Black indians want a place in historyIn April 2002, celebrations of the 500 years of black Indian culture are planned for sites of major historical and cultural significance - the pilgrimage of unification itself; an honoring of 'Mother Life'
 By Nomad Winterhawk
 It happened that life crossed Africans and Native Americans together into one circle. This was in April, 1502, when the first Africans kidnapped were brought to Hispanola to serve as slaves. Some escaped and somewhere inland on Santo Dominico life birthed the first circle of Black Indians. Some black Indians have a dual ancestry of African and Native American bloodlines. Others are black people who have lived with Native Americans and maintain their cultural-ceremonial traditions. The seizure and mistreatment of Native Americans and their land, and the enslavement of Native Americans and Africans, were the two parallel institutions that resulted in the Black Indian culture.
Though neither white, Christian, nor European, together they created communities of permanence, that included people from overseas. The early history of these communities provides examples of two diverse people living together in peace. Exclusion from most written historical texts does not erase or deny the facts. Only the absence of true understanding of the relationships red and black peoples had, leaves unanswered questions for those groping to understand their family's past. Great medicine Africans arrived on 'New World' shores with valuable assets for both European and Native Americans. They were used to agricultural labor and working in field gangs, something unknown to most Indians. As experts in tropical agriculture, Africans found much to share with Native Americans, and the two groups shared and combined knowledge about indigenous farming. Native Americans found that Africans had 'Great Medicine' in their bodies. They were virtually immune to European diseases that decimated most native populations. This was also an encouragement for joining together, to create stronger, healthier children from the unions. Their slave experience also qualified Africans as experts on whites - their motives, diplomacy, armaments, strengths, weaknesses, languages, defenses and plans.
Afro-Indian family ties From a common foe, Africans and Native Americans found the first link of friendship and earliest motivation for an alliance. They discovered they shared some vital life views. Family was of basic importance to both, with children and the elderly treasured. Religion, a love and respect for 'Mother Life', and the sacred mystery behind life, was a daily part of cultural life. Both Africans and Native Americans found they shared a belief in cooperation, rather than competition and rivalry. Beyond individual human differences in personality, generally speaking, each race was proud, but neither was weighed down by prejudice. Skill, friendship and trust, not skin color or race was important. That Native Americans and Africans merged by choice, invitation, and bonds of trust and friendship, cannot be understated. It explains why families who share this biracial inheritance have never forgotten these family ties. Since 1502, Black Indians have been reported, documented, painted, and photographed
coast to coast from Hudson's Bay to Tierra del Fuego. In the decades
between the 1619 Jamestown settlement and the 'Great Treaty Signings'
of the 1880's, Black Indian Societies were reported in more than 15
states from New York to South Carolina as well as the thirty Caribbean
Islands 'blessed' by European colonization. 'You don't look Indian' As early as 1640 in 'British America' there were policies to separate Africans and Native Americans. This beginning with Govenor John Winthrop's Narragansetts Policies. Thomas Jefferson, a founding father of America, established the "you don't look Indian" precedence, when he found "more negro than Indian blood" among the Mattaponies of his home state Virginia. Affected by this rule in their home regions over the next century, other Black Indians were legislated out of existence: The Montauk, Fall River and Dudley Nations, to name a few. It was around the 1740's that British colonists in the southern colonies, introduced
the practice of slavery among neighboring Native Americans. Later, as
a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, there were over ten thousand
Black Indians to be counted among the 60.000 marched to Kansas and Oklahoma
on the 'Trail of Tears'. Unfortunately, neither many black nor Indian
children, nor many of their parents have an awareness of this legacy. Black indians for 500 years Among those who know nothing about us or our culture, there are some who hold the mistaken belief that one must look, act and speak in particular ways, to be recognized as being part of a particular cultural heritage. During the past 400 years, slavery, oppression and racism have served Black Indians: like wind upon the desert corn, they have caused the roots of our culture to grow deeper, in places where experts would say it is impossible for plants to grow. April 2002 will mark the 500th year of Black Indians. For anyone who cares
to look, we have been there all the time.
Nationalmuseet i København kører en udstilling om indianernes kunst, kultur og historie. Udstillingen vil blive i København i to-tre år.
Earth CirclesNomad Winterhawk invites and requests all Black Indians to contact him through Earth Circles. There is still time to participate as a unified body in the World Celebrations of the 500th cultural anniversary. Earth Circles, as a Cultural Association, has been organized to reacquaint descendents of Black Indians with their cultural legacy, which for many has been a difficult or impossible place for family and self-identity to meet. Contact information: see below
Book about black indians
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