1. STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND
SEMINOLES AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN FLORIDA

2. Florida Changes Flags
1565: Pedro Menendez de Aviles established the first permanent European settlement in North America at St. Augustine.
: Led by Colonel James Moore, Carolinians and their Creek Indian allies attacked Spanish Florida in 1702 and destroyed the town of St. Augustine, but could not capture the fort, Castillo de San Marcos. Two years later, they destroyed the Spanish missions between Tallahassee and St. Augustine, killing and enslaving many Indians.
The French captured and occupied Pensacola.

3. Florida Changes Flags
1763: The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. Britain gained control of Florida in exchange for Havana, Cuba, which the British had captured from Spain during the Seven Years’ War (1756–63). England divided Florida into two colonies: East and West Florida
1776–83: The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the War for American Independence
1783: Spain, allied with France, captured Pensacola.
1784: The Spaniards regained control of Florida.

4. Florida Changes Flags
: General Andrew Jackson led military expeditions into Florida (see First Seminole War)
1821: The loss of Spain's American colonies and its on-going problems with the United States led to the transfer of Florida to the United States.
1821: Florida became a U.S. territory. Andrew Jackson was appointed first Governor of Florida.
1845: Florida became the twenty-seventh state of the United States on March 3, 184

5. Florida Changes Flags
1861: Florida seceded from the Union on January 10, Within several weeks, Florida joined other southern states to form the Confederate States of America.
: The Union held Fort Meyers and Key West throughout the Civil War.
1865: Ultimately, the South was defeated, and federal troops occupied Tallahassee on May 10,

6. Seminoles
Seminoles were originally a part of Creek Indian groups in Georgia and Alabama and were historically a late arrival to Florida.
The name Seminole was originally derived from the Spanish word cimarrone, a word used by the early Spaniards to refer to Indians living apart form the Spanish missions or any other Spanish-Indian settlements
Even while the indigenous groups of Florida disintegrated, new Native American groups were beginning to migrate into the state. Many of these Native American immigrants were descendants of earlier groups in Georgia and Alabama who had experienced centuries of turmoil and change. The earliest Creek-Seminole colonies in Florida were in the present day areas of Tallahassee and Gainesville, some at Spanish Mission sites while others were at new locales along the Apalachicola and Suwannee Rivers. In the early 19th century more Creeks migrated to Florida and towns were established from Gainesville south to Tampa Bay. Researchers generally agree that the name Seminole was originally derived from the Spanish word cimarrone, a word long used by the early Spaniards to refer to Indians living apart form the Spanish missions or any other Spanish-Indian settlements. Between 1812 and 1820 pressure from settlers in Alabama and Georgia forced many Creeks to move into Florida. Florida was made a territory of the U.S. in Soon after settlers from Georgia and the Carolinas moved into north Florida and conflict arose with the Seminoles already there. In the Treaty of Moultrie Creek attempted to resolve the situation between the settlers and Seminoles by moving the Seminoles south of Ocala in central Florida. But conflict continued and ultimately resulted in warfare. In General Armistead, commander of the Army of Florida, decided to establish a new southern division headquarters south of Tampa in Sarasota County. Historian Janet Snyder Matthews writes of a post called Fort Armistead that was situated on the mainland north of present-day Whitaker Bayou. Matthews describes Ft. Armistead as being one of the few Florida posts which sent detachments inland and by steamer to Charlotte Harbor to pressure Seminoles into surrender and deport them to reservation areas west of the Mississippi. Although the location was good, illnesses such as dysentary debilitated the troops. And after seven months the fort was abandoned.
The Second Seminole War ( ) resulted in the forced removal of the majority of Seminoles to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Only a scattering of Seminoles, estimated at , sought refuge in the Everglades and other swamps of southern Florida. Florida became a state in 1845 and the southward push for settlers continued. Conflict escalated between the groups of Seminoles who remained and settlers. The Third Seminole War, or sometimes called the Billy Bowlegs War, involved limited engagements between the Seminoles and federal troops. Federal troops pushed deep into south Florida hunting down the Seminoles. About 200 Seminoles were removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Only a small refugee population remained living in the Everglades, the Big Cypress Swamp, and the Ten Thousand Islands, all of these locations where federal troops found it impossible to reach. It is the descendants of these brave Seminoles who live in Florida today.

