Encyclopedia of African American History

Black Wedding Traditions  157

pay Seminole masters and also eliminated the constant

fear of kidnap and sale into slavery outside of the Seminole

community.

In the postbellum period, “freedmen” and Seminoles

continued their practice of residing in separate settlements.

Although the black communities were offi cially part of the

Seminole nation, and under its governance, blacks did not

culturally incorporate into indigenous Seminole clans. Re-

lations between the two groups in the 20th century were

characterized by some tension and some attempts by in-

digenous Seminoles to exclude Black Seminoles from the

Seminole Nation’s politics. Yet in contemporary society,

some eff orts are being made, both by scholars and by Black

Seminoles themselves, to fully acknowledge the history of

the Black Seminoles and to mend the relationship between

them and indigenous Seminole people.

See also: Destination, Florida; Seminole Wars

Lindsay Sumner

Bibliography

Landers, Jane. “Black Community and Culture in the South-

eastern Borderlands.” Journal of the Early Republic 18, no. 1

(Spring 1998):117–34.

Mulroy, Kevin. Th e Seminole Freedmen: A History. Norman: Uni-

versity of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

Porter, Kenneth. Th e Black Seminoles: History of a Freedom- Seeking

People. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996.

Black Wedding Traditions

Black wedding traditions are as varied and as diverse

as the individuals who adapt them. African Americans

sometimes choose to incorporate religious, spiritual, and

cultural rituals and symbols that honor their African an-

cestors and heritage. Black wedding traditions can be said

to foster a sense of connectedness among wedding partici-

pants, as well as provide continuity between past and pres-

ent circumstances.

In many world cultures, marriage is considered a union

between two families who may share diff erent wedding tra-

ditions. Th ese might include consulting with family elders

for permission to marry; exchanging dowry, livestock, or

property rights; participating in a prerequisite period of su-

pervised courtship; or a combination of these. In the United

States, bridal showers, bachelor parties, and engagement

were returned to plantations, their knowledge of the Flor-
ida countryside would facilitate their renewed escapes, and
whites were also apprehensive of their military abilities. In
the end, U.S. general Th omas Jessup recommended sending
the maroons west with the indigenous Seminoles.
Aft er the removal of the Seminoles to Oklahoma, ten-
sions grew between the indigenous groups and the ma-
roons. In “Indian Territory,” Seminoles were subject to the
laws of the Creek nation, which was particularly devastating
for both free and enslaved blacks in Seminole communi-
ties. Creek laws made blacks vulnerable to recapture and re-
enslavement under white plantation slavery. Further, Creek
laws institutionalized inequality between Native Americans
and blacks, stripping blacks of some of the privileges they
had previously enjoyed in Seminole society in Florida.
Th is period gave rise to a leader among the maroons, John
Horse, whose primary goal was to maintain the autonomy
of Black Seminole maroons.
Separate Black Seminole maroon communities con-
tinued to exist throughout the 19th century, as did slaves
and tributaries within indigenous Seminole communities.
Th e end of the American Civil War signaled freedom for
those blacks still “owned” by Seminoles. Emancipation
eliminated the annual tribute they had been required to

A black Seminole named Abraham, one of many escaped black
slaves absorbed into the Seminole nation. (Library of Congress)