Native American slave ownership facts for kids
Native American slave ownership means that some Native American tribes owned enslaved people. This happened from before Europeans arrived in America until after the U.S. Civil War. When Europeans came to North America, they brought enslaved Africans. Many Native American tribes then started to buy or capture Africans as slaves. Some important people from the "Five Civilized Tribes" (like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole) bought enslaved people. They became like the large farm owners (planters) who used enslaved labor.
The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed enslaved people only in states fighting against the U.S. government. It didn't immediately free enslaved people in Native American lands. Slavery officially ended everywhere in the U.S. with the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865. However, slavery continued in some Native American territories for a short time. The U.S. government made new agreements with the "Five Civilized Tribes" in 1866. In these agreements, the tribes promised to finally end slavery.
Contents
Early History of Slavery Among Native Americans
How Slavery Was Different Before Europeans Arrived
Before Europeans came, some Native American groups took prisoners during wars. These captives were sometimes kept as servants or slaves. They might even replace tribe members who had died. This type of slavery was different from the European system. Native Americans didn't usually enslave people based on their skin color. Instead, it was often about traditions or replacing lost family members.
First Meetings Between Africans and Native Americans
Africans and Native Americans have met for a very long time. The first known meeting was in 1502. Spanish colonists brought the first enslaved Africans to Hispaniola (an island in the Caribbean). By the 1700s, it was common to find enslaved Africans living with Native Americans in colonial America.
Before the big Atlantic slave trade started, Europeans also enslaved many Native Americans. For example, thousands of Native Americans were enslaved in Virginia and South Carolina in the late 1600s and 1700s. Some historians believe that between 147,000 and 340,000 Native Americans were enslaved in North America (not including Mexico).
Enslaved Native Americans and Africans often lived and worked together. They shared food, remedies, stories, and sometimes even married each other. Some tribes encouraged marriage between the two groups. This was sometimes to make their communities stronger, especially if many men had been lost in wars.
Efforts to Divide Native Americans and Africans
Europeans saw both Native Americans and Africans as less important. They tried to make the two groups dislike each other. This was because Europeans feared that Native Americans and Africans might unite and revolt. For example, a South Carolina law in 1751 said that "intimacy ought to be avoided" between enslaved Africans and Native Americans. In 1758, the governor of South Carolina wrote that it was always the government's plan to make Native Americans dislike enslaved Africans.
Sometimes, Native Americans did not like the presence of African Americans. The Catawba tribe, for instance, showed anger when an African American came among them as a trader in 1752. The Cherokee tribe, trying to gain favor with Europeans, sometimes showed strong prejudice against Black people. Native Americans were rewarded if they returned people who had escaped slavery. African Americans were rewarded for fighting in the Indian Wars in the late 1800s.
Forced Removal and the Trail of Tears
As Europeans moved west, Native Americans were often forced off their lands. A famous example is the Trail of Tears in the 1830s and 1840s. During this time, the Cherokee and other tribes were forced to move west to what is now Oklahoma.
Enslaving African People by Native Americans
Why Some Tribes Adopted European Slavery
There are different ideas about why some Native American tribes, especially the "Five Civilized Tribes," started to use a harsher, European-style of slavery. One idea is that they adopted slavery to protect themselves from the U.S. government. They thought that if they acted more like white European society, they might keep their lands. This included things like going to formal schools, becoming Christian, and even owning enslaved people.
Another idea is that some Native Americans started to believe the European idea that Africans were less important. Some tribes, like the Chickasaw and Choctaw, began to see enslaved Africans as property. They also started to believe that being Black meant being less important by birth. This system of racial differences was used by Europeans to control land, people, and labor.
How Enslaved People Were Treated
Some writers suggest that Native Americans treated enslaved people better than white Americans in the Southeast. Travelers sometimes reported that enslaved Africans were "in as good circumstances as their masters." One observer in the 1840s wrote that "A slave among wild Indians is almost as free as his owner." Frederick Douglass, a famous formerly enslaved person, said that enslaved people found more kindness from Native Americans than from their Christian masters. However, these comments often referred to Native Americans who did not own slaves and helped people escape.
Unlike white slave owners who used religion to control enslaved people, Native Americans who owned slaves did not use religion in the same way. The status of enslaved people could change if they were adopted or married into a tribe. Many Native American women married free or runaway African men in the 1700s. This was partly because there were fewer men in Native American villages due to wars. Records show that many Native American women "bought" enslaved African men but then freed them and married them into their tribe. Children born to a Native American mother were born free, even if their father was African.
