Encyclopedia of African American History

36  Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavement

the so-called Black Seminoles fought to protect both their

freedom and their Seminole Indian allies. Ultimately, many

Black Seminoles were removed from Florida and like other

members of the “Five Civilized Nations,” they were relo-

cated to the Oklahoma Indian Territory.

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, escaped slaves

and their progeny lived in 15 black or biracial settlements or

villages, including Fort Mose (1738–1740 and 1752–1763),

the Fort at Prospect Bluff (1812–1816), Bowlegs Town I

(1780s–1812), Bowlegs Town II (1813–1818), Mulatto Girl’s

Town (1818–1820s), Payne’s Town (1790s–1813), King

Heijah’s Town (1818–1823), Big Swamp (1800s–1840s),

Okahumpka (1818–1820s), Powell’s Town (1818–1840s),

Pilaklikaha (1803–1840s), Chocahatti (1767–1830s), Bukra

Woman’s Town (1818–1823), Boggy Island (1814–1840s),

and Sarasota (1750s–1840s). When Florida was ceded to

the United States in 1821, it no longer eff ectively served as a

frontier or haven for escaped slaves. Even in that case, free

black and biracial forts, villages, and towns continued to

exist into the 1840s and served as the lasting manifestations

of black agency, the unique geopolitical circumstances

evident in Florida, and mutually benefi cial alliances with

Seminoles and Spaniards.

See also: Atlantic Creoles; Black Seminoles; Fugitive Slaves;

Gullah; Kongo Kingdom; Seminole Wars; Stono Rebellion;

West-Central Africa

Walter C. Rucker

Bibliography

Colburn, David, and Jane Landers, eds. Th e African American Heri-

tage of Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995.

Landers, Jane. Black Society in Spanish Florida. Urbana: University

of Illinois Press, 1999.

Landers, Jane. “Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black

Town in Colonial Florida.” American Historical Review 95

(February 1990):9–30.

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

Seeking People. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996.

Twyman, Bruce Edward. Th e Black Seminole Legacy and North

American Politics, 169 3– 1 845. Washington, D.C.: Howard

University Press, 2000.

Du Sable, Jean Baptiste Point

Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable (1745?–1818) was an entrepre-

neur who is acknowledged as the fi rst known settler in the

Destination, Florida

With the founding of the colony of Carolina in 1670, the
Spanish presence in Florida served as a facilitating space
for escaped African slaves. Th e very existence of Spanish
St. Augustine, established in 1565, drew enslaved Africans
from British plantations and, between March and Novem-
ber 1739, runaways from Carolina helped to establish the
semiautonomous black town of Gracia Real de Santa Te-
resa de Mose—two miles north of St. Augustine. Th e initial
draw to Florida might have been due to the prior experi-
ence of many enslaved Africans brought to Carolina with
both Catholicism and an Iberian language (Portuguese).
Beginning in 1491, the Kingdom of Kongo in West-
Central Africa voluntarily converted to Catholicism due to
the infl uence of Portuguese-speaking Capuchin missionar-
ies and the baptism of the king of Kingo Nzinga a Nkuwu.
In addition to this, nearby regions in West-Central Africa
witnessed the spreading infl uence of Catholicism and a
uniquely Africanized version of Christianity with the Por-
tuguese founding of a permanent presence in Luanda be-
ginning in 1575. In urban centers and rural hamlets alike,
Africanized Christianity may have spread to the degree that
the majority of enslaved Africans shipped from West- Central
Africa were self-avowed Christians or had signifi cant prior
exposure to Christianity. In addition, the exposure to and
mastery over Portuguese by these Atlantic Creoles likely fa-
cilitated communication with the Spanish in Florida.
Even before Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort
Mose) was founded, the Spanish Crown had issued a series
of edicts in the period between 1693 and 1733. Th ousands
of Carolina slaves, understanding the unique geopolitical
circumstances, exploited the imperial rivalry between the
English and Spanish in order to secure their freedom. In-
deed, it is very likely that the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South
Carolina was ultimately a movement initiated by enslaved
Africans from West-Central Africa seeking asylum in Span-
ish Florida.
While thousands left Carolina and Georgia (established
in 1732) for Florida, not all of them ended up in St. Augus-
tine or Fort Mose. Some formed maroon societies while
others joined with the Seminoles, creating unique biracial
enclaves in which aspects of South Carolina and Georgia
Gullah culture (e.g., rice cultivation) became embedded. In
the course of the First, Second, and Th ird Seminole Wars,

http://www.ebook777.com