URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001396.asp

Friday, September 12, 2003

"Americans are often shocked to learn that black Indians exist at all � and that Native Americans actually held slaves. Like the white slave owners they emulated, Native Americans often fathered children by enslaved women and occasionally � as in Milley Franklin's case � treated those children as family. As a result, millions of black Americans are descended from black people who were either members of the tribes during slavery or adopted into them just after Emancipation.

White families have begun to acknowledge mixed-race connections after centuries of denial. But the attitudes of some Native Americans have not evolved in the same way. Both the Seminole and the Cherokee tribes have employed discriminatory policies to prevent black members from receiving tribal benefits � and to strip them of the right to vote in tribal elections."

Get the Story:
Brent Staples: When Racial Discrimination Is Not Just Black and White (The New York Times 9/12)
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Relevant Links:
Estelusti Foundation - http://www.estelusti.com
African Native Americans - http://www.african-nativeamerican.com

Related Stories:
Seminole Freedmen locked out of tribal rights (9/11)
Cherokee Freedmen caught in high-level dispute (08/20)
Tribes not always following treaties on Freedmen (08/18)
Cherokee Freedmen sue BIA for disenfranchisement (8/12)
Court tackles Seminole dispute (9/24)
The Seminole Nation's hanging chad (8/8)
Resolution of Seminole dispute sought in court (5/28)
Court decision rocks Seminole Nation (5/8)
Black Seminole appeal planned (5/1)
Black Seminoles dealt setback (4/30)
Black Seminole issue still divisive (10/29)

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