Encouragement from U.S. Officials
In the 1790s, Benjamin Hawkins, a U.S. agent, encouraged major Southeast tribes to adopt "chattel slavery." This meant treating enslaved people as property, like farm animals, for large-scale farming. He thought their traditional, looser form of slavery was not as efficient. However, adopting these European ways did not protect Native Americans from U.S. control. It also created divisions within the tribes.
Divisions Over Slavery
Owning enslaved people for profit caused disagreements among Southeast tribes. Some historians believe that differences in social class were also important. Many leaders were of mixed race (Native American and European). They were often the first to adopt European ways, including slavery. The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes did not free their enslaved people until 1866, after the Civil War. The Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole tribes freed them earlier.
Tensions between African Americans and Native Americans changed over time. By the early 1800s, people who escaped slavery sometimes had a 50% chance of being captured by Native Americans and returned to their white owners, or even re-enslaved. However, some Native Americans strongly disliked slavery. They lacked the political power to change the system that was common in the non-Native South.
Christianity and Slavery
Christianity also caused some differences between Native Americans and African Americans. By the early 1800s, most African Americans had accepted Christian teachings. But few Native Americans, especially the Choctaw and Chickasaw, converted. They still followed traditional spiritual beliefs. Many Native Americans saw Christian missionaries as part of the U.S. plan to expand and control them.
Laws About Runaway Slaves
European colonists often demanded that Native American tribes return people who had escaped slavery. This was often part of treaties. For example, in 1726, the governor of New York made the Iroquois promise to return all escaped enslaved people. Colonists also placed newspaper ads about "runaway slaves."
While many tribes used war captives as servants, they often adopted younger captives into their tribes. In the Southeast, a few tribes, like the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek, began to use a slavery system similar to the colonists. They paid to "own" and use enslaved African Americans for profit. Less than 3% of Native Americans owned enslaved people. However, divisions grew among Native Americans over slavery. Among the Cherokee, those who owned enslaved people were often the children of European men who had taught them about the economics of slavery.
Slavery in the Indian Territory
As the U.S. government pushed for Indian Removal, tensions grew. Some chiefs believed moving was unavoidable. They wanted to get the best deal to protect tribal rights. Others wanted to resist losing their ancestral lands. The Five Civilized Tribes took the African Americans they enslaved with them to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) when they were forced to move.
Missionaries often spoke out against Indian removal. They worried it was cruel and would stop Native Americans from becoming Christian. In 1850, the U.S. Fugitive Slave Law was created. This law made it harder for enslaved people to escape. It also caused debates between Native Americans and the U.S. government. Native Americans felt the U.S. was overstepping its authority.
Not all African Americans in Indian Territory were enslaved. Some were free. For example, a town in the Choctaw Nation had a mix of free African Americans and people of mixed African-Choctaw heritage. These communities made it hard for U.S. census takers to count people. They didn't know how to count African American wives of Creek men or people of mixed heritage.
The Five Civilized Tribes and Chattel Slavery
The "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) were located in the Southeast. They began to acquire enslaved Africans during the American Revolutionary War. They took them from Patriot slave owners, with permission from their British allies. Later, with advice from U.S. agent Benjamin Hawkins, these tribes bought more enslaved workers and became large farm owners, like their white neighbors.
The forced removal of these tribes opened up land for plantation slavery in the "Deep South." It also moved chattel slavery (treating people as property) westward. This led to more conflicts. After the Civil War, there was more racial tension between Native Americans and African Americans in Indian Territory. This was due to the end of slavery and new white settlers wanting land.
Cherokee Tribe and Slavery
The Cherokee tribe owned the most enslaved people. In 1809, they had almost 600 enslaved Africans. This number grew to about 1,600 in 1835 and around 4,000 by 1860, after they moved to Indian Territory. The Cherokee population also grew during these times.
Only about ten percent of Cherokee families owned enslaved people. This was similar to white families in the South. A small group of wealthy people owned most of the enslaved labor. In 1835, only three Cherokee owned more than 50 enslaved people. Most Cherokee slave owners had fewer than 10 enslaved people. About 78 percent of Cherokee families who owned enslaved people had some white ancestry.
In 1827, the Cherokee created a constitution. It said that enslaved people and their descendants could not own property or sell goods to earn money. They also could not marry Cherokee or European Americans. Free African Americans, even those with some Cherokee heritage, could not vote in the tribe. People with African heritage could not hold office in the Cherokee government.
