Mascogos, The Black Seminoles of Northern Mexico

A unique culture in northern Mexico has its origins 1,300 miles away in the Afro-indigenous communities of Florida.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to Mexico Unexplained, where we will explore the Magic,
the Mysteries and the Miracles of Mexico. This series presents
information based partly on theory and conjecture. The podcaster's purpose
is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the
only ones to the subjects we will examine. Here is
your host, Robert T. Bitto.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome and Mui bian Benitos to episode number three hundred
and thirty two of Mexico and Explained, where we examined
the Magic, the Mysteries and the Miracles of Mexico. I'm
your host, Robert Biddo. In step with his administration's attempt
to bolster human rights awareness, the Governor of the Mexican

(01:16):
State of Coahuila, Ruben Morera Baldees, signed a very special
decree in May of twenty seventeen. The decree proclaimed the
tribe of Black Moscogos to be an official indigenous people
of the State of Coahuila, along with the Mexican Kickapoo

(01:36):
discussed in Mexican Explained episode number two hundred and eighty five.
After being a part of Mexican society for over one
hundred and fifty years, the Moscogos finally received a degree
of official recognition from the government in Mexico. Long marginalized
and their communities neglected, Governor baldez Is dec Cree started

(02:01):
the Muscogo on a path of cultural revitalization and rejuvenation
that continues. The story of this unique people is now
part of the state of Quahuila's official history books. The
history of the Muscogo begins some one thousand, three hundred
miles away from their current homeland, in the swamps and

(02:23):
woods of north central Florida. Spanish Florida had been a
haven for escaped slaves from the north from as far
back as the late sixteen hundreds. Those fleeing the sugar
and cotton plantations of the Carolinas and Georgia found a
new life in the wilderness of this backwater of the

(02:44):
Spanish Empire. Sometimes the slaves would strike out on their
own or join groups of other escapees living in the
wilds of this mostly undeveloped colony of Spain. More frequently, though,
escaped slaves would approach native villages asking for help in
what was to them a strange new land. The natives,

(03:07):
collectively known as seminole to outsiders would often accept these
runaways under certain conditions. For many years, mainstream history books
would assert that these escapees became slaves of the seminole
in exchange for shelter and safety. A modern day re

(03:27):
examination of this relationship likens it more to the feudal
system of medieval Europe than to the slavery of the
plantations in the English colonies and later the fledgling United States,
former black slaves would be given land and assistance by
the seminole, including protection if necessary, in exchange for a

(03:52):
form of tribute, which may have included labor, but more
often took the form of a portion of the harvest
or a predetermined amount of hand crafted goods. It was
more live and let live coexistence bordering on alliance between
the escape slaves and their indigenous protectors. After a few generations,

(04:14):
there was much intermarriage between the groups. Also, many former
slaves and their descendants adopted elements of Seminole culture and language.
By the time the Spanish sold Florida to the Americans
in the early eighteen twenties, the new overlords of the
Florida Peninsula began to refer to the descendants of former

(04:36):
slaves who lived among the natives as the Black Seminole.
This name still is in use some two hundred years later.
The Americans had long coveted Florida not only for territorial expansion,
but to take care of what they called the Indian
raiding problem. Native bands from the southeastern US would cause

(04:59):
properroblems for American farmers and settlers, and then crossed the
border into Spanish territory so as not to face reprisals. Also,
Native groups based in Florida would cross the undefined border
to recavoc and then retreat into the woods and swamps
of their homeland. Future US President Andrew Jackson, who had

(05:23):
long campaigned against Native tribes in the southeast, became the
first territorial governor of Florida. One of his first directives
as governor was to order an attack on Angola, a
settlement of Black seminoles located south of Tampa Bay on
the Manatee River. The Americans captured some two hundred and

(05:44):
fifty people, who were taken north and sold into slavery.
This attack and others led to a general uprising of
Natives and blacks in Florida that ended up being called
the Second Seminole War by historians. Besides the raids by
the US military into indigenous territory, the massive resistance ultimately

(06:07):
had roots in the Americans proposed removal policy. Under this policy,
Florida's entire population of about four thousand Seminoles and their
eight hundred black Seminole allies were slated to be relocated
to Indian territory in Oklahoma, some one thousand miles away.

(06:27):
During the Second Seminole War, any Black Seminoles who were
captured were immediately sold into slavery. As the war was
winding down and the Americans were winning, black Seminole leaders
made a deal with the US to move to Oklahoma
and remain free. This was in the year eighteen thirty eight.

(06:48):
One of the leaders was known as John Horse or
Juan Cavallo, who would later be known as the first
Chief of the Moscogo people in Mexico. In Oklahoma, the
Seminole and the Black Seminole were relocated on lands under
the administration of the Creek Nation. The Creek people had
black slaves as agricultural workers on their lands and many

(07:12):
times tried to enslave black Seminoles In addition, black Seminoles
were often targets of white American slave raiders who would
capture them and forcibly take them to the plantations. Because
of the continued conflict with the Creeks and the thread
of kidnapping by slavers, black Seminole leader Juankabayo and a

(07:35):
Seminole sub chief named Koakuchi or Wildcat came up with
a plan to leave Oklahoma. The two set their sights
on lands across the Rio Grande. For Juancabayo's people, they
didn't have to worry about slave raiders, or so they thought,
because slavery had been abolished in Mexico many years before.

