What is a Black Seminole?
This is a misnomer — a term that sometimes confuses more than it explains. The African-American historian, Kenneth Porter, defined Black Seminoles as “[T]hose people of African origin who attached themselves voluntarily to the Seminoles or were purchased by them as slaves.” They were permitted by the Seminoles to make their camps close by the Seminole camps and, in return, shared their agricultural produce with the Indians. A few of them gained prominence among the Seminoles because of their ability to translate. One, at least, Abraham, was a “sense bearer” or spokesman for Micanopy, an hereditary micco, or civic leader. Almost all of the slaves who sought the protection of the Seminoles in Florida also left with them for Oklahoma. Many of their descendants are there today, organized as “Freedmen’s Bands,” and still living under the aegis of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. A few, who left Oklahoma in 1849 with the famous Florida warrior, Cowák:cuchî or Wild Cat, to fight other Indians