These laws were similar to state slavery laws in the Southeast. However, Cherokee laws were not always as strict. Some historians now argue that slavery in the Indian Territory became very similar to slavery in the White South. Cherokee men sometimes had relationships with enslaved African American women. Children from these relationships were not considered Cherokee citizens. The Cherokee government did not recognize marriages between African Americans and Cherokee citizens.
By 1860, enslaved people made up 18% of the Cherokee Nation's population. Most of these enslaved people were culturally Cherokee. They spoke the Cherokee language and followed Cherokee traditions. The Cherokee freed their enslaved people in 1863, following the Emancipation Proclamation. However, after the war, only those freed people who lived in the Cherokee Nation before the war and stayed there were given citizenship.
Chickasaw Tribe and Slavery
The Chickasaw tribe also had laws similar to the American South. After the Revolutionary War, the Chickasaw were encouraged to give up their traditional ways. They were pressed to stop trading deerskins and using communal hunting grounds. U.S. officials wanted them to adopt farming and private property.
The Chickasaw started to adopt chattel slavery in the early 1800s. This was partly because the deer population declined, making hunting less reliable. The Chickasaw became good at growing cotton, corn, and raising livestock. U.S. Indian agents did not stop them from acquiring enslaved people. They believed it would help Native Americans understand property ownership and making money.
Many Chickasaw slave owners had European heritage, usually from a white father and a Chickasaw mother. The Chickasaw did not necessarily value European ancestry. However, they did adopt a system that put people of African heritage at the bottom, linking it to enslavement.
Chickasaw culture changed to have enslaved men work in the fields alongside enslaved women. Traditionally, farming duties belonged to women. Chickasaw lawmakers later punished relationships between Chickasaw and Black people with fines, whippings, and even expulsion from the nation. This was to keep racial and citizenship boundaries within the tribe. The Chickasaw were also unique because they sometimes separated enslaved families, which was not common among other tribes.
Choctaw Tribe and Slavery
The Choctaw tribe enslaved many people who were already enslaved in Georgia. Their constitution in Indian Territory also had laws similar to the "Deep South." People of African heritage were not allowed to hold office, even if they were partly Choctaw. Free African Americans were not allowed to settle in the Choctaw Nation or own land. However, white men could get permission to live there.
The Choctaw Nation also said that people of partial African heritage could not be recognized as Choctaw citizens. But a white man married to a Choctaw woman could become a citizen. In 1840, the Choctaw General Council ordered all free Black people not connected to Choctaw or Chickasaw blood to leave. Those who stayed risked being sold into slavery.
Some formerly enslaved people said that being enslaved by the Choctaw was similar to being enslaved by white households. They noted that some Choctaw slave owners were humane, and others were not. Missionaries tried to convert the Choctaw to Christianity. They argued that slavery was not Christian and showed Native Americans' laziness or cruelty.
The Choctaw did allow enslaved people to worship at Christian missions. However, some Choctaw slave owners believed that if their enslaved people learned to read the Bible, they would become "spoiled." This added to the Choctaw's mistrust of missionaries. The Choctaw eventually withdrew their children, enslaved people, and money from mission schools and churches.
In 1850, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it harder for enslaved people to escape. This added to the tensions for free African Americans in the Choctaw Nation. However, some free African Americans remained in the nation. Kidnappings of free African Americans by white men became a serious threat. Choctaw leaders complained to the U.S. government about white Texans kidnapping a free Black family, showing a disregard for Native American sovereignty.
Creek Tribe and Slavery
Before Europeans and Africans arrived, the Creek tribe enslaved war captives. Non-fighting women and children were sometimes taken into families and eventually became part of the family. When trade with Europeans began, the Creek started selling these captives to Europeans.
The Creek often met Africans who were seeking freedom from slavery, or working for traders. White slave owners tried to trick enslaved Africans into believing the Creek would harm them. This was to stop them from escaping to Creek lands. The Creek sometimes saw African men doing work that was considered women's work in Creek culture. This made Creek warriors think African men were less important.
The Creek sometimes visited white plantations. They would trade deerskins and meat. White people sometimes made their enslaved people cross into Creek territory, even when boundaries were known. This led to conflicts. The Creek would attack white settlements and sometimes enslave white women and children. These captives were often sold back to government authorities.
