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| Volume XXV, Number 11 | August 13, 2004 |
From Hollywood Board Representative David DeHass and Hollywood Council Representative Max Osceola Jr.
Max and I would like to sincerely thank all the kids for participating with the 4-H program this year, and for creating arts and crafts for the tribal fair. We wish we could have met with each and every one of you.
David DeHass and Max Osceola Jr.
Editor’s note: All the following thank you letters are to David DeHass, from the 4-H club participants.
I would like to say thank you for showing an interest in me and the hog project; this was my first year in 4-H. The add-on money will help pay for the new four-wheeler I bought and for my college education. Thank you for your support and hope to hear from you in the coming 4-H years. God bless you and thank you for your support.
Robert “Bo” Parker
I would like to take this time to say thank you for your add-on to my swine project. I hope to see you next year. Once again, thank you!
Ethan Gopher
Hi. My name is Rosalinda Lopez and I just want to thank you for your add-on to my project. It is very much appreciated. Sometimes words just aren’t enough to show it, so I am sending a little something for you too! Thank you again and I hope you like what I got for you. Hope to see you next year!
Rosalinda Lopez
Thank you for supporting me, my hog, and for the add-on. I appreciate it!
Brianna
Thank you for being at the 4-H hog show and sale. I appreciate you taking an interest in the 4-H show. I also appreciate the add-on.
Destiny Nunez
Dear friends and family,
If you can not make it by the studio to see the latest update on the Miccosukee family of four and the Florida Capitol project honoring the Native Americans of Florida, please visit www.bronzebycooley.com/page14.htm.
The Cooley Family
Greetings,
Could you please direct me to some sort of reference on clothing symbols used by the Seminole people. While visiting a friend’s house, they showed me a large photo of a Seminole woman with her beautiful patchwork dress. The photo is a black and white photo taken in the early 1900s. I believe some of the strips of designs are the crawfish, and another one has a small section being lightning while the rest of that strip is rain. In particular there are two designs that I can describe. One is a large bold face letter H, and the other is a bold face letter I.
Thank you for your time,
Dana Vihlen
danavihlen@cs.com
Dear Dana,
Your question regarding Florida Seminole patchwork design bands has been referred to me. The H and I designs you describe have no widespread symbolic names. By the use of the designs you described I would be inclined to say the picture dates from the 1930s. I would have to reserve judgment until I actually saw the design you describe as lightning.
Concerning your reference to patchwork design bands as clothing symbols, you might want to consult the letters to the editor in American Indian Art Magazine Summer 1982 issue (Volume 7, No. 2). I think you might find that helpful in thinking about symbolism in reference to Florida Seminole patchwork clothing.
David Blackard
Museum Director
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum
To my family,
I love my family very much. There are times when I wish I was a kid again. I wish I was there all the time when my family needed me. Sometimes I think they don’t love me because of all the hard times I’ve put them through, but I know that our love for each other will never end.
I know my mother loves me very much and I love her too. I want to make up for the times I wasn’t there to be the son and brother that I started out to be, and that time is coming soon.
I regret all the hurt and stress that I’ve put on my sisters, sometimes I know that they don’t want to see me but I come around anyway.
I wish we can be kids again so we can have the close relationship that we had then.
I know nothing I can say or do will change the past, but I can make up for all the lost times and when I come home, I’m coming home to stay.
I love my family very much; sometimes I sit up in the late night and think to myself, "What have I done?" How could somebody be so uncaring? How could I turn my back and say, "Oh well?”
I love my family very much; when I get home, I wish we can be a family again and do the things that families do.
I love ya’ll very much and my father who couldn’t hear this, I love you too.
Only me,
Myron Cypress
Dear Editor,
How was a Seminole chief replaced? Was there a ceremony. Why was the old Chief replaced? Was there ever a corrupt chief? What did Seminole weddings look like? Were they the same as one that would be performed by a Seminole black?
Has there ever been a Seminole black who was chief of all the Seminoles. If you can help me I'd sure appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dain Turner
Dear Mr. Turner,
The questions about the chiefs are very complicated. I am unfamiliar with any Seminole Black becoming chief of all the Seminoles. The Black Seminole who appears to have had the most political influence was an individual named Abraham who was a trusted advisor to the Head Seminole Chief Micanopy.
Micanopy was the head chief during much of the Second Seminole war. He replaced Tuckose Emathla upon his death shortly before the outbreak of the Second Seminole War. A ceremony of installing Tuckose Emathla as chief in the year 1827 can be found in the book “Letters from the Frontier” by McCall. The complete reference is found below. The work was published in the nineteenth century (shortly after the American Civil War).
This book is not particularly hard to find because it was republished as a Bicentennial Book by the State of Florida back in 1976. You might want to do a search on Abebooks.com. I do not know about corrupt chiefs, The Seminole leader, Charlie Emathla (this is not Tukose Emathla mentioned earlier) was assassinated shortly before the beginning of the Second Seminole War by a party led by Osceola. They were angry that Charlie Emathla had agreed to immigrate to Indian Territory and was paid to do so.
