excerpt from A SALUTE TO BLACK PIONEERS, AN EMPAK "BLACK HISTORY" PUBLICATION SERIES, VOL III
Abraham, 1790-1870, was a fugitive slave, adopted by the Seminole Indians in 1826. Although uneducated, he was a persuasive and gifted speaker. He was spokesman for Chief Micanopy during the period when the United States was relocating the Indians from Florida to Oklahoma and Kansas. He was referred to by the Indians as the "prophet, high chancellor, and keeper of the King's conscience."
...born to slavery in Pensacola, Florida about 1790...was reported to be a full-blooded Negro of large and powerful stature....No parental information is recorded, records do indicate that Abraham was married and fathered a daughter and two sons. In the early 1820s, he ran away and took shelter with the Seminole Indians. Abraham played a key role in both the Seminole Indian War and in their peace negotiations with the U.S. Government.... He feared that, while traveling across southern terrritory, many fugitives would be recaptured by their former masters. During the peace negotiations, he wanted a guarantee that his people would not be returned to slavery once they left the Indian territory.
In 1826, as prime minister and privy counselor to Chief Micanopy, Abraham accompanied the Chief to
Washington, D.C to negotiate relocation plans. In 1832, as interpreter for the Seminoles, he witnessed the signing of the removal treaty. In 1833, Abraham went with the Seminole delegation to investigate the proposed site of the Indians' new home. For the next two years, he served as interpreter at all councils at which United States agents insisted on the Seminole's removal.
Relocation plans collapsed when the Indians learned they had been tricked, and hostilities borke out December 28, 1835. Abraham proved to be a cunning and brave warrior, both feared and respected by the U.S. Army....Seeing that relocation was inevitable, he and two Semonole Chiefs, Jumper and Alligator, agreed to a peace conference with Jesup in 1837. Due to Abraham's diplomatic finesse, an agreement was made for the Seminoles to relocate, accompanied by their Black allies.
Later, the assumed treaty was broken by White agents and hostilities resumed. Under the threat of hanging by government agents, Abraham continued to work for peace. Working through Chief Micanopy, he brought about the surrender and compliance of the other chiefs; and later in 1837, a second treaty was signed, with a protection clause for the Blacks."
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
TRANSiTIONS AND GOALS
This month has been a whirlwind of change for me and I have not been able to blog as often as I would have wished but never fear, I am forever committed to oneness and this effort to encourage it.
What have I been doing? Well, trying to move back to the Cherokee Reservation, my beloved home. Unfortuantely I have been put on a waiting list for an available apartment but soon, so very soon, I will be back home where my heart yearns to be. In the interum my sweet sister and her husband have welcomed me to their home in the nearby mountains until my apartment comes open. It will be a joy to spend time with them on their mountain top and meditate on their deck as I view many miles of mountain beauty.
What have I been doing? Well, trying to move back to the Cherokee Reservation, my beloved home. Unfortuantely I have been put on a waiting list for an available apartment but soon, so very soon, I will be back home where my heart yearns to be. In the interum my sweet sister and her husband have welcomed me to their home in the nearby mountains until my apartment comes open. It will be a joy to spend time with them on their mountain top and meditate on their deck as I view many miles of mountain beauty.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
WRITING-A LEAP OF FAITH
excerpt from POT OF GOLD, by Judith Michael
this expresses much of why I write
"Writing... is a leap of faith and a declaration of love. You believe you can put on paper the ideas that are so clear and vivid in your mind; you give yourself to what you create with a kind of love that can't be duplicated even in the most passionate affair; you believe that someone will publish your work and others will read it and libraries will buy it so that future generations will discover it. You believe you can create stories that resonate with the readers of your own time and also future generations; that you can find universal themes and present them in ways that give people hope or greater understanding or the rare pleasure of an escape from the shadows of the world around them. Or all of the above! In other words, you believe in the future and in your ability to make a place for yourself in it, on your own terms."
this expresses much of why I write
"Writing... is a leap of faith and a declaration of love. You believe you can put on paper the ideas that are so clear and vivid in your mind; you give yourself to what you create with a kind of love that can't be duplicated even in the most passionate affair; you believe that someone will publish your work and others will read it and libraries will buy it so that future generations will discover it. You believe you can create stories that resonate with the readers of your own time and also future generations; that you can find universal themes and present them in ways that give people hope or greater understanding or the rare pleasure of an escape from the shadows of the world around them. Or all of the above! In other words, you believe in the future and in your ability to make a place for yourself in it, on your own terms."
