An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

emind people that the US government created treaties with some tribal
nations and explicitly stated in them that those nations must return enslaved
Africans. For example, Article VII of the Treaty with the Florida Tribes of
Indians (1823) stated that they would not harbor enslaved Africans, and had
to exert all of their will to apprehend them. The agent assigned to them
would compensate them for expenses incurred retrieving enslaved
Africans. 2 These arrangements were also included in a Treaty with the
Delawares (1778). Again, if we demand that the US government honor the
treaties and respect tribal sovereignty, does that mean every article of those
treaties? I would hope not. I can’t recall tribal nations for whom capturing
slaves was in their treaties mentioning this. The particular legacy of
capturing enslaved Africans and returning them to their enslavers for
money ain’t nothing but bondage money. I wonder how much these tribes
were paid to commit these acts? I guess Black bondage was the price of
admission to civilization for those tribes.
Another significant subject of conversation regarding this topic is the
question of racism, and the argument that because tribes are not a race, any
accusation of racism is irrelevant, even distracting. As those in support of
the Five Tribes’ sovereignty and the expulsion of the Freedmen argue, the
Five Tribes don’t want the inclusion of the Freedmen not because they are
Black, but because they were not citizens, and the US government forced
them to adopt them. They further argue that this is a matter of sovereignty,
not Black civil rights. 3 And Natives, even some of y’all’s favorite scholar’s
favorite scholar, jump through a lot of hoops to emphasize this point. If that
ain’t no anti-Black discourse! Let me offer a brief, summative history as to
why they enslaved Africans in the first place.
The Five Tribes all enslaved Africans to demonstrate that they were
“civilized.” Who were they trying to prove their civility to? White America.
Why? To halt the US from encroaching further on their land. I think this is
only a part of the reason. I believe that some of those elite members of the
Five Tribes wanted to adopt American capitalism. They wanted money, and
they understood that enslaving and exploiting Africans would help them
earn wealth, and therefore would allow them to at least be civilized and
connected to whiteness, if not become fully civilized.
During the Civil War, some of the Five Tribes signed treaties with the
Confederacy. Yes, some did so reluctantly, and yes, there were factions, but
here we are. Yes, they brokered deals with the “country” that wanted to