7. Genesis of the Seminoles: 18th Century
1710: With the exception of a few stragglers, the indigenous people of Florida had been virtually annihilated from disease and attacks by Europeans.
1740: Muskogee-speaking sedentary farmers began to settle near present-day Gainesville.
1763: The "Eligio de la Puente" report mentions the invasion of Creek people, who had overrun all of peninsular Florida, even reaching Key West. Those who would later be called the Seminole and Mikasuki establish themselves in the north-central interior of Florida.
1765: Muskogee speaking people are referred to as "Seminolies" in British documents.

8. African-Americans in Florida: 18th Century
1738: The Spanish established Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort Mose), the first free African community in America, to provide the first defense against the British.
Approximately 100 Africans lived at Fort Mose, forming more than 20 households. Together they created a frontier community which drew on a range of African backgrounds blended with Spanish, Native American and English cultural traditions.

9. As runaways came to St. Augustine some were re-enslaved or sold back to the English.
: Formerly ensalved in Carolina, Francisco Menendez arrived in St. Augustine around He became Captain of the Black Militia of St. Augustine and fought to ensure promises of King Carlos.  In 1728, helping to defend the Northern Florida Frontier from English and Native American raids, the Black Militia gained the respect and honor.
1739: The largest slave uprising in the history of North America took place near Charleston, SC. The Spanish were blamed .
1740: The British attacked St. Augustine under General George Oglethorpe. Fort Mose was captured.

10. African-Americans in Florida: 18th Century
1752: Spaniards rebuilt Fort Mose. Africans established in St. Augustine, returned to their military/agrarian lifestyle. Many of the men married Indian women and still others hunted and traded with Indian allies.
1784: When the British evacuated Florida, Spanish colonists and settlers from the newly formed United States came pouring in. Others who came were escaped slaves, trying to reach a place where their U.S. masters had no authority and effectively could not reach them.
1787: More than half of the plantations in Florida had fewer than four African slaves.

11. African-Americans in Florida: 19th Century
: Territorial status. By 1840 white Floridians were concentrating on developing the territory and gaining statehood. The population had reached 54,477 people, with African American slaves making up almost one-half of the population.
1821: Andrew Jackson Allen, one of the earliest performers in America, does a song-and-dance in blackface. He sings a "Negro dialect" song on the Pensacola stage.
1831: Stephen Foster, composer of appealing love songs for the parlor and upbeat songs for minstrel shows, wrote "Old Folks at Home." aka “Way Down Upon the Suwannee River”

12. African-Americans in Florida: 19th Century
1845: Florida entered the Union as a slave state, balancing the free state status of Iowa
1851: Steven Foster's song, "Old Folks at Home," was adopted as the official state song by the Florida state legislature.

13.  THE SEMINOLE WARS
The First, Second and Third Seminole Wars were never declared wars on the part of the American government. They were:
A continuation of American policy to contain Native American populations east of the Mississippi and remove them to reservations west of the Mississippi, a policy that culminated in the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Early battles fought over the jurisdiction of runaway slaves that would eventually escalate into the Civil War.
The Seminole Wars resulted in the removal of nearly four thousand Seminoles to Oklahoma with a remnant of approximately three hundred disappearing into the Everglades
The conflicts known as the First, Second and Third Seminole Wars were never declared wars on the part of the American government; in some respects it is difficult to date the beginning or end of each of these conflicts, if indeed, they can be regarded as separate events. On the one hand, the Seminole Wars were a continuation of American policy to contain Native American populations east of the Mississippi and remove them to reservations west of the Mississippi, a policy that culminated in the Indian Removal Act of On the other hand, the Seminole Wars might be seen as early battles fought over the jurisdiction of runaway slaves that would eventually escalate into the Civil War.

