Black Indian Genealogy Research

The historical relationship between Native Americans and African-Americans has been called "one of the longest unwritten chapters in the history of the United States." Unlike the commonly held perception that slavery in America consisted only of white people owning black people, the reality was much more complex. There were many white people who were enslaved or indentured, many blacks who were free, and many Indians who owned African slaves. Not all white - Indian relations were hostile and a number of tribes, in particular the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and the Seminoles, or the "Five Civilized Tribes" as they became known, adopted European ways, including agriculture and black slaves to work their new farms. In 1907, the Indian Territory became the State of Oklahoma. To qualify for the payments and land allotments set aside for the Five Civilized Tribes, the former slaves of these nations had to apply for official enrollment, thus producing testimonies of immense value to today's genealogist. Ms. Walton-Raji shows where to find and how to use the Indian Freedman Records, discusses Black Indians and Tri-Racial groups from the Upper South, and has added two lists of family names; Freedmen Surnames from the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes, and Surnames of Tri-Racial families of the Upper South.