THE INTERNATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Conversational History from the Heart with a touch of Humor
by Linda Cousins-Newton/
Amasewa Okomfo
Ancestral ProMotions
Brooklyn, NY
copyright © Ancestral ProMotions 2009
19th century Black Seminole photo on cover montages used with permission of Dr. William L. Katz.
Florida Everglades portion on cover montage ©
Ron Chapple Studios| Dreamstime.com
ISBN 0-930569-13-6 - Third Edition No part of this book may be reproduced by any process or technique without prior written permission of the publisher, with the exception of reviewers who may quote brief passages in reviews of the work published in magazines, journals, newspapers, or other publications. All rights reserved.
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“The Lord gave the Word: great was the company of those that published it.” Psalms 68:11
They Reached These International Realms:
AFRICA
THE BAHAMAS
CANADA
CUBA
ENGLAND
FLORIDA
LOUISIANA
MEXICO
NOVA SCOTIA
TEXAS
...Saturday, March 21, 2010
Slowly but surely the women are literally coming out of the woodwork! Thank you, Estilustee mothers. The Creator, in fact, really had a surprise for me last night. Remember “way back when” I told you that during the course of my research for my underground railroad course, I found that my husband’s people (on his father’s side) were descended from the Black Seminoles.
Well, last night I decided to pay another literary visit to Dr. Howard’s book, The Black Seminoles of The Bahamas. In reading it the first time, around 2005, I hadn’t gotten as deeply involved with the souls of the Estilustees as I have today; therefore, some things evidently slipped right past my researcher’s gaze. Now as I look for the women’s presence and contribution, I found through the re-reading last night that not only was my husband’s grandfather a direct descendant of the Estilustees from the paternal link, but from his mother’s side as well.
Her name was Andranna Lewis Newton, and she was the granddaughter of the Estilustee mi-grant, Mary Lewis, who came over with her father, Sammy, and her brothers in a Black Seminole migration from Florida...hmm, let me stop and take another look for the date reminder; (just found it in
My grandfather-in-law’s book, A History of Red Bays, Andros...; that date, as per Rev. Newton, was around 1840). So not only are the women starting to make their presence distinctly felt, but they’ve appeared from within the circle of my husband’s family. I told him that this morning, but his reaction was, “Let’s talk about that later. Right now, let’s talk about us.” He’s not deep into history like his wife plus we’ve been apart for a “good little while”, as the Tennessee elders would say, so we’ll excuse his lack of enthusiasm-–this time.
Well, as much as I hate to sign off on this update of the first edition, I simply must do so, as other projects are languishing. However, I’m definitely not finished with you in terms of this information-sharing. I already have another project in mind which will wrap itself around the Estilustee. That will be done no later than 2011, “the good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise”–(the creek, not the Creeks!).
Before closing, I must say that I am greatly impressed with the magnitude of the contributions of John Horse, a largely unsung African-descended hero. Truly he dedicated nearly his entire life to defending and protecting the freedom and property rights of his people, despite two well nigh fatal assassination attempts, despite forced migration, and oftentimes, (due to dishonored agreements), near starvation of the people in Florida, Oklahoma, Mexico, and Texas. And I’m grateful to the love and dedicated comradeship of Brother Coacoochee (Wild Cat)-–or as the Mexicans called him “Gato del Monte” (Mountain Cat). Truly they were the 19th century dynamic duo of indefatigable freedomists and cross-cultural friends.
You know, I could really go on and on in recounting the Estilustee story to you, but neither you nor I have the time for that, do we? I will just force myself to save the rest for the next incarnation of this work which will be born at another time in an entirely different way. To pull myself away from the passion of this project, I have determined a way to “stop talking”.
I will close with answering ten questions on the work. Hopefully, they will shed more light on this ancestral situation. I will also be initiating an Estilustee blog and/or podcast to continue celebrating and sharing illuminations gained on their lives and contributions. I should have that up and going before this book goes to press, so I will add that information in not too many more moons. Now allow me to get to these questions so that we can move progressively along with our lives!:
You seem very taken with John Horse (John Caballo) as an African-descended historical hero.
