Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #AfroIndigenous
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Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! A reminder that there are many different groups of Black Native people within the United States and that often our ties to Indigenous Nations are through violence and slavery at the hands of Indigenous people. Our ancestors were resilient!
Not all relationships between Black and Native people were ones of mutual respect. Not all Native nations assisted runaway slaves. In fact, some Native nations—like the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations—recaptured and re-enslaved runaway slaves of African descent.
This doesn’t negate our Indigenous ancestry, but certainly complicates it. Our introduction to our tribes of origin was not through peace or mutual understanding, but through violence, forced labor, and forced migration on the Trail of Tears while enslaved.
#FreedmenHistorySpotlightSaturday: Sarah Rector
Did you know that the richest Black person in the world in 1915 was a 10-11 year old Creek Freedgirl? By 1915, Sarah Rector was worth over $25.5 million dollars in today’s dollars.
Did you know that the richest Black person in the world in 1915 was a 10-11 year old Creek Freedgirl? By 1915, Sarah Rector was worth over $25.5 million dollars in today’s dollars.
She made an income twice as high as President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. Her income and wealth got to be so high that the state of Oklahoma’s white-dominated legislature attempted to pass a law reclassifying Sarah Rector as white.
Further, following her acquisition of wealth, she received marriage proposals from white men in the United States and around the world, at a time when interracial marriage was illegal, and at a pre-pubescent age.
Where did her wealth come from?
Where did her wealth come from?
A thread on the composition of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by “Uncle” Wallis Willis and “Aunt” Minerva Willis, enslaved people of African descent owned by Britt Willis, a Choctaw citizen. (Thread)
“Uncle” Wallis Willis and “Aunt” Minerva Willis were owned by Britt Willis in Holly Springs, Mississippi and when Britt and his wife walked the Trail of Tears following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit, Wallis and Minerva were amongst the 300 slaves they forced along the trail (1).
A side note here: Many people don’t know this, but thousands of enslaved people were forced to walk the Trail of Tears with their enslavers from the “Five Civilized Tribes” (Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations). Painting in above tweet by Elizabeth Janes.
