The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma
The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma

Author: Jack Maurice Schultz

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780806131177

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Observers often assume that American Indians identifying themselves as Christian have assimilated into the larger Anglo world. The Oklahoma Seminole Baptists have actively adapted non-native structures to accommodate their community needs. They gather several times weekly in steepled churches for prayers, hymn singing, and sermons based on biblical texts. But they conduct services primarily in the Mvskoke language and practice Native customs, such as fasting in the woods and constructing grave houses to shelter the spirit as it returns to visit the body. Schultz traces the history of the Seminoles to the present day. He then discusses Seminole Baptist beliefs and practices, leadership roles, and the church's organizational structure, illustrating his observations with a detailed account of the social life of a single congregation.

A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches
A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches

Author: Robert E. Johnson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-09-13

Total Pages: 471

ISBN-13: 0521877814

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This book explores and assesses the cultural sources of Baptist beliefs and practices. The Baptist movement has focused on a small group of Anglo exiles in Amersterdam in constructing its history and identity. Robert E. Johnson seeks to recapture the varied cultural and theological sources of Baptist tradition and the diversity, breadth, and complexity of its cultural influences.

Capture These Indians for the Lord
Capture These Indians for the Lord

Author: Tash Smith

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2014-09-18

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0816598614

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In 1844, on the heels of the final wave of the forced removal of thousands of Indians from the southern United States to what is now Oklahoma, the Southern Methodist Church created a separate organization known as the Indian Mission Conference to oversee its missionary efforts among the Native communities of Indian Territory. Initially, the Church conducted missions as part of the era’s push toward assimilation. But what the primarily white missionaries quickly encountered was a population who exerted more autonomy than they expected and who used Christianity to protect their culture, both of which frustrated those eager to bring Indian Territory into what they felt was mainstream American society. In Capture These Indians for the Lord, Tash Smith traces the trajectory of the Southern Methodist Church in Oklahoma when it was at the frontlines of the relentless push toward western expansion. Although many Native people accepted the missionaries’ religious practices, Smith shows how individuals found ways to reconcile the Methodist force with their traditional cultural practices. When the white population of Indian Territory increased and Native sovereignty came under siege during the allotment era of the 1890s, white communities marginalized Indians within the Church and exploited elements of mission work for their own benefit. Later, with white indifference toward Indian missions peaking in the early twentieth century, Smith explains that as the remnants of the Methodist power weakened, Indian membership regained control and used the Church to regenerate their culture. Throughout, Smith explores the complex relationships between white and Indian community members and how these phenomena shaped Methodist churches in the twentieth century.

The Seminole Freedmen
The Seminole Freedmen

Author: Kevin Mulroy

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2016-01-18

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 0806155884

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Popularly known as “Black Seminoles,” descendants of the Seminole freedmen of Indian Territory are a unique American cultural group. Now Kevin Mulroy examines the long history of these people to show that this label denies them their rightful distinctiveness. To correct misconceptions of the historical relationship between Africans and Seminole Indians, he traces the emergence of Seminole-black identity and community from their eighteenth-century Florida origins to the present day. Arguing that the Seminole freedmen are neither Seminoles, Africans, nor “black Indians,” Mulroy proposes that they are maroon descendants who inhabit their own racial and cultural category, which he calls “Seminole maroon.” Mulroy plumbs the historical record to show clearly that, although allied with the Seminoles, these maroons formed independent and autonomous communities that dealt with European American society differently than either Indians or African Americans did. Mulroy describes the freedmen’s experiences as runaways from southern plantations, slaves of American Indians, participants in the Seminole Wars, and emigrants to the West. He then recounts their history during the Civil War, Reconstruction, enrollment and allotment under the Dawes Act, and early Oklahoma statehood. He also considers freedmen relations with Seminoles in Oklahoma during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Although freedmen and Seminoles enjoy a partially shared past, this book shows that the freedmen’s history and culture are unique and entirely their own.

Folk Music, Traditional Music, Ethnomusicology
Folk Music, Traditional Music, Ethnomusicology

Author: Anna Hoefnagels

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2021-02-19

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1527566382

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Folk Music, Traditional Music, Ethnomusicology: Canadian Perspectives, Past and Present features the proceedings of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music / La Société Canadienne pour les Traditions Musicales (formerly the Canadian Folk Music Society / La Société canadienne de musique folklorique) that took place in November, 2006 in Ottawa at Carleton University and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. This publication showcases the diversity of music research currently being conducted by folk and traditional music specialists, ethnomusicologists, and practicing musicians in Canada. The papers are organized in five sections according to common themes in contemporary research in ethnomusicology and folk music studies, and each section is preceded by a short introduction which highlights the section’s theme(s) as well as the individual papers. Folk Music, Traditional Music, Ethnomusicology: Canadian Perspectives, Past and Present confirms the rich history of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music, a history that comprises enormous changes in scholarly research, musical practice, emergent technologies, changes in doing fieldwork, and shifting identity boundaries over the past fifty years. This volume is intended as a contribution to published literature on ethnomusicological and folklore research in Canada, creating a new resource of historical, contemporary, and scholarly relevance that will appeal to academics and music enthusiasts alike. "Canadian ethnomusicologists' expertise in the realm of First Nations musics, and Anglo, Celtic and French folksong repertories is already well established. This volume shows us the breadth of cultural territory with which 21st-century Canadian scholars of music and scholars of Canadian musics are now engaged, as well as their theoretical and methodological sophistication. " —Kati Szego, School of Music, Memorial University