14. Important Figures: Seminoles
Neamathla (fl. early 19th c.), leader of the Mikasukis, chosen spokesman at 1823 Moultrie Creek conference
Micanopy (c ), chief after 1833, ally of Osceola, removed to Oklahoma in 1838.
Ote-emathla "Jumper," (fl. 19th c.), a Red Stick Creek, Micanopy's brother-in-law and sensebearer (advocate).
King Philip (17? -1840), leader of Mikasuki band and brother-in-law to Micanopy
Coacoochee "Wildcat" (1810?- 18?), King Philip's son and Micanopy's nephew, war-leader, removed to Oklahoma in , whence he led followers, especially the Black Seminoles to Coahuila, Mexico

15. Important Figures: Seminoles
Abraham, Black Indian (fl. 19th c.), interpreter and advisor to Micanopy
Halpatter Tustenuggee "Alligator" (fl. 19th c.), Alachua warchief with King Philip's band
Osceola or Asi-yaholo "Billy Powell" (1804?-1838), Red Stick Creek, war-leader of Seminole band
Holata Micco "Billy Bowlegs" (c ), Seminole warchief most prominent in Third Seminole War, resisted emigration to Oklahoma until 1858
Arpeika or Abiaka "Sam Jones" (1750's?- 1860), Mikasuki shaman, highly resistant to relocation, he led his followers into the Everglades

16. Important Figures: Americans
Andrew Jackson ( ), General, first U.S.governor of Florida, seventh President of the U.S. ( )
Francis L. Dade, Army Major who led ill-fated expedition resulting in Dade Massacre, 1835
Wiley Thompson, Indian agent in charge of Seminole removal , killed by Osceola
Thomas Sidney Jesup ( ), commander of the army in Florida ( )
Zachary Taylor ( ), "Old Rough and Ready," commander of the Army in Florida ( )
William Jenkins Worth ( ), commander of the Army in Florida at end of Second Seminole War ( ), twelfth President of the U.S. ( )

17. The First Seminole War: 1817-1818
Preceded by years of border disputes along the Florida-Georgia border
Fort Negro, on the Apalachicola River, built by the British in 1815 and turned over to a band of runaway slaves on the British departure, was an obstacle for the US in the supply route to Georgia.
General Edmund Gaines ( ) was ordered to destroy the fort. A hot cannon ball landed in a powder magazine blowing up the fort and killing 270 of its occupants.
The war was preceded by years of border disputes along the Florida-Georgia border which climaxed in the destruction of Fort Negro on the Apalachicola River. Built by the British in 1815 and turned over to a band of runaway slaves on the British departure from Florida, Fort Negro proved an obstacle in the supply route to Fort Scott in Georgia. When an American vessel was fired upon from the fort, Jackson ordered General Edmund Gaines ( ) to destroy the fort. A hot cannon ball, fired from the expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Clinch, landed in a powder magazine blowing up the fort and killing 270 of its 344 occupants. Neamathla, village chief of Fowltown, reacted by warning General Gaines that if the Americans tried to cross the border into Florida, they would be annihilated. A gunfight between American soldiers and Neamathla's Seminoles on November 21, 1817, is considered the opening salvo of the First Seminole War.

18. The First Seminole War: 1817-1818
Neamathla, village chief of Fowltown, reacted by warning General Gaines that if the Americans tried to cross the border into Florida, they would be annihilated.
A gunfight between American soldiers and Neamathla's Seminoles on November 21, 1817, is considered the opening salvo of the First Seminole War.
The War Department ordered General Andrew Jackson to bring the Seminoles under control.
On March 9, 1818, Jackson swiftly marched into Florida, despite opposition in Washington.
Meeting little resistance, he moved against the Seminole villages around Lake Miccosukee and captured St. Marks on April 6.

19. Adams-Onis Treaty: 1821
The First Seminole War, ended with General Andrew Jackson's ( ) occupation of the city of Pensacola and the Spanish surrender of Fort Barrancas to the American army in May, 1818.
His victory led to the Adams-Onis Treaty of in which Spain ceded the territory of Florida to the United States.
The hostilities among the white Americans and the Seminole and black inhabitants of Florida continued.

20. Suggested Solutions to the “Indian Problem”
1) Total removal of the Seminoles from the peninsula and relocation to Georgia or to Oklahoma,
2) Concentration of the Seminoles on a reservation in Florida
3) Full citizenship granted to the Seminoles with each family receiving a plot of land to break the tribal bond and promote private enterprise --this suggestion was totally ignored, and the Seminoles were strongly resistant to removal.
Three solutions to the "Indian problem" of Florida were proposed in Washington: 1) total removal of the Seminoles from the peninsula and relocation to Georgia or to Oklahoma, 2) the concentration of the Seminoles on a reservation in Florida and 3) full citizenship granted to the Seminoles with each family receiving a plot of land to break the tribal bond and promote private enterprise. The last suggestion, made by a committee of the House of Representatives, was totally ignored, and the Seminoles were strongly resistant to removal.

