[1] The word "Seminole" is derived from the Muscogee word simanó-li, which may itself be derived from the Spanish word cimarrón, meaning "runaway" or "wild one". Other significant parts of their economy are based on production of the citrus groves and cattle farming on the Brighton and Big Cypress reservations, and forestry. [35] One example is, Seminole hymns sung in the indigenous (Muscogee) language, inclusive of key Muscogee language terms (for example, the Muscogee term "mekko" or chief conflates with "Jesus") and the practice of a song leader (an indigenous song practice) are common.[36]. [30], The Seminole Tribe currently has six reservations:[23], Additionally, the tribe has purchased a 796-acre (322 ha) tract of land at the edge of the Green Swamp north of Lakeland, Florida, known as the Lakeland Trust Lands, which it intends to turn into a 151-home tribal residential development with facilities for residents' social, cultural, and educational needs. The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is working to revive the use of Creek, which was the dominant language of politics and social discourse, among its people. "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 Trail peoples, who were Mikasuki-language speakers, formed their own government, receiving state recognition in 1957 and federal recognition as the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida in 1962. [34], Seminole tribes generally follow Christianity, both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, and their traditional Native religion, which is expressed through the stomp dance and the Green Corn Ceremony held at their ceremonial grounds. Osceola was arrested (in a breach of honor) when he came under a flag of truce to negotiations with the US in 1837. Some Seminole families participate in both religions; these practitioners have developed a Christianity that has absorbed some tribal traditions.[37]. [5] The Seminole became increasingly independent of other Creek groups and established their own identity. According to its terms, the United States acquired Florida and, in exchange, renounced all claims to Texas. In the 1970s, all the members of Big Cypress Reservation still spoke Mikasuki, and most of the Seminole spoke it. The portion who spoke more Muskogee consolidated in the northern part of the Everglades near the Cow Creek Camp, becoming known as the Cow Creek Seminole. [11], The claim was filed 14 August 1950 and represented land taken under the Treaty of Moultrie Creek in 1823, land taken under the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, land taken in the Macomb Treaty of 1839, and land taken in 1944 for the Everglades National Park —– in all totaling nearly $48,000,000. [6] By 1842, most Seminoles and Black Seminoles had been removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. They had asserted their independence from the reservation group since the 1920s. They lived in the Everglades, to isolate themselves from European-Americans. [44] In 1957 the nation reorganized and established formal relations with the US government as the Seminole Tribe of Florida. They also had blood quantum requirements for tribal membership. During this period, the largely autonomous Native American villages developed alliances with African-American maroons, mostly self-emancipated former slaves from the South's Low Country and some free blacks from the Spanish period of rule. Seminole Tribe Councilman Max Osceola, center, and wrestling star Hulk Hogan, right, attend a press conference to kick off new Las Vegas-style class III … [51] In more recent years, income from the gaming industry has funded major economic projects such as sugarcane fields, citrus groves, cattle, ecotourism, and commercial agriculture.[52]. Other war chiefs, such as Halleck Tustenuggee and John Jumper, and the Black Seminoles Abraham and John Horse, continued the Seminole resistance against the army. [4], Creek is spoken by some Oklahoma Seminole and about 200 older Florida Seminole (the youngest native speaker was born in 1960). By the 1920s, many Seminoles were involved in service jobs. Native American refugees from northern wars, such as the Yuchi and Yamasee after the Yamasee War in South Carolina, migrated into Spanish Florida in the early 18th century. Seminole Tribe of Florida Headquarters Address: 6300 Stirling Road Hollywood, Florida 33024 Phone: (954) 966-6300 or (800) 683-7800 Directions: Take I-95 to Stirling Road. [26] After combining their claims, the Commission awarded the Seminole a total of $16 million on April 1976. FSU honors the traditions of the Seminole tribe. He was decapitated, his body buried without his head. (2006) "The 'Wild Indians' of Andros Island: Black Seminole Legacy in the Bahamas", Sturtevant, William, 1954, The Mikasuki Seminole: Medical Beliefs and Practices, Yale University, PhD Thesis, page 507, string of Spanish missions across northern Florida, "How the Seminole Tribe came to rock the Hard Rock empire", https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/seminoles/timeline/, Bill