Racial Slavery and Kinship
The codification of racial slavery among Indigenous nations created a division between Black and Indigenous peoples, severing these traditional relationships and kinship ties.
What is codified racial slavery?
Many Indigenous nations, especially the Five Civilized Tribes, began enslaving African Americans during this period of U.S. history, reflecting the South’s expanding system of racial slavery.
What is the 19th century ?
As Indigenous nations codified slavery, they began adopting these types of laws that enforced the division between enslaved Black people and Indigenous peoples .
What are slave codes?
As slavery expanded into Indigenous nations , this group of people, who had once been recognized as part of both Black and Indigenous communities, were increasingly seen as outside both.
Who are mixed-race Black and Indigenous people?
These African Americans, also known as maroons, escaped slavery in the South and sought refuge with the Seminole tribe in Florida.
Who are the Black Seminoles?
The adoption of slave codes by the Five Civilized Tribes contributed to this consequence, leading to the exclusion of mixed-race members and those of African descent from full community membership.
What is the creation of permanent racial outsiders?
The Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes all implemented this system to regulate the lives of enslaved African Americans, mirroring practices in the broader Southern United States.
What are slave codes?
Codifying slavery among Indigenous peoples led to a permanent racial division, effectively reclassifying enslaved African Americans as this.
What is property?
The recognition of mixed-race individuals as outsiders by Indigenous communities meant they were denied traditional roles in society, including these types of familial relationships.
What are kinship ties?
This prominent Black Seminole leader played a key role in the resistance against U.S. forces during the Second Seminole War.
Who is Osceola?
As slavery expanded in the South, Black-Indigenous kinship ties were often replaced by these rigid racial divisions, undermining relationships and shared histories.
What are racial lines?
Following the forced relocation of the Five Civilized Tribes ,many African American slaves accompanied them to Indian Territory ,now part of Oklahoma .
What is the Trail of Tears?
This change in legal status, codifying the position of enslaved Africans as permanent outsiders , eliminated recognition of African-descended people as part of the Indigenous kinship systems .
What is the loss of kinship recognition?
Mixed-race people, once seen as connected to both Black and Indigenous communities, found themselves in this new, marginalized status following the adoption of slave codes.
What is outsider or outcast status?
The Black Seminoles fought alongside the Seminoles in resistance to forced relocation during this conflict from 1835 to 1842.
What is the Second Seminole War?
The integration of Black slaves into Indigenous societies was initially based on mutual kinship, but as slavery expanded, this system led to the erasure of Black-Indigenous connections and recognition.
What is the erasure of kinship ties?
This specific practice involved capturing runaway enslaved people, which was a direct result of the system of slavery that had been codified in Indigenous nations.
What is the creation of slave patrols?
After adopting slave codes, these nations began systematically eliminating any recognition of mixed-race people, classifying them as outsiders .
Who are the Black-Indigenous people?
As slavery expanded in the South, the racialized division between Black slaves and Indigenous peoples began to redefine this category of individuals who had been born of both African and Indigenous ancestry.
What is mixed-race identity?
In 1863, Black Seminole leaders Abraham and Gopher John signed this document outlining their community's struggle for freedom.
What is the Abraham and Gopher John declaration ?
The forced adaptation of slave codes in the Five Civilized Tribes resulted in the disinheritance of mixed-race people, leading to this social category that placed them outside the Indigenous community.
What are outsiders or outcasts?
As a result of slavery's expansion into Indigenous communities, the Five Civilized Tribes became involved in enforcing this, making them complicit in the broader system of racial oppression.
What is the system of chattel slavery?
This legal and social shift hardened racial lines by reclassifying Black and mixed-race individuals, excluding them from traditional Indigenous society and kinship.
What is racial segregation?
The division caused by the expansion of slavery led to a redefinition of racial identity, with mixed-race individuals often seen as part of neither Indigenous nor Black communities, but rather as this.
What is a permanent outsider?
The Black Seminoles were ultimately relocated to Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma), where they continued to face challenges created by the codification of slavery within Indigenous societies.
What is relocation to Oklahoma (Indian Territory)?