Explain why he so impresses you.
John Horse, to me, epitomizes the greatness–-the deep love warriorship of a dedicated freedomist. He fought tirelessly, along with innumerable other Black and Red Seminoles, for the collective and individual liberty of his people–-for the right to remain on the land in which they were born or had well earned, and where their ancestors’ bones were buried. Even though John Horse loved his people and was a proud African Estilustee, he also loved and respected others of varied ethnic groups who crossed his path; yet family and ancestry came first, and that was quite obvious in his life and his life contributions.
The ironic thing is that with all that John Horse, in particular, and the Black Seminoles, in general, accomplished, there are precious few people in this country and even less on this earth who know of their tremendous accomplishments and sacrifices. Here were a people who waged an oftentimes largely successful war of defense against the most powerful forces of the day who were equipped with vastly superior weaponry and who vastly outnumbered them. Yet they managed to maintain their hegemony for decades and were sought out by the Spanish, French (French and Indian War), the British, the Mexicans, and lastly the American military for their skill, shrewdness, courage, and success in warfare tactics.
John Horse, born free on the Alachua Plain around 1812, was not only a brilliant (and handsome!) Black Indian warrior, but an accomplished and brilliant tactician, diplomat, interpreter, organizer, community leader, and tireless advocate for his people. From Florida to Oklahoma, (then Arkansas territory), from Washington to Mexico to Texas, he never missed a beat in standing up for and advocating for the rights, the freedom and the land of his people. He faced two assassination attempts on his life, one that physically debilitated him to the extent that he walked bent over for a good while; but neither did that stop him. He continued steadily onward in his quest for Estilustee rights and property.
He continued onward with that quest to the end of his days. His last act, before his mysterious disappearance and obvious assassination, was to meet with and petition the Mexican power broker, Porfirio Diaz, on behalf of the threatened land rights of the African Indians,(the Mascogos), in Coahuila. That meeting eventuated in ultimate success, as the land rights were indeed protected by the government. But the great Colonel Juan Caballo, (John Horse), never returned home from that ill-fated journey. (Because of their leadership and military acumen in staving off the border attacks of hostile Native Americans and proslavery elements, both John Horse and Coacoochee had been given the military title of Colonel by the Mexican government.) Great were both the mourning and the celebration of his spirit in that land.
He had joined his African and Estilustee ancestors, his devoted friend, Coacoochee, Asin Yahola, and the other great Seminoles, Red and Black, who had given their life blood for their cross-cultural freedom. When he did not return home, his beloved wife, Susan, sent their last remaining offspring, Joe Coon, in search of Brother Horse. Tragically enough, he, too disappeared and was never seen again–-obviously yet another victim of foul play.
This tremendously heartrending loss of both her life partner and son so stressed this ancestral mother that she became completely paralyzed by a stroke. Shortly thereafter she joined them in that ancestral realm. Susan and John Horse had been quite a couple over those forty-odd years. John Horse was indeed quite a man. I regret that he is not more widely known and celebrated in African diaspora history. He has more than earned that place in the sun.
You seem to have a passion for discovering theSeminole women’s untold story. Please summarizewhat has been revealed to you so far.
Well, that last answer was tres lengthy, so I’ll try to abbreviate this one a bit. Yes, I do indeed have a passion for finding the women’s contribution to this freedom quest and to the survival of the Estilustee community. Whenever I have studied African diaspora history, I have looked for the women’s contribution because I know that where there have been powerful love warrior men, they have been accompanied and supported in one way or another by equally powerful love warrior women.
Perseverance eventually paid off in finding at least some information about the love warrior women of the Haitian Revolution and of the Jamaican Maroon people. The same is starting to happen with the Estilustee women, and I know it will continue to blossom and expand as I abide with them in my soul depths and call on their spirits to come forth and share their untold stories.