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
CURIOUS ABOUT THIS BLOGS STATISTICS?
As of 6-15-11 1905 hits have read this blog since Aug, 2010.
Countries represented:
United States 1049
Russia 600
Germany 47
Slovenia 35
Canada 32
Philippines 10
United Kingdom 9
France 8
Australia 7
Croatia 7
Specific blogs top ten hits:
OVERBOARD/DOING ENOUGH?
WILLIAM WHIPPER - NONVIOLATE ADVOVATE
MIGRATION FROM AFRICA 75,000 YEARS AGO
MY OWN STORY-ANNE
MY FAVORITE BAHA'I QUOTE
HUMAN FAMILY-MAYA ANGELOU
DR. CHARLES RICHARD DREW - BLOOD BANK
OLD RICHMOND SR. CITIZENS AND ONENESS
LOUIS GREGORY-RACE AMITY WORKER
BOARDING SCHOOLS
Love in the struggle,
Anne
Countries represented:
United States 1049
Russia 600
Germany 47
Slovenia 35
Canada 32
Philippines 10
United Kingdom 9
France 8
Australia 7
Croatia 7
Specific blogs top ten hits:
OVERBOARD/DOING ENOUGH?
WILLIAM WHIPPER - NONVIOLATE ADVOVATE
MIGRATION FROM AFRICA 75,000 YEARS AGO
MY OWN STORY-ANNE
MY FAVORITE BAHA'I QUOTE
HUMAN FAMILY-MAYA ANGELOU
DR. CHARLES RICHARD DREW - BLOOD BANK
OLD RICHMOND SR. CITIZENS AND ONENESS
LOUIS GREGORY-RACE AMITY WORKER
BOARDING SCHOOLS
Love in the struggle,
Anne
Saturday, June 4, 2011
TRANSFORMATION
My favorite of all creatures save humans is the butterfly. It changes from stark roughness to amazing beauty. I have been told that it is the only creature whose total DNA changes from crysalis to butterfly.
excerpt from ONLY BY YOUR TOUCH, by Catherine Anderson
"...chrysalis...
"That's where butterflies come from," he explained, touching the fragile shell with his fingertip as he explained the metamorphosis from caterpillar to pupa and then to butterfly. "When I was about your age (6), my grandfather found one of these, and we watched it every day until the butterfly finally came out."
"You got to see it?"
"Actually, no, but there was a butterfly flitting around when we found it empty, and my grandfather believed that it had come out of it's chrysalis just before we got there. He was dying at the time, and I was very young. I think he was trying to prepare me for that final good bye. He'd been trying to teach me the difference between our bodies and our souls. You know what a soul is, don't you?"
"The part of us that goes to heaven?"
"That's right. It's the beautiful part of us that no one can see. It's how we think, and how we feel. More important, though, it's how we make other people think and feel when we're with them. When we die, they bury our bodies, but our souls aren't inside us anymore. They've flown away, just like a beautiful butterfly from it's chrysalis."
excerpt from ONLY BY YOUR TOUCH, by Catherine Anderson
"...chrysalis...
"That's where butterflies come from," he explained, touching the fragile shell with his fingertip as he explained the metamorphosis from caterpillar to pupa and then to butterfly. "When I was about your age (6), my grandfather found one of these, and we watched it every day until the butterfly finally came out."
"You got to see it?"
"Actually, no, but there was a butterfly flitting around when we found it empty, and my grandfather believed that it had come out of it's chrysalis just before we got there. He was dying at the time, and I was very young. I think he was trying to prepare me for that final good bye. He'd been trying to teach me the difference between our bodies and our souls. You know what a soul is, don't you?"
"The part of us that goes to heaven?"
"That's right. It's the beautiful part of us that no one can see. It's how we think, and how we feel. More important, though, it's how we make other people think and feel when we're with them. When we die, they bury our bodies, but our souls aren't inside us anymore. They've flown away, just like a beautiful butterfly from it's chrysalis."
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