Drummond, "Indian Land Claims Unsettled 150 Years After Jackson Wars", "Concerning the Miccosukee Tribe's Ongoing Negotiations with the National Park Service Regarding the Special Use Permit Area", https://seminoletribune.org/bobby-c-billie-takes-on-national-park-service/, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma official website, The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida official site, John Horse and the Black Seminoles, First Black Rebels to Beat American Slavery, Indigenous people of the Everglades region, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seminole&oldid=983373156, Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Adams, Mikaëla M., "Savage Foes, Noble Warriors, and Frail Remnants: Florida Seminoles in the White Imagination, 1865–1934,". [11] Settlers and developers wanting to convert wetlands to farms and residential communities had built drainage projects, which altered the wetlands ecosystem and damaged many species that it supported. [11] They contacted Jacksonville attorney Roger J. Waybright, who initially was reluctant to take the case because the tribe had limited funding and the government dictated the amounts the attorneys could charge. In the 1960s and 1970s, some tribal members on reservations, such as the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida, viewed organized Christianity as a threat to their traditions. [12] As early as 1916, Royal Palm State Park, which would be incorporated into the Everglades National Park in 1947, was set aside as a conservation area. The 1979 plan for high-stakes bingo survived court challenges, and the first major Indian gaming establishment in the United States was opened in 1981 by the Seminole. In 1989, the monthly Seminole Tribune was the first Native American newspaper to win a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. [27], In the United States 2000 Census, 12,431 people self-reported as Seminole American. But termination would result in their eviction from the three existing reservations. In 1953, the Seminole were informed they were on the congressional list for termination of their tribal status and federal benefits, under the federal Indian termination policy to reduce costs and the determination that some tribes no longer needed any special relationship with the federal government. These crafts are still practiced today.[34]. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) hoped that the cattle raising would teach Seminoles to become citizens by adapting to agricultural settlements. An estimated 3,000 Seminole and 800 Black Seminole were forcibly exiled to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi, where they were settled on the Creek reservation. in the interior of south Florida. The Miccosukee, who spoke the Mikasuki language, were located to the south, in an area cut through by completion of the Tamiami Trail in 1928. Seminole, North American Indian tribe of Creek origin who speak a Muskogean language. As converted Christian Seminoles established their own churches, they incorporated their traditions and beliefs into a syncretic indigenous-Western practice. [18] The Seminole Tribe of Florida received federal recognition later that year. In addition, FSU offers a scholarship program that is specifically for members of the Seminole Tribe. ), During the colonial years, the Seminole were on good terms with both the Spanish and the British. White colonists continued to press for their removal. These people became known as Black Seminoles, establishing towns near Native American settlements. [19] Beginning with a small group of cattle brought from the West in the 1930s, the Seminole Tribe has developed the 12th-largest cattle operation in the country. [18] The women had developed organizations to aid the Seminole; for instance, they helped support children to go to boarding schools, lobbied to get Seminole admitted to local public schools, which were racially segregated and classified the Seminole as among "colored" to attend with African Americans; and loaned money to men trying to buy homes. Micanopy's sister's son, John Jumper, succeeded him in 1849 and, after his death in 1853, his brother Jim Jumper became principal chief. From 1861–1866, he led as chief of the Seminole who supported the Union and fought in the Indian Brigade. It had established that, at the time of the 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek, the Seminole exclusively occupied and used 24 million acres in Florida, which they ceded under the treaty. As Christian pastors began preaching on reservations, Green Corn Ceremony attendance decreased. Although the Black Seminoles also owned or controlled land that was seized in this cession, they were not acknowledged in the treaty. Based on early 20th-century population records, at which time most of the people were full-blood, the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma was to receive three-quarters of the judgment and the Florida peoples one-quarter.