A Muskogean-speaking North American Indian group of SE USA, descended from Creeks who settled in Florida in the late 18th-c, many intermarrying with runaway Negro slaves. They fought whites encroaching on their territory, eventually surrendering to US troops in the 1820s and 1830s, and moved to reservations in Oklahoma, now numbering c.12 000 (2000 census).
| Seminole | |
|---|---|
| Osceola | |
| Total population | 10,000 |
| Regions with significant populations | United States (Oklahoma, Florida) |
| Language | English, Miccosukee, Creek |
| Religion | Protestantism, other |
| Related ethnic groups | Five Civilized Tribes |
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, and now residing in that state and in Oklahoma. The Seminole nation came into existence in the 18th century and was composed of Indians from Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, most significantly the Creek Nation, as well as African Americans who escaped from slavery in South Carolina and Georgia (see Black Seminoles). While roughly 3,000 Seminoles were forced west of the Mississippi River, including the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, who picked up new members along their way, approximately 300-500 Seminoles stayed and fought in and around the Everglades of Florida. In a series of wars against the Seminoles in Florida, about 1,500 U.S. soldiers died, but no formal peace treaty was ever forced on them and they never surrendered to the U.S. government, hence, the Seminoles of Florida call themselves the "Unconquered People." "Seminoles" is also the nickname of the athletic teams of Florida State University. In response to the NCAA's proclamation that Native American names and logos will not be permitted by its member institutions unless the namesake tribe concurs, both the 3,100-member Seminole Tribe of Florida and the 6,000-member Seminole Nation of Oklahoma have officially approved the relationship and the details of the images used. The Seminole were a heterogeneous tribe made up of mostly Lower Creeks from Georgia, Mikasuki-speaking Muskogees, and escaped African American slaves, and to a lesser extent white Americans and Indians from other tribes. However, the Spanish Empire's decline allowed the Seminole to settle deeper into Florida.
The Seminole Wars
After attacks by Spanish settlers on Indian towns, Indians based in Florida began raiding Georgia settlements, purportedly at the behest of the Spanish. The U.S. Army led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory to recapture escaped slaves, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by Andrew Jackson that became known as the First Seminole War. Georgian slaveowners also wanted the maroons and fugitive slaves living among the Seminoles, known today as Black Seminoles, returned to slavery.
In 1832, the United States government signed the Treaty of Paynes Landing with a few of the Seminole chiefs, promising them lands west of the Mississippi River if they agreed to leave Florida voluntarily. Seminole leader Osceola led the vastly outnumbered resistance during the Second Seminole War. Drawing on a population of about 4,000 Seminole Indians and 800 allied Black Seminoles, the Seminoles mustered at most 1,400 warriors (Andrew Jackson estimated they had only 900) to counter combined U.S. Army and militia forces that ranged from 6,000 troops at the outset to 9,000 at the peak of deployment, in 1837. In the end, the government gave up trying to subjugate the Seminole in their Everglades redoubts and left the remaining Seminole in peace.
The Seminole nation today
In the United States 2000 Census, 12,431 people reported themselves racially solely as Native Americans with only a Seminole tribal affiliation. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida was formed in the 1960s by members of the Florida Seminole community who were unsatisfied with the Seminole Tribe of Florida;
"When South Florida tourism boomed in the 1920's, Seminoles capitalized by wrestling alligators for money. In 1979, the Seminoles opened the first casino on Indian land, ushering in what has become a multibillion-dollar industry operated by numerous tribes nationwide." The use of "Seminole" as a namesake is common in Florida, with one county named after them, Seminole County, Florida, and another named after Seminole leader Osceola, Osceola County, Florida. There is also a city named for them in Pinellas County, FL - Seminole, Florida.
Florida State University connection
The image and name of the Seminole chief, Osceola, serves as a symbol for Florida State University and several high school athletic programs in the state, use the nickname, "Seminoles" as well.
According to The New York Times article "Florida State Can Keep Its Seminoles", the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) prohibition of Native American logos, signs in stadiums, cheerleader and band uniforms, and mascots as presumed "hostile and abusive" did not apply to FSU and the Seminoles, and would be considered on a case by case basis elsewhere. FSU was exempt as both the 3,100-member Seminole Tribe of Florida and the 6,000-member Seminole Nation of Oklahoma officially approved the relationship and the details of the images used. The article states: "The Seminoles are the only American Indian tribe never to sign a formal peace treaty with the United States.
However, the Miccosukee tribe of Seminoles have remained silent on this issue and it was only the tribal councils of the other two tribes that approved the relationship and did not necessarily reflect the feelings of all or even most members of the two tribes.
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