21. Moultrie Creek Treaty: 1823
Restricted Seminole settlements to a reservation of four million acres north of Charlotte Harbor and south of Ocala with no land within twenty miles of any coast, a stipulation that would hinder foreign contacts.
The Seminoles agreed not to make the reservation a haven for escaped slaves.
Six small reservations were granted to six north Florida chiefs, including Neamathla, the elected spokesman for the tribes at the conference.
However, almost before the treaty took effect, President James Monroe was moving towards a policy of general Indian removal.
The 1823 Moultrie Creek Treaty restricted Seminole settlements to a reservation of four million acres north of Charlotte Harbor and south of Ocala with no land within twenty miles of any coast, a stipulation that would hinder foreign contacts. The Seminoles also agreed not to make the reservation a haven for escaped slaves. Six small reservations were granted to six north Florida chiefs, including Neamathla, the elected spokesman for the tribes at the conference. However, almost before the treaty took effect, President James Monroe was moving towards a policy of general Indian removal, and the Indians, suffering losses from displacement and drought, were reluctant to move south to a land inhospitable to their usual forms of agriculture and sustenance.

22. Indian Removal Act: 1830
One of the first bills proposed by the newly elected President Jackson in 1830
Mandated that that Eastern Indians be encouraged to trade their eastern land for western land or lose Federal protection
After the act was made law on May 28, 1830, pressure was applied to the Seminoles to conform to the new law.
One of the first bills proposed by the newly elected President Jackson in 1830 was the Indian Removal Act which mandated that that Eastern Indians be encouraged to trade their eastern land for western land. If they failed to do so, they would lose the protection of the federal government and come under the harsher jurisdictions of the states. After the act was made law on May 28, 1830, pressure was applied to the Seminoles to conform to the new law.

23. Payne’s Landing Treaty : 1832
James Gadsden was named special agent to the Seminoles with the purpose of persuading them to move West.
In May, 1832, he convened a meeting with the chiefs at Payne's Landing. The meeting has been the subject of much political and scholarly controversy as no minutes of the meeting were kept.
All that is certain is that a treaty was signed by seven chiefs and eight subchiefs on May 9, 1832, who agreed to travel to inspect the lands in Oklahoma, and if they found them satisfactory, they would agree to move west as a part of the Creek allocation.
Nearly all of the chiefs whose names were on the treaty later repudiated it.
James Gadsden was named special agent to the Seminoles with the purpose of persuading them to move west. In May, 1832, he convened a meeting with the chiefs at Payne's Landing. What transpired at the meeting has been the subject of much political and scholarly controversy as no minutes of the meeting were kept. All that is certain is that a treaty was signed by seven chiefs and eight subchiefs on May 9, 1832, in which they agreed that seven chiefs would travel to inspect the lands in Oklahoma, and if they found them satisfactory and could reach amicable terms with the Creeks already located there, they would agree to move west as a part of the Creek allocation. The ambiguity of who "they" were -- the chiefs or the tribal councils from whom they needed to seek approval -- and the peculiar stipulation that the Seminoles would be absorbed by their long-time enemies, the Creeks, put the validity of the treaty into question. There have been allegations that the Negro Seminole Abraham was bribed to modify the translation of the terms to the chiefs and that the agent coerced the chiefs into signing the treaty or that their marks were forged by sub-chiefs. At any rate, nearly all of the chiefs whose names were on the treaty later repudiated it.

24. Fort Gibson Treaty: 1833
An exploratory party of seven chiefs left Florida for Oklahoma in October, 1832, and returned to Fort Gibson, Arkansas, in March, 1833.
Again there are allegations of coercion and forged marks on the Fort Gibson Treaty in which the chiefs agreed that the Seminoles would move west within three years -- one third of the population each year.

25. Opposition to Removal
Replacing Phagan as Indian agent in December, 1833, Wiley Thompson was put in charge of Seminole removal.
The Indians were encouraged in their reluctance to move both by white traders and by their Indian-Negro allies and slaves who had everything to lose if the Seminoles went to Oklahoma.
Strong opposition to migration emerged, especially from the war-chief Osceola, who advised condemning any Indian who favored removal.
Relations deteriorated and skirmishes increased between the government and Seminoles throughout 1835 culminating in the outbreak of war in December.

