Do people know about Black Indians in the USA and Mexico?

Question

Yesterday I asked a question and I mentioned that many Blacks in America had Indian in them. You should of seen some of the comments that I got. I was told that I did not know my history – that if I did then it was only .0000000009, I was accused for asking for reparations – on and on. I also mentioned that I was in Oklahoma – which should of mad sense, since this is Indian Territory. I did not realize how bad the problem was. I have my Creek Indian card – My Grandparents still speak Creek (Muskogee) and so do many Blacks in Oklahoma and throughout the south. I just wanted to ask people if they have ever heard of the Black Indians or is it something that is really kept out of everyone’s history books? Thanks Here is some info for you – There is a wealth of info on the internet!

http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Indians
http://www.rosecity.net/cherokee/blackindians.html
http://blackhistorypages.com/Black_Indians/

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n8_v50/ai_16898311
http://www.texasindians.com/bsem.htm

Answer 1

It depends on how a person defines black. I have seen people denote black as being African American and I have seen black used for anyone with a dark skincolor. There are plenty of blacks (and many other ethnicities in america) that have some level of native american in them. Creole is probably the most well-known group of dark-skinned mixed people. Beyonce herself is half-creole. Unfortunately, the history of many dark-skinned people is left out of history books, which is a shame. What results is what you've seen; people don't even know certain skintones in ethnicities exist because they don't read or hear anything about them. This happens in many cultures. The lighter-skinned portion of the population is the one portrayed in the media. I actually have encountered people that didn't know that very dark-skinned asian or latino people even existed, as the porcelain and lighter-complected people are the ones most commonly seen on television and in magazines.

Answer 2

absolutely. even prior to slavery when there were african, white and native indentured servents, there were mixing of families. africans in america gradually became the slave of choice because they were more easily identifiable. just like there are many white families with native american ancestry, there is also a lot of black families with native american ancestry. Durign slavery, some fugitive slaves were able to find refuge among native american tribes and married into them. Even after slavery there were native american families with blacks.
It is unforunate that there are alot of people that do not know the real story of American History. the school books are of no help since they tell kids what they want to instead of really occured( in school we spent more time on christopher columbus, 1492 sailed the ocena blue and the nina pinta santa maria, then we did learning what really hapenned. so i guess in a way I am not surprised that people do not know that there are black native americans

Answer 3

Yes I have my grandmother was 100% indian and her husband was 50/50, so I'm thinking my dad was about 75% indian 25% percent black. They originate from Alabama...The Poarch Band...people are just naive and only know their HISstory not actual history

Answer 4

Thank you for the information. I looked through some of my history text books and came up with...nothing. It doesn't surprise me though (very sad, these books!)

I'm going to check out the sites you suggested. It's amazing the amount of history that gets left behind or pushed aside.

Answer 5

Yes, I knew. (Not all of us stopped reading after graduation! ;)) It's a shame about the history books - my curriculum never said anything about it either. The more I study history, the more fascinated I am at what was focused on and what was left out, because of the spirit of the times and common predjudice.

Answer 6

Yes some people know about black native americans............that is probaly one of the many things that they did not put in the history books

Answer 7

Yeah, I actually had dinner with some "black" Indians on top of their Mexican mountain. ( It was awesome)

But th thing is, not *many* ( like you said) "blacks" have Indian blood in them, some do, but the majority don't.

Answer 8

depends on who you define black i guess. when people think about black they tend to associate it with blacks with african ancestors, hence the confussion i guess

Answer 9

I don't realy care

Answer 10

we have all heard of the blackfoot tribe.