THIS EVERYDAY LIFE

Moving About Was starting to do a little research on the Maroons of Florida (a group of runaway slaves), and the assimilation of escaped African slaves into the societies of Native American peoples in Florida and what is now commonly referred to as Southern Coastal Georgia. It was my understanding that the Seminoles were the only Native American peoples receptive to the Africans living among them, adjacent to them and even marriage. But as is quite often my understanding was way off base. It seems that the runaways also found succor among the creeks and other minor tribes. But being a part of Native American tribes was not the only way Africans existed in the swamps and piney woods of South Coastal Georgia and Florida, they also lived apart from the Native Americans and as a consequence were designated “Maroons”. If the name sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s a name heard in many countries in the New World. Most notably, the escaped slaves of Jamaica, a group of people that created a unique culture that exists even today. The existence of Maroons were not just limited to Georgia, Florida, and Jamaica, they existed everywhere in the New World that practiced slavery. From North America, Central America (yep even Mexico-A country that most USA citizens, and I daresay most Mexicans do not know that there is today African Mexicans-again a unique culture coexisting adjacent to the majority), South America and the Caribbean. Everywhere slavery existed, there were Maroons. Quite often they were so ferocious at maintaining their freedom that they were prominently mentioned in the history of most of the former slaveholding countries. Well except maybe Mexico and the USA. Mexico probably because there were so few African slaves, the Spanish had the Indians. Well, I see no reason to explain why Maroons didn’t reach as much as a footnote in American history. You know the story. Getting back to the Maroons of Florida and southern southeast Georgia; they were an interesting lot. As stated before they existed as members of some Native American societies but what I failed to mention was the fact they existed as both freedmen and slaves. I should point out though that slavery within these societies carried a far different meaning that in the European societies. In the society of the Creek, Seminoles and other tribes, a slave was an individual bound to the tribe or his/her owner to turn over a certain percentage of their production and to be obligated to participate in the tribe’s wars. In addition slavery was not indefinite; there was a set amount of time for a slave to remain indentured. Now here is the kicker-slaves were encouraged to join the tribe when their indenture period was over. Freemen in the society were just that, full members of the tribe. Remember my mentioning in an earlier blog about the Black Seminoles. Well they was a group of Maroons that lived adjacent to the Seminoles and were full tribal members. They had all the privileges of the native members, heck even to the extent of owning slaves. Oh by the way at some point and time for one reason or another Maroons, slaves and freed Africans fought for Colonists, Spanish and the British. In each and every case if they were not free, they fought to be free. This is a subject that is a little more complicated than it appears at first glance. Therefore I am going to hold off on it until later. For now I am packing to visit friends in Charleston, South Carolina. Now there is a place that is full of colonial history far older than Georgia, the area had time to accrue more history. Visiting Charleston will also offer me the opportunity to become more acquainted with the Stono Revolt. In case you missed it, on a Sunday, October 9, 1739 a group of slaves from the Stono River region of SC (location is enroute to Charleston) killed twenty one white men, women and children and laid waste to a tremendous amount of property as they made their way south to freedom in Spanish Florida. Most of the escapees were eventually killed but some escaped and their whereabouts still remain unknown. Speculation among some historians is they made it to Florida and joined up with the Maroons or the Seminoles. Hey people don’t think the Spanish were abolitionist for moral reasons. They merely held out the prospect of freedom to slaves to gain soldiers and to cripple the British colonies’ economies. The French, British and Spanish were always at war over New World possessions and whenever there was a need too, it was not beyond them to attempt to create rebellion among each others slave population. Heck if it took granting freedom, teaching them the ways of making European war and making them eventual citizens of their countries so be it. Oh by the way sometimes lessons taught to the slaves turned disastrous as they were used against their mentors. For now bye y’all.