(07:59):
In Mexico, Kowakuchi's Seminoles would get out from under the
domination of the Creek nation and be away from the
increasingly meddlesome US government. It should be noted here that
the two came up with this solution only after Juankabayo
made two trips to Washington, d c. To advocate for

(08:19):
his people. He had two simple pleas, more autonomy and security.
His requests fell on deaf ears. Going off the reservation,
so to speak, was not an option for the Seminoles.
Or the Black Seminoles, as their treaties with the US
government confined them to their allotted lands in Oklahoma. So

(08:43):
Juan Kabayo and Kowakuchi gathered a few hundred people and
left under the cover of darkness in October of eighteen
forty nine. It took them months to traverse Texas, evading
the US Army and the Texas Rangers, who had orders
to capture them and returned them to Indian Territory. Along

(09:04):
the way, they also had to cross through the lands
of the Comanche. It may seem strange to comprehend from
twenty first century standpoints on race, but any non Comanche
traveling through Comanche territory was subject to immediate Comanche attack.
It didn't matter that half of Juan Cabayo and Coacuchi's

(09:25):
party were natives, or that the Black Seminole were fleeing
from the Comanche's number one enemy, the US Army. These
were foreigners and unwelcome in Comanche lands, no matter what
the reason, even if they were just passing through. Given
the dangers of the journey, the Seminole Black Seminole Exodus
took the better part of a year to complete. In

(09:48):
the summer of eighteen fifty. It was a race to
the Rio Grande, with the Rangers, the US Army, and
hostile comanches in hot pursuit. At the springs of Las
mont just north of the border with Mexico in Texas,
the traveling party crossed paths with a familiar adversary, Major

(10:09):
John Sprague, who had known both Juancavallo and Coacuchi as
a young man in Florida many years before and was
present at their surrender. Sprague looked the other way and
drank with the two rebel leaders that night, reminiscing of
their days in Florida together. Before the next dawn, though,

(10:31):
the Seminole Black Seminole group made their final dash to
the border, and just in time, someone from Major Sprague's
camp had notified the Texas Rangers and they were headed
toward Las Moras to capture the group. They were too late.
By the morning of July twelfth, eighteen fifty, Juan Cabayo,

(10:53):
Coacuci and their followers had made it to safety across
the Rio Grande. They were finally in Mexico. Across the
Rio Grande, the Mexican government welcomed them Juancabayo made contact
with the state authorities of Coahuila, and the government granted
them land in exchange for a promise. The newcomers were

(11:16):
to defend the border against Apache and Comanche raiders and
any Americans who would want to cross the river to
cause trouble. Juancabayo and Coacuchi were made captains in the
Mexican Army. It was soon after arriving in Mexico that
the black Seminole group got the name Moscogo. This is

(11:37):
believed to have come from the word Muscoge, which was
the language of the Seminole and Creek, and also sometimes
used to describe the people themselves. For a few years,
the Moscogos had lived in a few parts of the
Musqueese municipality of Coahuila, and settled permanently in the town

(11:57):
of El Nacimiento in eighteen fifty two. Even here, slavers
would cross the Rio Grande to try to abduct Muscogos
to sell back into slavery in Texas, which caused some
families to move further inland and deeper into Mexico. Between
the time of their initial settlement and the US Civil War,

(12:20):
the Moscogo communities of Coahuila welcomed other runaway slaves coming
from Texas. These newcomers eventually blended into Moscogo society. After
the Civil War, those Seminoles who had survived smallpox returned
to the US and resettled in Texas and Oklahoma, but

(12:42):
most of the Moscogos remained in Mexico. While Coacuchi did
not survive smallpox. Juan Cavaio lived well into his seventies.
In eighteen eighty two, he rode to Mexico City to
reaffirm the original Muscogo land grants, which were being challenged
ung by Mestiso settlers encroaching on Muscogo lands. Juan Cabayo

(13:05):
never made it to Mexico City, though, and what happened
to him along the way remains a mystery. What is
the twenty first century reality of the Muscogo people. Many
of the descendants of the original Muscogos still retain the
culture of their ancestors. This is primarily evident in food, dress,

(13:25):
and music. The Moscogos of El Nacimiento have forgotten English
for the most part, but their lively songs are based
in English. Mixed with Spanish and have West African words
that no one understands. For special occasions, women will dress
in a traditional way, and that includes puffy, colorful dresses

(13:49):
with aprons and large kerchiefs on their heads. Foods include
sweet potato bread and boiled corn pone with the corn
mashed in hollow logs with big poles, the way the
indigenous people of the southeastern United States used to prepare cornmeal.
Not surprisingly, El Nacimiento is the only town in Mexico

(14:13):
to celebrate June teenth, and celebrations are low key and
not meant to draw tourists. As many Moscogos Leville Nacimiento
and the surrounding areas for other parts of Mexico or
to the United States for work, and as many marry
outside the ethnic group, there is a sense of urgency

(14:36):
to record and preserve Moscogo culture. The Moscogo's formal recognition
by the Mexican government as a Puebla indigena or indigenous
people is a start, but with increasing pressures from the
outside world, it is a race against time. Thank you

(14:57):
once again.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
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(15:20):
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We appreciate your kind attention. Once again, until next time,
Thank you, angracias.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Thank you for listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained
with host Robert Bitto. For show summary, relevant links, and commentary,
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