26. Second Seminole War
The two most notable incidents occurred on December 28th, , when the Seminoles presented a two-pronged attack.
Jumper and Alligator with 180 warriors ambushed a relief column marching from Fort Brooke to Fort King under the command of Major Francis Dade. Only three of the 108 soldiers escaped slaughter in the fierce battle that followed.
Meanwhile Osceola led sixty warriors in an attack on Fort King with the express purpose of killing Wiley Thompson who had imprisoned Osceola in chains earlier during the year.
Unfortunately for the Seminoles, the Dade Massacre pressured Northerners in Congress to accept Southern proposals for more troops and equipment.

27. Second Seminole War
General Jesup had convinced a large number of chiefs and their tribes to emigrate on the condition that they would be accompanied by their Negro allies and slaves.
Opposition from landowners and the press led to a compromise that only those who had lived with the Seminoles before the outbreak of the war would be permitted to go.
Over seven hundred Seminoles had gathered at Fort Brooke north of Tampa by the end of May 1837, including Micanopy, Jumper, Cloud and Alligator.
On the night of June 2, Osceola and Arpeika surrounded the camp with two hundred warriors and spirited away nearly the entire population.

28. Second Seminole War
Jesup no longer felt any compunction about using trickery to gain his ends.
In September 1837 King Philip, Yuchi Billy, Coacoochee and Blue Snake with their followers were captured and imprisoned them at Fort Marion.
Osceola and Coa Hadjo sent word that they were willing to negotiate. At the conference near Fort Peyton, Jesup ordered the truce violated and the Indians were imprisoned.
The defection caused a drastic shift in Jesup's tactics; no longer did he feel any compunction about using trickery to gain his ends. During the summer of 1837, Jesup threatened any captured Seminole with hanging if he did not reveal information as to the whereabouts of his comrades. In September General Joseph Hernandez captured King Philip, Yuchi Billy, Coacoochee and Blue Snake with their followers in the vicinity of St. Augustine and imprisoned them at Fort Marion. Osceola and Coa Hadjo sent word to Hernandez that they were willing to negotiate. When Hernandez set up a conference near Fort Peyton, Jesup ordered him to violate the truce and capture the Indians. News of Osceola's capture spread through the nation, and when he was transferred to Fort Moultrie in Georgia , George Catlin visited him and painted his portrait. His death on January 30, 1838, enshrined him as a martyr to the Indian cause.

29. Osceola News of Osceola's capture spread through the nation.
When he was transferred to Fort Moultrie in Georgia , George Catlin visited him and painted his portrait.
His death on January 30, 1838, enshrined him as a martyr to the Indian cause.

30. Battle of Lake Okochobee: 1837
Coacoochee and John Cowaya (or Cavalo), an Indian Negro leader, escaped from Fort Marion on November 29, 1837, with sixteen other warriors and two women,
They headed south to join bands led by Jumper, Arpeika, and Alligator.
The largest and last pitched battle of the war was fought on the banks of Lake Okeechobee on December 25, 1837
Colonel Zachary Taylor commanded eleven hundred men against approximately four hundred Indians.
The Indians finally retreated from the two-and-a-half-hour battle leaving twenty-six killed and one hundred twelve wounded and having sustained eleven killed and fourteen wounded.

31. Second Seminole War
In February 1838, further treachery at Fort Jupiter netted over five hundred Seminoles
Persuasion and mopping-up operations sent many of the remaining Seminole leaders, including Micanopy, on the westward migration.
Jesup's tenure in Florida, which had resulted in the capture, migration or death of over 2400 Indians, ended in May , when General Zachary Taylor took over command of the Florida forces.
Taylor carried out operations against scattered bands of Apalachicola, Tallahassee and Alachua in northern Florida and Seminole bands in central and southern Florida.

