Katja May - African Americans and Native Americans in the Cherokee and Creek Nations, 1830s-1920s

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STUDIES IN
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

edited by
GRAHAM HODGES
COLGATE UNIVERSITY

African Americans and Native Americans in the Creek and Cherokee Nations, 1830s to 1920s

Collision and Collusion

Katja May

First published 1996 by Katja May

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informabusiness

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Copyright 1996 Katja May
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

May, Katja.

African Americans and Native Americans in the Creek and Cherokee Nations, 1830s to 1920s: collision and collusion / May.

p. cm. (Studies in African American history and culture)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8153-2449-9 (alk. paper)

1. Creek IndiansHistory. 2. Creek IndiansGovernment relations. 3. Cherokee IndiansHistory. 4. Cherokee Indians Government relations. 5. Afro-AmericansRelations with Indians. 6. Afro-AmericansSouthern StatesHistory. 7. Afro-AmericansIndian TerritoryHistory. 8. Southern StatesRace relations. 9. Indian TerritoryRace relations I. Title. II. Series.
E99.C9M39 1996

95-52635

ISBN: 978-0-203-05483-3 (eISBN)

Contents

Home of an African American family in one of the Indian republics. Phillips Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Creek women pounding corn to make sofky , a traditional corn dish. Phillips Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Unspecified payment to black Cherokees at Hayden on Big Creek in Cooweescoowee District, Cherokee Nation, after a federal suit in which they had won the right to a share in Cherokee per capita payments. Dr. T.L. Ballenger Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Redbird Smith, a Cherokee traditionalist at the turn of the 19th century. "General Personalities" Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Bass Reeves, a black Creek marshal, with policemen in Muskogee, Indian Territory, circa 1900. Reeves sits on front row, far left, with cane. Twine Family Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Grant Johnson, a black Creek marshal, with policemen in Indian Territory, circa 1900. Johnson sits in the front row, center. Mrs. Ottie Lee Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Cherokees taking African American outlaw to the federal court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Left to right: four unknown men, Cherokee lighthorse police Zeke Crittenden, Dick Crittenden, "outlaw" Cherokee Bill (tallest man in center with hands in pocket), Clint Scales, Ike Rodgers, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bill Smith, unknown man. Rose Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

The Indian and black Rufixs Buck Gang of the Muskogee Nation before they were hanged at the federal court in Fort Smith, Arkansas, July 1, 1896. Left to right: Maomi July, Sam Sampson, Rufus Buck, Lucky Davis, Louis Davis. Rose Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

Chitto Harjo, Creek military and spiritual leader, around 1900. Phillips Collection, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma

When I found and stood at Cherokee chief John Ross' graveside in Park Hill, only a few miles from the resurrected Cherokee Nation's capital Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the rustling leaves in nearby trees mysteriously seemed to whisper that there was plenty of historical work for an aspiring historian to do. Ross had been a slaveholder who had issued an Emancipation Proclamation freeing Cherokee slaves during the Civil War. He was literate in the Cherokee language and keeper of sacred wampum belts, but he also was a university-educated American-style politician who held the position of principal chief among the Cherokees for forty years during which he hobnobbed with Washingtonians socially. He was also the product of the independent spirit of die Indian republics that existed until 1907, the so-called Five Civilized Tribes.

In Oklahoma I was surprised how frequently I got a glimpse of the "old" Creek and Cherokee Nations' spirit, be that in a sacred spot, a historical place, or in someone's conversation, glance, or movement. To give another anecdotal example, one day a Cherokee friend of mine carefully explained why he did not wish to attend a pan-Indian powwow in Tahlequah. I knew it was an alien practice to traditional Cherokees. He was emphatic about it and gave a typical "Cherokee" explanation: "I do not need to put on feathers to prove I am Indian." Among certain Native Americans the Cherokees are stereotyped as arrogant "know-it-alls." More positively they have been called Indian intellectuals. Another anecdote seemed to drive this last point home to me: On a research trip one rainy afternoon in eastern Oklahoma I stopped in a "bait and tackle shop" for a rejuvenating cup of coffee, when the Cherokee owner of the store involved me in a conversation and, recognizing the student of Indian history in me, he casually pulled from under the cash register his doctoral dissertation on Cherokee sovereignty.

Driving around in Oklahoma always proved instructive and fun. A Creek hitch-hiker volunteered to show me various Creek-speaking churches on rural county roads. A black Creek explained her tribal freedman identity card to me. I also inadvertently met black Cherokees and Creeks in Berkeley and Oakland, California. Many African Americans have Indian ancestry, probably many more than those who have photographs or family history to "prove" it. Records were hardly kept at all, often destroyed, lost, or sometimes inaccurate. Black Indians are an almost invisible group within the heterogeneous African American community. Some families can remember the tribe of their Indian forebears, other families only remember that there was an Indian.

The historical endeavor before me was a benevolent obsession, however harnessed by academic discipline. The interest is rooted in my intellectual curiosity, first of all, and in my biography, second. The interest began during a one-year stay in northern Georgia in the 1970s. I first became astutely aware of the "triracial" nature of southern history and American history in general. My academic interest in historical relations between and among peoples of color led me to study American Studies at the Freie Universitt Berlin, focusing on race relations and Native American history, which are often treated as though they are different things.

Pursuit of this research led me back to universities in the United States where I had the opportunity to study with W. David Baird. Over the period of more than ten years many people inside and outside of academia have taught me to understand people other than my own, and, in the process, to come to know my people better. I thank Terry Wilson, Ronald Takaki, Leon Litwack, Waldo Martin, and Clara Sue Kidwell for reading and commenting on the earlier drafts of the manuscript, which was my dissertation in historical ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

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