My Favorite Prompt This Month: Native American Slave Ownership (Patreon)

Prompt for 500 Word Essay: Cherokee Indians owning slaves. I never knew that indigenous people owned slaves.

I’m so glad you asked me this because a few times trolls have tried to deny white supremacy by bringing up native American slave ownership as some sort of trump card. Yes, a lot of people are unaware that indigenous people owned slaves. Prior to European settlers, natives engaged in intertribal/Prisoner-of-War slavery. It was not the same as chattel slavery. In American culture, owning a slave was as much of a status symbol as a fancy car is in the present. But often the reason indigenous people adopted slavery was out of survival. You have to remember the stereotypes about natives that were perpetuated by white society. They were seen as vicious, uncivilized, bloodthirsty savages who threatened American growth.  To shed the savage label and curb forced removal, assimilation seemed like a better method to some tribes than violence. Natives of The Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole) decided to put white people at ease by practicing Christianity, changing styles of dress, and embracing other facets of American culture. This included slavery. This idea was encouraged by Benjamin Hawking, an 18th century official in charge of “Indian relations” below the Ohio river. He reasoned that tribes who incorporated slavery would have major agricultural production and therefore a place in society. His theory was based in truth.  Slaves were especially useful as natives had become more participant in America’s thriving agricultural based economy. In addition to the savage stereotype, whites also considered natives to be lazy. So lazy, that native American slave owners were criticized as being too soft on their property. “The full blood Indian rarely works himself and few of them make their slaves work. A slave among wild Indians is almost as free as his owner.” remarked one 19th century critic.   

While not all tribes indulged in slavery, there were native leaders who had been sipping the white supremacy kool-aid. The Choctaws thought Africans and their descendants were beneath them. It was for this reason that they regularly turned in runaway slaves to the authorities. In 1840, the Choctaw General Council announced that all free blacks without Choctaw blood had to go by 1841 or be shot or sold into slavery. There were mixed race men like William McIntosh, a high ranking chief of the Creek nation, who owned dozens of slaves. Being mixed race meant he inherited a different view of the world and more appreciation for his white side’s dealings with slavery. In fact, multiple historians have noted that mixed children were more likely to accept white supremacist hierarchy and embrace assimilation. McIntosh was one of many mixed non-traditionalists who urged for assimilation (by way of Christianity and slavery) and concession of Creek land. 

So what about the Cherokee? They owned more slaves than any other tribe. There was a Cherokee businessman named Joseph Vann who owned 200 slaves. However, the large majority of Cherokee slavers owned less than 50 humans apiece.  Whereas other tribes were laxer about the rules around slavery, the Cherokee were strict. In 1827 they officially claimed to be on an equal level with whites by introducing several laws. Slaves could not buy or sell things and they couldn’t marry Cherokee or white people. Their tactics for assimilation didn’t work, as they were ultimately forced from their homes during the Trail of Tears.

Sources

Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery (Margaret Newell) 

 Chronicles of Oklahoma Volume 11, No. 4 December, 1933 SLAVERY IN THE CHEROKEE NATION (Access at the following link) digital.library.okstate.edu/Chro…  

America’s Other Original Sin (Rebecca Onion) slate.com/articles/news_and_poli…  

Blood Politics, Racial Classification, and Cherokee National Identity: The Trials and Tribulations of the Cherokee Freedmen (Circe Sturm) jstor.org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.e… 

 Negro Slaves of The Five Civilized Tribes (Michael F. Doran) jstor.org/stable/2561972?seq=1#p…  

Ties that Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom (Tiya Miles)  books.google.com/booksid=xpusu6x…