By the early 1700s, the Creek had more relationships with runaway enslaved people and bought African slaves. This led to mixed-race children. Children born to a Creek mother were considered Creek, no matter the father's race. White settlers tried to reward Creek hunters for returning runaway enslaved people. The Creek sometimes returned them, or enslaved them for themselves.
By 1860, about 10% of the Creek population (1,532 people) was enslaved. Enslaved African Americans among the Creek had more freedom than those enslaved by white people. They often lived close to their Creek owners and were sometimes used as interpreters. U.S. agent Benjamin Hawkins was frustrated that the Creek would not practice "chattel" slavery (treating people as work animals).
Mixed-blood Creek people, who had European heritage, often held their white parents' economic values. They believed in private land ownership and passing down property through the father's side. This led to conflicts with traditionalists. Traditionalists had enslaved people participate in communal farming, which reflected Creek culture. These tensions led to the Creek War in 1813. Soon after, the Creek were forced down the Trail of Tears. They took the African Americans they enslaved with them to Indian Territory.
Seminole Tribe and Slavery
The Seminoles had a different approach to slavery. They did capture and hold African Americans, but they did not create laws based on race. Instead, they followed their traditions of bringing outsiders into their communities. The Seminoles welcomed African Americans, which made them different from other Southern tribes and isolated them. This also made them seem like a threat to the plantation economy.
African Americans who escaped slavery often found safety with the Seminoles in Florida in the 1790s. Seminole lands became a place for Black freedom. While other major Southern Native American tribes started to practice Black slavery, the Seminoles included African Americans as important members of their communities. Together, they created a new society.
Seminole slavery was more like a feudal system (where people owed service or tribute) than the harsh "chattel" slavery common in the South. Enslaved African Americans among the Seminole usually lived in their own communities. In exchange for an annual payment of livestock or crops, and helping in hunting or war, they found safety with the Seminole. In return, the Seminoles gained an important ally.
The Seminoles kept their traditional ways of taking captives longer than other Native Americans. They continued to capture white Americans, though this decreased in the early 1800s. They also started to focus almost only on capturing people of African descent during their wars against American expansion.
The Seminoles fought in three major conflicts: the Patriot War, the First Seminole War, and the Second Seminole War. They also had many fights with slave catchers. The Seminoles fought the United States for a long time. They continued to capture Black people and encouraged African Americans to join them in fighting the Americans. They also raided and destroyed plantations.
During the Second Seminole War, the alliance between Seminoles and African Americans worried white Americans. They feared that this alliance would grow. They worried that enslaved people would escape and join the Seminoles. General Thomas Jesup believed that the Second Seminole War could cause a large uprising in the South. He feared that people of color might destroy the region's plantation economy and defeat their white oppressors.
After the Second Seminole War, the Seminoles were moved to fixed plots of land. This changed the relationship between Black Seminoles and Native Seminoles. Conflict arose because the Seminoles were placed on land given to the Creek tribe, who practiced chattel slavery. There was pressure for the Black Seminoles to adopt the Creek style of slavery. Creek slave owners and others began raiding Black Seminole settlements to kidnap and enslave people. This led many Black Seminoles to escape to Mexico.
Other Responses to Slavery by Native Americans
Native American tribes had different ways of dealing with the idea of enslaving Africans. In the late 1700s and 1800s, some tribes offered safety to people who escaped slavery. Others were more likely to capture them and return them to their white owners, or even re-enslave them. Still others welcomed those who escaped into their societies. This sometimes led to marriages between Africans and Native Americans, especially among the Creek and Seminole.
Some Native Americans strongly disliked slavery. However, because they were also seen as a lower race than white Europeans, they lacked the political power to change the racial system in the non-Native South. It is not clear if Native Americans who owned slaves felt sympathy for African Americans as fellow people of color. Social class, more than race, might be a better way to understand these relationships.
Missionary work was a way the United States tried to convince Native Americans to adopt European ways of life. Missionaries often spoke out against Indian removal, saying it was cruel. They feared it would stop Native Americans from converting to Christianity. Some Native Americans who were against slavery saw the Civil War as a chance to end slavery. Before 1861, anti-slavery Creeks and Seminoles allowed people who escaped slavery to find safety on their lands. Some Cherokees had a secret group called the Keetoowah Society, which was against slavery.
Category:African–Native American relations Category:Native American culture Category:Native American history Category:Slavery in the United States Category:Slavery of Native Americans