As mentioned, I have already found that they were the agricultural backbone in many respects of the Black and Red Seminole nation. They also, as previously pointed out, made bullets by hand and were among the shamans, the herbalists, the healers, the artistic craftspersons of that society. Their skill in basketweaving is still in evidence in the much sought-after baskets of the Black Seminoles of Andros, a craft that looks very much like the sweetgrass baskets of the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Island Gullah-Geechee people from whom so many of them are descended.
The Gullah-Geechees were among the enslaved who fled in vast numbers to Florida in those liberty-seizing days. Like the Akans and other African nations, the Seminoles traced their lineage through the maternal line, and it was from that matriarchal line that leadership was chosen. They were a society that respected and revered women and the spiritual power of women. This is evidenced in how they, (both the Estilustee and the other Seminoles), fiercely protected the women and children during warfare, oftentimes sacrificing their lives so that their families could escape deeper into the swamps that for a long time were impenetrable by the enemy forces.
I have that photo of Mother Martha Jane, and I keep it ever close by, even though search as I may, I still have found no account of her military contribution in any of these tomes on the Seminoles–-nothing beyond that brief mention in Brother Bryant’s book. Even the women authors make no mention of her, as I was hoping they would do. I have no doubt that when the time is right, she will lead me to her story. In the interim, I continue to gather in my ancestral basket bits and pieces of stories, the love, the contributions of her ancestral sisters like Mother Malee Francis, of my “ancestor-in-law”, Mary Lewis of Andros, and of the more contemporary Ms. Charles Emily Wilson, great-grandniece of Susan Factor Horse, who initiated the Estilustee celebration in Brackettville, Texas, and who spent many years, along with her former student, Willie “Dub” Warrior, passing along the ancestral story.
I have also learned of another more contemporary contributor, Betty Mae Jumper, a Red Seminole descendant who not only became a leader in her nation passing along the ancestral tale, but who also engaged in alligator wrestling when her husband was incapacitated. My great-great Native American grandmother, Mama Ida, not only led me to a marital connection with a cross-cultural Estilustee descendant, but from the heavenly realm, she is leading me step by step to the unfolding of the women Estilustees’ herStory. I have the patience to continue to study, to contemplate, to faithfully wait.
What is most important to you in the recounting of Black Seminole history and African diaspora history in general?
I like to tell the story in a way that makes it interesting and more importantly motivational to the
masses of people–-to those who might never be drawn to read an academically written work on such history. Those academic accounts are quite important and have been a bedrock of information. However, I am an ancestral storyteller as well as an educator and writer; so I go back to both my contemporary and ancient griot roots in storytelling. I not only write about but I deeply love the souls who come through my psyche to share their triumphs and trials. I get intimate with their souls. I sit up in the middle of the night and ponder their lives.
When I was teaching, I used history as a motivational device. I tried to bring it to life for my students and to let them know that if our folks could endure and do these tremendous things under those kind of circumstances, then there is no excuse for us not living up to our maximum potential in this technological age because we have the backing of both the Creator and those love warrior ancestors. Working with that combination there is no losing, no matter what the circumstances.
Like Brother Abraham we must be ‘sense-bearers”, respectful and skilled in working both sides of the line, while never losing sight of who we are and Whose we are. With that type of wisdom, as Brother Abraham also said, “God is on our side.” I once wrote in one of my historical books for children: “You come from a great people. In your own way, you must be great, too.” The Word must be “made flesh.”
It is important to know the history, to become passionately acquainted with it in one’s soul-depths, and then to live forth from that ancestral inspiration. We all have a mission and a purpose. We must be open to the. We all have a mission and a purpose. We must be open to the guidance to its optimum blossoming in spiritual joy and success. Lives like those of the Estilustee, like Nana Tubman, Mother Truth, and the “many thousands gone”, those nameles, unsung, unknown ones who can show us how if we have the inner Ear to heaar and the inner Eye to see. They are most willing to do so when they know that our intentions are pure--our motives deeply sincere...
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