In the 1820s, the Creek chief MacIntosh was assassinated by angry tribesmen because of some of his dealings with the United States Government. You may know that many of the Florida Seminoles were originally Creek Indians from Alabama and Georgia.
A good source of information on the Black Seminoles is “Black Seminoles” by Kenneth W. Porter. This is a work about the life of Black Seminole, John Horse. This work was published only a few years ago so it should be still readily available. Porter was a pioneer in the field of Black Seminole History. References to a number of his journal articles are listed below. I do not know of any know of material specifically about Black Seminole Weddings, either how they were similar or different to Seminole Weddings. Another source would be Africans and Seminoles by Daniel Littlefield.
I would also like to recommend the historical essay “Creek into Seminole” by William C. Sturtevant. It was published in a book titled “American Indians in Historical Perspective” (complete reference is below). I think you will find it a succinct way to get a thorough overview on the Florida Seminoles. It discusses the changes in the Political structure and as such will help you understand issues of political leadership in greater detail and how they have changed over time. It will also provide you with a good bibliography of sources were you can explore some of the topics in which you are interested in greater detail.
McCall, George A. 1868. Letters from the Frontier. Philadelphia: L.B. Lippincott. Reprinted Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1974
Littlefield, Daniel F., Jr. 1977. Africans and Seminoles: From removal to Emancipation. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Porter Kenneth W. 1943. “Florida Slaves and Free Negroes in the Seminole War, 1835-1842.” Journal of Negro History 28: 390-421.
Porter. 1946. “John Caesar: Seminole Negro Partisan.” Journal of Negro History 31:190-207.
Porter. 1946. “The Negro Abraham.” Florida Historical Quarterly 25:1-43.
Porter. 1945. “Negroes and the East Florida Annexation Plot.” Journal of Negro History 30: 9-29.
Porter. 1951. “Negroes and the Seminole War 1817-1818.” Journal of Negro History 36: 249-80.
Porter. 1945. “Notes on the Seminole Negroes in the Bahamas.” Florida Historical Quarterly 24: 56-60.
Sturtevant, William C. 1971. "Creek into Seminole.” In North American Indians in Historical Perspective, ed. Eleanor B. Leacock and Nancy O. Lurie, pp. 92-128. New York: Random House.
Regards
David Blackard
Museum Director
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum
To the staff of The Seminole Tribune,
Hi guys! I’d just like to congratulate you all for a fine job of reporting. This is my link to my friends, family, and relatives. Also, it fills me in on what’s new and who’s not of the rez people and what’s up and coming. Keep up the great job.
To my favorites in the outside camps, villages and rez boundaries; to Luvella and Anita John: I miss you both and I think of you both often. I see you at various festivals and not enough on your home turf in Big Cypress. Write to me and let me know what’s happening in your little corner of the world. Give Treena, Trina a big hug for me and tell her I’m thinking of her too.
Daisey Mae, Mary Louise John and Cecil Jumper, where are you? It’s like we’ve drifted so far apart and I take some of the blame myself. Blood is thicker than water and we’ll always be family.
Miguel “Micki” Cantu, look me up and we can do things; catch up on old times like brothers and sisters. We all hold a common bond. Let me know how all are doing and where you’re at. Like everyone, I need family close to me.
Before I close, I’m near Hollywood for the time being, in Pompano Beach, Fla. My mother Mary knows where, so look me up and drop me a line. It gets lonely without Jake, Isaac, Simon, Jeff, my dad and Angela. I’m doing well and making plans to return to the Tampa area after February or March of 2005.
Life is better after 40; happy, healthy, conscious, and ready for anything curious and spontaneous. What’s up! Alligators are my business.
Lots of love,
Thomas
Here is my mailing address:
Thomas M. Storm Sr.
400 S.W. 2nd Street
Pompano Beach, FL 33060
Dear Chairman Mitchell Cypress,
The soldiers and I are thankful and honored to have the support from you and the Seminole Tribe. n your letter you mention that our sacrifices are much appreciated, it should be us that are thanking you. It is veterans like yourself that have risked there lives for this great country and still reach out in many ways to support the soldiers. The pride and bond that is shared among service men from past and present is something that can not be explained but only lived.
We have been at FOB Shkin for about 5 months now and we have been able to settle into the environment quite well. Our missions have increased and changed, but the time outside the wire has gone from 22-28 days to bout 14-18 days per mission. We are currently helping with the elections by providing security as well as building schools, wells, medical facilities and government buildings. It is an amazing thing to know we are part of building a new government, and giving them a fresh start.
Our children will read about this in their history books and we will be able to tell them we took part in this. We also have started rotating soldiers out on leave, and this has been a big morale boost for the guys. I will be going on leave in the beginning to middle of August and from one soldier to another I would be most honored to extend the gratitude of the soldiers and myself, for your help and support, in person.
Sincerely,
SGT Juan D. Maya
& the Wolfhounds
Aco. 2/27th, TF 2/27, 3BCT
APO AE 09354
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