Saturday, May 25, 2019

Native Americans Owned Many Black Slaves

Posted: 5/25/2019

Here is some history they usually do not tell you about because it does not fit the narrative, we are made to believe every day!
I was just listening to the Larry Elder radio show while driving on a highway, when he discussed the absurdity of reparations for slavery. My jaw dropped several times and I said what!

Among other astonishing things that I do not remember ever having been aware of was that there were about 2,000 black slaves on the infamous Trail of Tears owned by American natives.

Here is a pertinent article by the Smithsonian Institution about the subject of American natives owning black slaves: How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative The new exhibition ‘Americans’ at the National Museum of the American Indian prompts a deeper dive for historic truths (published 3/6/2018). Unfortunately, this article is mute on numbers of slaves etc. Here are some pertinent quotes:
  1. “... Cherokee slaveholders, foremost among them Cherokee chief John Ross ...”
  2. “.... numerous African-American slaves, Cherokee-owned, who made the brutal march themselves, or else were shipped en masse to what is now Oklahoma aboard cramped boats by their wealthy Indian masters ...”
  3. ““The Five Civilized Tribes [Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole] were deeply committed to slavery, established their own racialized black codes, immediately reestablished slavery when they arrived in Indian territory, rebuilt their nations with slave labor, crushed slave rebellions, and enthusiastically sided with the Confederacy in the Civil War.””
  4. “Perversely, Native American ownership of black slaves came about as a way for Native Americans to illustrate their societal sophistication to white settlers.” [Sounds like historical revisionism or to invent excuses]

As an aside the Wikipedia article on the Five Civilized Tribes does not even mention slavery and slaveholding by these tribes.

This is just one of the many horrible facets of the history of slavery!

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