier.(New York: Arno Press, 1970) includes an in depth study of African and Seminole relations. 19. William l. Katz. Black Indians. (New York Atheneum, 1986) 59 20. Daniel Littlefield. Africans and Seminoles (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. 1977) 10 21. Littlefield Africans and Seminoles 20-21 22. Katz Black Indians 56 23. McLoughlin 338 24. Mcloughlin 340 25. Littlefield Africans and Seminoles 84-85 26. Littlefield Africans and Seminoles 80-81 27. Katz Black Indians 70. See also Daniel Littlefield. Africans and Creeks (Westport, Connecticut; Greenwood Press, 1979) 203 28. Katz Black Indians 70 29. Littlefield Africans and Creeks 203 30. William L. Katz. The Black West. (Seattle, Washington; Open hand publications., Inc.1987) 249 32. Sam Libby. "Pequot feud may doom federal housing grant," The Hartford Courant 28 October 1991:A5 33. Bennett 323