An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

lived there. What about their claims to land? While white settlement surely
forced many to live elsewhere or die, many remained. How could these
competing histories and ideas of sovereignty have co-existed?
Unfortunately, we do not know because it never happened. However, it
does illustrate that, in a clear moment of liberation and attempts at coalition,
some Black activists omitted the original people of this land for the
development of their own political ideals. In fact, Obadele stated that he
expected land in those states through “both diplomatic and political means,
but we also are keeping full in mind the case of the Cherokee Nation and
the State of Georgia.” 31 These omissions were unfortunate. It reveals,
though, the limits of Black nationalism. They understood that Indigenous
histories existed, and that whites dispossessed Native people, but they did
not acknowledge Native agency in the process. There were Black activists
during the Black freedom struggle, though, who aligned themselves with
Indigenous people on Indigenous issues, and worked toward a world free of
both white supremacy and settler colonialism.
“ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR ALL AMERICANS”
Black activists showed up for Indigenous issues in real and symbolic ways.
In the months preceding the Poor People’s Campaign, Martin Luther King
Jr. and others began to organize a collection of poor and working-class
people to meet together in order to think radically about changing the
economic order that had kept Black and other people of color economically
exploited. Dr. King traveled throughout the country to organize people to be
a part of the Poor People’s Campaign. In Atlanta on March 14, 1968, three
weeks before he was assassinated, Dr. King, along with other members
from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, met with seventy-eight
leaders from fifty-three organizations, hailing from seventeen states, to
discuss organizing strategies for a demonstration in Washington, DC.
Dr. King met with Indigenous organizations, Mexican American and
Puerto Rican organizations, and poor whites from Appalachia to figure out
what actions they would take to end the economic oppression. The
demonstration was set to begin on April 22. In what they hoped would be a
“stay-in,” Dr. King told reporters that they sought “economic security for all
Americans.” 32 He continued traveling for nineteen days, to California,
Mississippi, and Boston, to further understand the unique conditions facing