32. Seminole Removal
General Alexander MacComb, commanding general of the army, came to Florida in April 1839, and declared the war over when he concluded an agreement with the Seminoles who agreed to withdraw south of the Peace River by July 15, 1839, and remain there "until further arrangements were made."
Although a trading post was set up on the Caloosahatchee River, the Indians learned that they were not to be allowed to stay in Florida.
Chekika, chief of the Spanish Indians (descendants of Calusas), led an attack and destroyed the post in July.
Col. Harney surprised Chekika in the Everglades and executed him.

33. Seminole Removal
The commands of General Walker K. Armistead and General William J. Worth saw the final years of the Second Seminole War.
Following the successful policy of deceiving chiefs who came to negotiate, most notably Coacoochee, and through continuing guerilla warfare, the army managed to remove all but about six hundred of Florida's Indians who were restricted to a temporary reservation south of the Peace River when Congress refused to continue to fund any further campaigns in 1842.

34. Government Losses in the Second Seminole War
The six and half years of the Second Seminole War were more costly than all of the Indian wars combined.
The armed forces sustained 1466 service deaths and an indeterminate number of losses from wounds and diseases
The conflict cost somewhere in the neighborhood of forty million dollars to the United States Treasury, and property losses across the state were huge.
Government Losses in the Second Seminole War
The six and half years of the Second Seminole War were more costly than all of the Indian wars combined. The armed forces sustained 1466 service deaths, an indeterminate number of losses from wounds and diseases; the conflict cost somewhere in the neighborhood of forty million dollars to the United States Treasury, and property losses across the state were huge. On the other hand, the Armed Occupation Act that accompanied the cessation of the conflict brought new settlers to the interior of Florida which had been made accessible by the mapping, exploration and road-building that had attended the fighting. The military had gained skill in guerilla warfare and an understanding of the need for inter-service cooperation, and the federal government learned to exercise its power to convert economic power into military strength.

35. Government gains from the Second Seminole War
The Armed Occupation Act brought new settlers to the interior of Florida which had been made accessible by the mapping, exploration and road- building that had attended the fighting.
The military had gained skill in guerilla warfare and an understanding of the need for inter-service cooperation
The federal government learned to exercise its power to convert economic power into military strength.

36. More Seminole Removal
Between 1842 and the outbreak of the Third Seminole War in 1855, the Seminoles kept to the reservation
The federal government, determined to remove the remaining Seminoles:
offered large financial inducements to leave
installed a strong military presence in the territory
brought chiefs, most notably Billy Bowlegs, to Washington, D.C. to impress them with the power of the government.
The Seminoles remained adamant in their opposition to removal until Secretary of War Jefferson Davis declared that if they did not leave voluntarily, the military would remove them by force.
Between 1842 and the outbreak of the Third Seminole War in 1855, the Seminoles kept to the reservation and the followed the dictates of regulations imposed upon them, going so far as to capture and turn over renegades who violatedthe rules or attacked white settlers. The federal government, determined to remove the remaining Seminoles, offered large financial inducements to leave, installed a strong military presence in the territory, imported a delegation of Oklahomas Seminoles to persuade their kin to join them in the west, and brought chiefs, most notably Billy Bowlegs, to Washington, D.C. to impress them with the power of the government. The Seminoles remained adamant in their opposition to removal until Secretary of War Jefferson Davis declared that if they did not leave voluntarily, the military would remove them by force.

37. Third Seminole War: 1855-1856 “Billy Bowlegs War”
On December 1855, a band of forty Seminoles led by Billy Bowlegs and Oscen Tustenuggee, attacked a patrol investigating Seminole settlements in the Big Cypress Swamp, marking the first skirmish of the war that was dubbed "Billy Bowlegs War."
It was a war of skirmishes, raids and harrassment against small settlements, both white and Seminole.
A treaty signed on August 7, 1856, that granted the Seminoles over two million acres in Indian Territory along with a generous financial settlement, was the catalyst to the end of the conflict in Florida.
Bowlegs and his band left Florida in May and two other bands left the following February.
                                           

38. The Remnant
Only the Muskogee band led by Chipco, hidden north of Lake Okeechobee, and Arpeika's Mickasuki band, buried deep in the Everglades, a remnant of souls, remained in relative peace in Florida.
The Seminoles of Florida call themselves the "Unconquered People," descendants of just 300 Indians who managed to elude capture by the U.S. army in the 19th century.
Today, more than 2,000 live on six reservations in the state – located in Hollywood, Big Cypress, Brighton, Immokalee, Ft. Pierce, and Tampa.
In addition to the Seminole people, Florida also has a separate Miccosukee tribe.

