By James Wright Jr.
Sam Ford is known throughout the Washington metropolitan area as the local news reporter for Channel 7 (WJLA-TV) who asks the right questions, gets answers, and is responsive to the African American community.
What is not as well known about Ford, 70, is that he is a voting member of the Cherokee Nation, one of the Native American groups classified by the U.S. government early in the country’s history as what is now known as the “Five Tribes.” These tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole) were labeled that way because, as Ford told The Informer, they sanctioned slavery of African Americans and embraced white lifestyles and mentalities.
“I am the descendant of slaves of the Cherokee,” Ford said. “I did a series in 1990 on that, ‘Black Slaves and Red Masters.’ The series opened a lot of people’s eyes. People realized that not only did whites enslave Blacks, but so did some of the Indians.”
November is recognized as Native American Heritage Month, a time when the culture and history are celebrated. While their narratives aren’t as frequently heralded, people like Ford work to ensure that the stories of those enslaved by the Five Tribes are remembered in November and year-round. Further, Ford works to celebrate and empower people like him — descendants of those enslaved by the Five Tribes — and other African Americans with Native American roots and lineage.
Ford’s Roots Track Back to the ‘Trail of Tears’
Ford said his family roots go as far back as the “Trail of Tears” that was imposed by President Andrew Jackson who facilitated the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands to Oklahoma and other points west of the Mississippi River, starting in 1831 with the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
“The Cherokees went to court to fight the Indian removal,” Ford said. “They went all the way to the Supreme Court and won. But Andrew Jackson said, ‘let the Supreme Court enforce their ruling.’” The Cherokees were forced to leave Georgia and walk to Oklahoma. The Cherokees had slaves so you can guess who was carrying things for them on that long trip.”
Ford said Black slavery was so deeply ingrained in Cherokee culture that during the Civil War, they, like the other members of the Five Tribes, sided with the Confederacy against the United States.
“It’s interesting to note that slavery ended in the U.S. in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution but Blacks were still enslaved in Indian territory because they were not bound by U.S. law,” Ford told The Informer. “President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment had nothing to do with us.”
The journalist explained after the Civil War, the tribes eventually ended slavery and were mandated by the U.S. government to make Blacks citizens of their nations.
Ford said that while modern Cherokees accept their Black brethren, some do so begrudgingly, and noted that African American descendants had to go to court for full acceptance. He noted a 2017 case before U.S. federal judge Thomas Hogan in which it was ruled that Black descendants of Cherokee slaves were fully entitled to the rights and privileges of tribal members.
Cherokee and Choctaw Blood Runs Through Angela Walton-Raji’s Veins
Angela Walton-Raji is a nationally known scholar on African-Native American history. A retired administrator and scholar from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Walton-Raji has both Cherokee and Choctaw blood running through her veins.
She has a book “Black Indian Genealogy Research” that has been recognized as the first of its kind focusing on the unique record set reflecting former slaves or Freedmen within the Dawes Records.
Named for Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, the Dawes Records were lists of people accepted between 1898 and 1914 by the federal Dawes Commission as members of the Five Tribes to primarily dole out land. Ford and Walton-Raji confirm that of the 91,000 names, over 20,000 were people who had Black lineage.
“I grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas, sort of a frontier town,” said Walton-Raji, born in 1951. “My father was from Oklahoma and my mother from Arkansas. I had a grandmother who was a Choctaw. I am part Cherokee and part Choctaw.”
Walton-Raji said her interest in her ancestry started by researching her Choctaw heritage through the tribes’ records in the early 1990s, spurred on by attending a genealogy conference. She said it was routine in the 1990s for her to visit the National Archives in Northwest, commuting from her residence and work in Baltimore County. Walton-Raji said researching in the National Archive, she “struck gold” when File 777 was discovered and saw that it had records including her family.
“My family was part of the Choctaw nation,” she said. “I never learned that in school. The family talked about it but not much. When I grew up there was no concept of a Black Indian.”
“The story of Black Indians is complicated,” Walton-Raji said. “It is unwritten in African American history and in Indian-tribal history.”
The Black Seminoles
Alcione Amos is a retired museum curator at the Smithsonian Institution Community Museum in Southeast’s Ward 8 and a native of Brazil who lives in Southwest D.C. She explained how she and a colleague, Thomas P. Senter, began researching a book that University of Oregon scholar Kenneth W. Porter started in the 1930s on the Black Seminoles.
She and Senter co-edited Porter’s book, “The Black Seminoles: The History of a Freedom-Seeking People,” which was published in 1996.
“Editing the book was fascinating,” said Amos, 76. “When we were editing the manuscript, we had to make some changes and some adjustments, like changing the word “Negro.” We also verified everything he wrote — visiting the National Archives and the Library of Congress — but everything he did was right.”
Working on the book, Amos learned that the first Black Seminoles were members of the Gullah Geechee tribe that fled slavery from the U.S.
“They wanted their freedom and so when they came into Florida where the Seminoles were located, the Seminoles took them in,” she said. “Those Gullah Geechee adopted Seminoles culture and ways but retained some of their traditions, too. They lived in all-Black towns in Seminole territory. Contrary to what has been reported, the Black Seminoles were never slaves to the Seminoles but that is how Europeans portrayed them.”
Amos said during the “Trail of Tears” the Black Seminoles went to Oklahoma but could not adjust to the ways of the other Black Indian communities, especially the Creek Blacks.
“Many of them fled to Mexico for freedom, led by a man named John Horse,” she said. “They walked from Indian territory and walked to Mexico. They were pursued on their journey to Mexico, but they got there.”
Amos said the Black Seminoles were “freedom fighters well before the term became common during the Civil Rights Movement.”
“They never gave up their quest for freedom,” she said. “They fled the U.S. because they didn’t want to be slaves. They dealt with the Seminoles very well.”
Chippewa Terace Garnier
Terace Garnier is a U.S. Air Force veteran, a member of the D.C. National Guard, Miss International World 2023, journalist, and author of a new book, “No Longer Silent” that talks about her childhood rape and military sexual trauma.
Garnier, 34, is also a member of a Chippewa council in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the only woman member of her council.
The Chippawa weren’t a part of the “Trail of Tears” because they were located largely in Michigan, western Minnesota, Wisconsin, and southern Canada. Therefore, they aren’t a part of the Dawes Rolls or the Five Tribes.
Though it doesn’t directly pertain to her family history, Garnier said she is aware of the history of “Trail of Tears.”
“I have Black, white and Chippewa heritage,” Garnier said before marching in the 2023 Inaugural Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 12 in the District.
“There are some of my tribe members who have questioned my legitimacy because I am not a ‘pure blood.’ Just as in the Black community, there are distinctions in the Chippewa between those who are darker and those who are white.”
Nevertheless, Garnier said she proudly talks about her Native American heritage and noted she carries around eagles’ feathers to show her pride.
She emphasized that despite some shared customs and history, there is incredible diversity among Native American people and cultures.
“We Native Americans are not a monolith, we are different,” she said. “We are all, though, a proud people who have a proud culture.”
