Black Indian Biographies: George Henry White: Militant Congressman

Proudly Red and Black: Stories of African and Native Americans, William Loren Katz and Paula A. Franklin, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 1993.

George Henry White: Militant Congressman. 

When George White left congress in 1901, no African American would serve in congress for nearly thirty years.  Twenty men served between 1870 and 1901.  White was the only African American in congress during his second term.  As such he says re represented 9 million Americans.  White identified as a Black man, although he did have some Native American ancestry.  He did not shy away from speaking his mind.  Among other things he introduced legislation to outlaw lynching.  It failed.  He was elected through an alliance between Black Republicans and more liberal Democrats.  However, the majority of the Democrat Party despised the service of African Americans, and used racist threats and innuendo to drive Blacks out of Congress.  They also used Jim Crow and Black voting laws to make sure Blacks could not serve. 

White was from North Carolina.  However after his service he did not return, but lived in Washington, D.C. where he worked as a lawyer.  He was a contemporary of Booker T. Washington, but they had different philosophies about how to in interact and work for Black rights.  White was much more vocal.  This chapter says militant, but I don’t see him as being militant, just persistent. 

He is well noted for his farewell speech to congress, “This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negro's temporary farewell to the American Congress, but let me say . . .he will rise up some day and come again.  These parting words are in behalf of an outraged, heartbroken, bruised, and bleeding, but God-fearing people, faithful, industrious, loyal people—rising people, full of potential force.”

Black Native American: Edmonia Lewis, Sculptor

Edmonia Lewis attended Oberlin College, a school and town known for abolitionist activity.  She was of Chippewa and African American descent, her mother being native American and her father a freed former slave.  While at school she was accused of poisoning two classmates with wine.  They both became ill after drinking wine she had given them.  However she was found not guilty as her lawyer argued there was no evidence that the women were poisoned.  Lewis moved to Boston after the trial, without graduating.  She says she always wanted to make the forms of things.  With a letter of introduction to William Lloyd Garrison, a famous abolitionist she told him of her desire to "make forms."  Garrison in turn introduced her to Edmund Brackett, a Boston Sculpture.  Brackett took her under his wing, and slowly her work showed promise.  She made a medallion with the bust of John Brown.
Then she made a bust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who had led a regiment of Black soldiers.  She sold 100 copies of this sculpture.  She relocated to Rome, Italy in 1865, where she would live the remainder of her life.  She visited America frequently.  She continued to make sculptures that appealed to an American audience.  she used the neoclassical style, an updated version of classical art.
"Forever Free" is a famous work showing the emancipation.
Her most famous work is "The Death of Cleopatra."
She also took on Native American subjects, including "The Old Arrow Maker and his Daughter."  She also did a version of Hiawatha.
Moving to Rome allowed her to pursue her art as a woman, as their were a group of women there who supported each other.  Also her African and Native heritage was not a roadblock there.

Information is gleaned from the book Proudly Red and Black: Stories of African and Native Americans, William Loren Katz and Paula A Franklin, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1993.

Black Indian Biography: Edward Rose: Mountain Man

Edward Rose's origins are sketchy.  His date of birth was not recorded.  However he had a white father.  His mother was Cherokee and Black mix.  In 1807 he joined and expedition out of St. louis to establish fur trading outposts.  He already had a scarred nose and forehead. The crow would later name him Nez Coupe meaning Cut Nose.  Perhaps from a fight and a knife slash.  Washington Irving who wrote of the fur trade called him "dogged, sullen and silent."  He was prominent in several early expeditions, working for Manuel Lisa, Andrew Henry.  The first expedition, most of the men returned to the East as quickly as the could.  However Rose stayed.  He became partial to the Crow and lived among them.  In 18ll he lead a party lead by John Jacob Astor and Wilson Price Hunt through Crow territory.  For some reason Hunt thought he may be leading them to ambush, or talking some of his men into deserting and taking their horses.  Rose was dismissed.  The expedition became lost most of their horses and some died.  In 1822 William Ashley led an expedition to set up mountain men as trappers, instead of just trading with the Native Americans.  Rose was guide.  Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger were part of this group.  This type of move irked the Indians who would be removed from trading furs.  The expedition was attacked by Arikara Indians.  Ashley wanted revenge.  Fourteen trappers had been killed.  A military force of 200 men under the command of Colonel Henry Leavenworth responded.  Joined by Sioux and mountain men they attacked the Arikara and there was a pitched battle for several days.  The Arikara sued for peace, and Rose was sent to negotiate the peace.  Leavenworth praise praised Rose as "brave and enterprising."  This group of mountain men became the first non-Indians to discover South Pass.  They also would make many other important discoveries in the West.  Rose went back to live with the Crow people and became a leader among them.  Rose likely dyed in a battle with the Arikara.  Old maps of the upper Mississippi Valley show a Cut Nose Butte, and mark his grave close to the Bighorn and Yellowstone Rivers.

Excerpts from Proud Red and Black: Stories of African and Native Americans, William Loren Katz and Paula A. Franklin, Antheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 1993.

Black Indian Biographies: Paul Cuffe: New England Trader

Paul Cuffe in silhouette

At one point Paul Cuffe was the richest man of color in the United States.  His father was a former slave who was born in Africa, perhaps in Ghana.  His mother was a Wampanoag Indian from Martha’s Vineyard.  His father came as a slave to Massachusetts, and likely worked as a servant.  He was able to earn extra and buy his freedom, and married Ruth Moses.  The Massasoit were the Indians that greeted the Pilgrims, first in friendship, and eventually in war as the newcomers wanted more and more land. 

Paul Cuffe was the seventh of ten children.  He was always interested in the sea as they lived close, and went to sea young as a mariner.  He could see the ship owners made more than the seamen, so he and his brother built a ship.  He began to make good money, and invested in other ships.  By his early twenties he was doing well, and took a wife of the Massasoit as well, Alice Pequit.  By prospering, Cuffe proved someone of African American or Native American heritage could succeed as well as someone of White descent.  Cuffe became interested in many community causes.  He built a school on his own land, providing education for his kids in a setting free from persecution.  Local children were also welcome to attend.  Cuffe thought of himself as both black and Indian, but as he grew older, he took an active role in African American and slavery issues.  He was of the Quaker faith, and with them he was an abolitionist.  He paid to establish a colony of ex-slaves in Sierra Leone in Freetown.  He made several trips there.    He also supported people financially who were moving back to Africa. 

Excerpts from Proud Red and Black: Stories of African and Native Americans, William Loren Katz and Paula A. Franklin, Antheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 1993.