39.  The Civil War:
1861: The independent "nation of Florida" withdrew from the American Union.
1861: In Pensacola the Army of the Confederate States of America took Ft. Pickens.
Florida provided an estimated 15,000 troops and significant amounts of supplies— including salt, beef, pork, and cotton—to the Confederacy, but more than 2,000 Floridians, both African American and white, joined the Union army.

40. The Abolition of Slavery
1803: Denmark abolishes the slave trade.
1807: Britain abolishes the slave trade.
1817: France abolishes the slave trade.
1818: Holland abolishes the slave trade.
1820: Spain abolishes the slave trade
1824: Sweden abolishes the slave trade.
1833: Slavery itself is finally abolished in the British colonies.
1833: Slavery is abolished in the West Indies.
1834: Slavery ends in the Bahaman Islands.
1835: On June 25, Queen Maria Cristina abolished the slave trade to Spanish colonies.
1848: Slavery is abolished in the French colonies.
1863: African-Americans in Union-occupied areas became free citizens on New Year's Day with the Emancipation Proclamation.
1863: Slavery is abolished in the Dutch colonies.
1873: Slavery is abolished in the Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico.
1880: Slavery is abolished in Cuba.

41. Reconstruction:
The end of the Civil War marked the decline of Florida’s plantation economy.
1870: Josiah T. Walls served as a state representative and senator and was Florida's first African-American in the U.S. House of Representatives. Jonathan Gibbs filled the office of secretary of state while fellow African- Americans throughout the state served as members of city councils.
1876: A School for African Americans was built in Tallahassee.
1877: Reconstruction ended and removal of federal troops began the curtailment of the rights and freedoms exercised by African-Americans  

42. 19th C. Development
1882: The cigar industry in Tampa, Florida created a unique, multicultural, multiracial urban area. Afro-Cubans, Cuban-born whites and white political exiles from Spain immigrated to work in the cigar factories.
1887: Eatonville was the first black incorporated municipality in Florida.
African American laborers built Florida’s railroads and roads, tapped the turpentine and farmed the sugar-cane fields in the rapidly growing state.

43. 20th Century
Both agriculture and tourism, before air- conditioning was commonplace, needed workers during the winter. Around 1890 blacks from the Bahamas began arriving in Florida’s lower east coast for seasonal agricultural work.
Between 1900 and 1920, 10,000 to 12,000–about one-fifth of the Bahamian population–came to Florida. By 1920 the foreign-born made up a quarter of Miami’s population; Bahamian blacks comprised 16% of the city’s entire population.

44. Racial Tensions 1920s and 1930s
Following World War I, Florida, like the rest of the nation, experienced heightened racial tensions and anti-immigrant sentiments that led to lynchings and racial persecution.
An election in 1920 in Ocoee in Orange County ended in a race riot and deaths.
in 1923, the entire African-American town of Rosewood was set fire and residents killed by a white mob.
During the Great Depression, the low economic and social status of blacks meant being in the worst position.
Following World War I, Florida, like the rest of the nation, experienced heightened racial tensions and anti-immigrant sentiments. In more isolated, rural areas extreme anti-racial activities brought about more lynchings and other terror, especially in the Florida panhandle. An election in 1920 in Ocoee in Orange County ended in a race riot and deaths. Halfway between Tallahassee and Tampa, the entire African-American town of Rosewood was set fire and residents killed in 1923 by a white mob caught up in the national and regional racist fears. Chicago, St. Louis and Tulsa also endured post-war race riots. In south Florida cities, many blacks bore the dual stigma of immigrant and African descendant.
During the Great Depression, the low economic and social status of blacks meant being in the worst position in deteriorated economic conditions, which effected everyone.

