Abraham (Seminole)

Abraham, Seminole war-name Souanaffe Tustenukke,[2] called Yobly by some whites,[3] was a 19th-century Floridian who served as an interpreter and lieutenant for "Micanopy, the hereditary leader of the Alachua Seminoles."[4] As of July 1837, he was termed "the principal negro chief" of the Seminoles and by all accounts exerted a great influence on Micanopy, approximately 500 Black Seminoles, and the white Americans with whom he treated and negotiated.[5]

Biography

Abraham was born enslaved in Georgia in the 1790s and died in the 1870s in what is now Seminole County, Oklahoma.[6] He was described as having ties to Pensacola, having traveled to Washington, D.C., and the Indian Territory, and having had "fluent speech and polished manners."[7] He is sometimes described as Micanopy's "chief negro" in parallel with John Caesar, who was deemed "chief negro" to Ee-mat-la.[7] Abraham, sometimes called Negro Abram, was a key participant in the 1837–38 negotiations regarding the end of hostilities in the Second Seminole War, a potential move to the Indian Territory, and the legal status of "Indian slaves" versus "runaway plantation slaves."[8] In 1813, a group of Blacks among the Seminoles established a settlement called Pilaklikaha (Many Ponds), that was renamed Abraham's Old Town after 1826 to honor Abraham, The Interpreter, who became a leader. The town was home to 100 people in who grew "fields of rice, beans, melons, pumpkins, and peanuts" and managed herds of cattle and horses; American troops burned Peliklakaha to the ground in 1836.[9] Pilaklikaha was located about halfway between what is now Withlacoochee State Forest and Orlando.[9]

References

  1. ^ "SE-1716 (Photographic Copy) & SE-1350". Enduring Beauty Seminole Art & Culture from the Collection of I.S.K. Reeves V & Sara W. Reeves (PDF) (Exhibition). Orlando, Florida: Orlando Museum of Art. 2018. pp. 15–16.
  2. ^ Porter (1971), p. 320.
  3. ^ Porter (1971), p. 61.
  4. ^ Watson (2010), p. 166.
  5. ^ Porter (1971), p. 65.
  6. ^ Satterwhite, C. Scott (December 18, 2023). "Abraham, Veteran of Negro Fort and Seminole Wars, Is Dead". Pensacola News Journal. Righting the Past Obituary 25. Pensacola, Florida. ISSN 1946-6137. LCCN sn87062269. OCLC 33669261. Archived from the original on 2024-02-09. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  7. ^ a b Porter (1971), p. 243.
  8. ^ Porter (1971), pp. 50–59.
  9. ^ a b Curtis, Marcus (September 14, 2023). "Pilaklikaha". ArcGIS StoryMaps. Retrieved 2025-02-02.

Sources

Further reading

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