The Seminole Indians (1770-1842)

We are going to be studying Native Americans/Indians this year, but instead of learning about many different tribes all at once, I have decided to stretch it out and study them throughout the year. We started with the Seminole Indians this week.

 The Seminole people were once part of the Creek tribe. In the late 1700's, the Lower Creeks began to migrate into Florida to evade the dominance of the Upper Creeks. The Lower Creeks then became known as the Seminoles as the word mean "wanderer." During the colonial years, the Seminole were on good terms with both the Spanish and the British. In 1784, the treaty ending the American Revolutionary War transferred British rule of Florida to Spain. The Spanish Empire's decline enabled the Seminole to settle more deeply into Florida until 1842, when the US forced the majority of Seminoles to move from Florida to the Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma) after the Second Seminole War.

They wore brightly colored striped clothing with long sleeves.

Making friendship bracelets in the bright colors the Seminoles used might be a fun project to do.

The women wore many beaded necklaces. Stringing beads for necklaces would also be a fun project to do.

The lived in wall-less houses with palmetto leaf roofs and a raised platform for the floor called Chickees. The cooking was done outside of the house. They slept in hammocks. The raised floor and bed helped to keep people dry and to prevent attack from animals such as the alligator. We used the pocket on the Seminole Indians from Evan Moore's History Pockets: American Indians.

Their most important festival was the Green Corn Dance in which people from many villages gathered to dance, play games, eat food and possibly a naming ceremony.

Dancing with the Indians is a great first person book about celebrating with the Seminole Indian tribe in the 1930's once the Seminole's were moved from Florida to Oklahoma.