45. World War II
World War II was the last conflict to countenance segregated military units.
Florida in World War II became almost one big military post with 172 installations spread throughout the state.
African-Americans from less segregated regions of the U.S. faced typical Jim Crow rules while on duty in Florida.
German prisoners of war could use facilities from which American blacks were banned. POWs rode in railroad coach cars designated "whites-only," while black GIs were sent to baggage cars.
Famous athletes, such as baseball’s Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, encountered the same racial restrictions during spring training sessions in Florida.
The declaration of World War II broke the stranglehold of the Depression. World War II was the last conflict to countenance segregated military units. Florida in World War II became almost one big military post with 172 installations spread throughout the state. African-Americans from less segregated regions of the U.S. faced typical southern prohibitions on race mixing while on duty in Florida. Some towns drew up plans to control dissatisfied black troops, much as if the blacks were the enemy. German prisoners of war could use facilities from which American blacks were banned. POWs rode in railroad coach cars designated "whites-only," while black GIs were sent to baggage cars. Famous athletes, such as baseball’s Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, encountered the same racial restrictions during spring training sessions in Florida.
Florida growers needed Caribbean labor more than ever with wartime demands for foods for U.S. troops and also for allies. Using black laborers from the Bahamas, Jamaica and other West Indian islands allowed labor brokers and growers control over a labor force that could be threatened with deportation which could not be exercised with American-born workers.
Florida attracted soldiers who had been stationed here to return as residents after the war. A rapidly growing population in which many newcomers had no ties to the traditional segregated practices slowly began to dilute the hold of the social and extralegal restrictions, especially in southern Florida. African-Americans began a fervent voter registration campaign believing that change would come in the voting booth. African-Americans began switching in large numbers to the Democratic Party in the mid-1940s in order to participate in the sole influential political party in the state at the time. But change was resisted violently. On Christmas Eve 1950, Harry T. Moore, state leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was killed by a bomb beneath his bed because of his voter-registration activities.
By the early 1960s blacks in Florida cities joined others throughout the south in marching to protest segregation and staging sit-ins at segregated facilities. In 1963 and 1964 Martin Luther King organized demonstrations in St. Augustine, a town celebrating its 400th anniversary of founding by Spain, to get Latin American nations, with large Afro-Latin populations, to object to such practices. It was a time when the United States fervently was wooing Latin American allegiance in the divided world of the Cold War.
King’s activities in Florida did influence Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of The Voting Rights Act of the following year and the Supreme Court’s "one-man-one vote" ruling and related decisions brought externally imposed change to Florida’s political and racial life. School districts drawn by the courts to ensure racial balance were put into place for years to come.
In south Florida, especially in Dade County, political upheavals in the Caribbean in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s brought new waves of immigrants as exiles. With so many blacks arriving from Cuba and Haiti, American-born blacks resented the competition posed by the exiles in the job market. The ability of state and local agencies to deal with the problems coming with the rapid influx of destitute immigrants was hampered because the events were snarled in the national and international political scene. Local and state government could not control the situation literally washing up on its shores.
Following the civil-rights legislation and court actions of the 1960s African-Americans once again returned to elected positions. In 1968 the first black was elected to the Florida legislature since Reconstruction. Two years later the first African-American woman was elected to the legislature, embodying the growing numbers of both blacks and women in political life. In 1992 the first African-Americans since Reconstruction were elected to represent Florida in the U.S. Congress.
Today Florida is a state undergoing rapid Latinization of its population. Florida’s Latins keep one foot in Florida and the other in the exile homeland. Much of the Latin population ancestry can be traced to Africa in centuries past.

46. Civil Rights
After WW II, Florida attracted soldiers who had been stationed here to return as residents.
African-Americans began a fervent voter registration campaign believing that change would come in the voting booth. But change was resisted violently.
On Christmas Eve 1950, Harry T. Moore, state leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was killed by a bomb beneath his bed because of his voter-registration activities.
By the early 1960s blacks in Florida cities joined others throughout the south in marching to protest segregation and staging sit-ins at segregated facilities. In and 1964 Martin Luther King organized demonstrations in St. Augustine,celebrating its 400th anniversary of founding.

47. Civil Rights 1964: Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1965: The Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court’s "one- man-one vote" ruling and related decisions brought externally imposed change to Florida’s political and racial life.
Although Brown vs, Board of Education negated the separate but equal doctrine in 1954, Florida schools did not desegregate until the late 1960s when school districts were drawn by the courts to ensure racial balance.
Following the civil-rights legislation and court actions of the s African-Americans once again returned to elected positions. In 1968 the first black was elected to the Florida legislature since Reconstruction.
In 1992 the first African-Americans since Reconstruction were elected to represent Florida in the U.S. Congress.