The State of Sequoyah
The State of Sequoyah

Author: Donald L. Fixico

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2024-10-22

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0806195053

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Few people today know that the forty-sixth state could have been Sequoyah, not Oklahoma. The Five Tribes of Indian Territory gathered in 1905 to form their own, Indian-led state. Leaders of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Muscogees, and Seminoles drafted a constitution, which eligible voters then ratified. In the end, Congress denied their request, but the movement that fueled their efforts transcends that single defeat. Researched and interpreted by distinguished Native historian Donald L. Fixico, this book tells the remarkable story of how the state of Sequoyah movement unfolded and the extent to which it remains alive today. Fixico tells how the Five Nations, after removal to the west, negotiated treaties with the U.S. government and lobbied Congress to allow them to retain communal control of their lands as sovereign nations. In the wake of the Civil War, while a dozen bills in Congress proposed changing the status of Indian Territory, the Five Tribes sought strength in unity. The Boomer movement and seven land dispensations—beginning with the famous run of 1889—nevertheless eroded their borders and threatened their cultural and political autonomy. President Theodore Roosevelt ultimately declared his support for the merging of Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory, paving the way for Oklahoma statehood in 1907—and shattering the state of Sequoyah dream. Yet the Five Tribes persevered. Fixico concludes his narrative by highlighting recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, most notably McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), that have reaffirmed the sovereignty of Indian nations over their lands and people—a principal inherent in the Sequoyah movement. Did the story end in 1907? Could the Five Tribes revive their plan for separate statehood? Fixico leaves the reader to ponder this intriguing possibility.

Being Indian and Walking Proud
Being Indian and Walking Proud

Author: Donald L. Fixico

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-07-01

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1040089100

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This book explores the identity of American Indians from an Indigenous perspective and how outside influences throughout history, from the arrival of Columbus in 1492 to the twenty-first century, have affected Native people. Non-Native writers, boarding school teachers, movie directors, bureaucrats, churches, and television have all heavily impacted how Indians are viewed in the United States. Drawing on the life experiences of many American Indian men and women, this volume reveals how American Indian identity comprises multiple identities, including the noble savage, wild savage, Hollywood Indian, church-going Indian, rez Indian, urban Indian, Native woman, Indian activist, casino Indian, and tribal leader. Indigenous people, in their own voices, share their experiences of discrimination, being treated as outsiders in their own country, and the intersections of gender, culture, and politics in Indian-white relations. Yet the book also highlights the resilience of being Indian and the pride felt from being a member of a tribe(s), knowing your relatives, and feeling connected to the earth. Being Indian and Walking Proud is a compelling resource for any reader interested in Indigenous history, including students and scholars in Native American and Indigenous studies, anthropology, and American history.

An Assumption of Sovereignty
An Assumption of Sovereignty

Author: Harry A. Kersey

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780803227286

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In the early 1950s the very existence of the Florida Seminoles was in jeopardy. Mired in poverty, poorly educated, underemployed, and without a tribal government, they also faced the possibility that the U.S. Congress would terminate services to them. Fortunately, loss of reservation lands was averted and the situation began to improve. When the federal government approved a charter and constitution for the tribe in 1957, it marked both the official resumption of tribal sovereignty after more than a century and the first agreement that did not force removal of the Seminoles from the reservation. An Assumption of Sovereignty continues Harry A. Kersey Jr.'s examination of Seminole history. He studies the effects of shifting governmental attitudes and policies on the Florida Indians during the past quarter-century. He also charts the social, economic, and political experiences of the tribe during these volatile decades. By the end of the account, readers understand that the Seminole tribe has become organized, functioning, and sovereign, with a stable economic base. The author has made extensive use of oral history from tribal elders as well as the memoirs and records of Florida congressional leaders. Harry A. Kersey Jr. is a professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of The Florida Seminole and the New Deal, The Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes: A Critical Bibliography, and Pelts, Plumes, and Hides: White Traders among the Seminole Indians, 1870-1930.

Native Peoples of the World
Native Peoples of the World

Author: Steven L. Danver

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-10

Total Pages: 2475

ISBN-13: 1317463994

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This work examines the world's indigenous peoples, their cultures, the countries in which they reside, and the issues that impact these groups.

The American Church Experience
The American Church Experience

Author: Thomas A. Askew

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2008-08-06

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1725222957

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"A welcome addition to the ongoing reflection on the meaning of religion in America. The authors are both responsible as scholars and accessible as writers. Teachers, students, clergy, and laity will find this book worthwhile. It deserves a wide reading." -- Ronald A. Wells, Professor of History, Calvin College; editor, Fides et Historia "This is a most welcome update of the first textbook survey of American church history. The American Church Experience retains all the virtues of the original--brevity, clarity, and evenhandedness--while incorporating recent historical developments and contemporary historical scholarship." --Michael S. Hamilton, Associate Professor of History, Seattle Pacific University "Specialists and general readers alike should welcome this valuable new resource in American religious history. I certainly plan to recommend it to my students." --Garth M. Rosell, Professor of Church History and Director of the Ockenga Institute at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary "Captures the ebb and flow of religious history in a scholarly and precise way while retaining a highly readable quality. Students will be challenged and laypeople will be informed about America's fascinating religious heritage. This book is a must for the pastor's study and for the church library." --Ruth A. Tucker, author of From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions "Tom Askew and Dick Pierard provide a lively and succinct account of the origins, expansion, and struggles of the faith in America. Their analyses are enhanced by commendable balance and a healthy global perspective. This volume will prove to be an excellent resource for church study groups as well as for undergraduate and seminary classes." --James A. Patterson, Professor of Christian Studies, Union University