Members of five Native American nations, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations (known as the Five Tribes), owned black slaves. Then located outside the territorial boundaries of the US in a region known as Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma), these sovereign nations were not affected by proclamations or constitutional amendments. Instead, separate treaties had to be made between the US and these Native American nations not only to free enslaved peoples, but also to formally end the American Civil War battles and antagonism between American and Native American troops.
The fact that by the time of the Civil War black chattel slavery had been an element of life among the Five Tribes for decades is rarely discussed. It is, however, an important aspect of US history which serves to remind us of the complexity of colonialism, exploitation and victimisation that laid the foundations of our country.
Captivity and slavery among Native Americans
The indigenous peoples of North America had utilised a form of captive-taking andinvoluntary labour long before European contact. But this form of bondage was neither trans-generational nor permanent. Captive-taking was most often used to replace a dead loved one within the family with a new person. The captive would then take on this deceased person’s sexual or labour-related capacities.
I love how when it involves not European people, such unpleasant business as slavery is always either denied, justified or explained away. Here by avoiding the use of the term ‘slavery’.
They try to make out that among the native Americans, it was a nice, honourable, and even consensual practice. Next they’ll be saying that the pre-Columbian slaves all had really good lives, so it doesn’t really count.
This kind of sycophantic revisionism makes me want to puke. Has Europeans taken a black women as a mistress to replace their wife, there would be shrill, shrieking denunciations, with ear slipping screams of racism, yet it was just fine for Native Americans to do such things. Perfectly acceptable.
The cognitive dissonance here is staggering.
Gee, it’s almost like, in those days when survival was iffy at best and worrying about someone’s feelings or even humanity was low on the list of priorities, various peoples looked at slavery differently than we do today.
Also note that this wasn’t a situation of the Native Americans suddenly realizing, “Why are those white guys so mad at US?” They would suddenly decide to just wipe communities out, which of course, drew a like response.