Black Seminole Warrier

Posted by Judy (Brooksville, Florida, United States) on 7 November 2007 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

Matthew Griffen was a demonstrator at the Hernando County Pioneer Day, representing a 'warrier' of the mid-1800's - a congenial young man with a wealth of information to share.

The Black Seminoles are descendants of free Africans and some runaway slaves who escaped from coastal South Carolina and Georgia into the Florida wilderness beginning as early as the late 1600s. They joined with the Native Americans inhabiting Florida at the same period. Together, the two groups formed the Seminole tribe, a multi-ethnic and bi-racial alliance. Today, Black Seminole descendants still live in Florida, rural communities in Oklahoma and Texas and in the Bahamas and Northern Mexico. In the 19th century the Florida "Black Seminoles" were called "Seminole Negroes" by their white American enemies and Estelusti, or "Black People," by their Indian allies. Modern Black Seminoles are known as "Seminole Freedmen" in Oklahoma, "Seminole Scouts" in Texas, "Black Indians" in the Bahamas, and "Mascogos" in Mexico.

By the early 19th century the Blacks and Seminoles had established such strong communal ties that they banded together to fight side by side defending their land and their freedom. Their adversaries were the Americans who wanted to annex Florida and to prevent its use as a haven for fugitive slaves.

During the First Seminole War (1817-1818) General Andrew Jackson invaded Florida, destroyed Black and Indian towns, burned Spanish forts and routed the British. In this chaos, some Blacks fled to the Bahamas where some of their descendants now live. Ultimately Jackson captured Pensacola and the Spanish ceded Florida to the United States in 1821. During this conflict Blacks were recognized for their aggressive military prowess. ... There is much more than I can post here, available online...

---~--- Philippians 4:13 'We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.' ... <*}}}><

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