Collective understanding of ourselves. We connect researchers and visitors with our collection in the reading rooms and expedition gallery and classrooms and online resources. Make an appointment tote do akresearch or start without an appointment to visit our expedition hall. The bookshop is open wednesday through saturday. Visit the website digital. Newberry. Org to learn about current expedition and seriesam about the age mccarthy early 19th century. It will be open until july 24. The program is an example of the commitment to Public Engagement and intellectual engagement. The Community Colors in the public to discuss what matters. We arey committed to better understand history to promote equity and cultural understanding. Theres no obligation but would like to begin with a statement about history and the land on the city of chicago. Located near waterways, delivery sits on land that intersects with the home and of several tribal nations. The confederacy in the nation and corkyer nation and it takes part in the region of the hall. Indigenous people live in this area and celebrate their ways. Today chicago is home to one of the largest communities in the United States and it remains an important place for Indigenous People. Chicago institution is responsibly to acknowledge context the tribal nations on the land. During the program, you have the opportunity to answer questions and enter a q a in the Comment Section on facebook or youtube. Speakers will respond to your questions. It is my pleasure to introduce todays speaker. Doctor aleta roberts is assistant professor at the university of pittsburgh focuses on the intersection of africanamerican and native American History to the modernday with attention to identity and anti blackness. In addition, black freedom on native land in 2021 writing has appeared at the washington post, the journal of civil war era and i will hand it t over to doctor roberts. Hello, i am so happy to be here share my book with you all. I will introduce myself with the research i do connected to my family like people who identify as africanamerican, people were enslaved for generations my father said they were owned by native americans and we know today they are making their way to oklahoma and indian territory. So assume this countrys history, were different my w family because they lived within the Indian Nations not within the United States rated and reshaping this here three retelling the core of my book t printed one of the key themes of my whatin it means that native americans adopted within the first was taking on 90s outbreak in the race and black inferiority it heat that we usually associate with one people and of the mess how emancipation some africanamericans put on negative and harmful stereotypes of the native americans as they migrated to the west. He so this evening i am going to give you an overview of this history and talk to you about how i think acknowledging some of the negative interaction between black and native people innt a past is necessary to Work Together is always today less are without native americans you own block in about peoples lives 18 hundreds White American politicians reformers encouraged native americans particular the east and southeast to adapt American Culture such as language clothing political structures, arguing the symbolize them this might be familiar to some of you predict for example henry knoxs secretary and present Joe Washington we call civilization posted because he lived like whites for willing to give up and majority of the land predict and is ideal world, within the reduce Land Holdings engaging in agriculture privateng but using disability of the communal ownership. And it became increasing interval to the White Americans citing markets also encouraged by the native people become slaveholders they of course really the height of economic success pretty and there is a time when Indian Tribes to on various facets ofou American Culture ending ignored those that did not sue them for example, religion and american were two things that most people and the foundation the nation in which all members of my family, do not embrace those until arguably the early 20th century printed in the native people of this country are picking and choosing what theyre interested in with the care about what many the wealthiest and most influential members of five Indian Nations enslaved by people with my family members of these are these five types ofe chickasaw, creeks, seminal in turkey. And you probably heard of these tribes socially and whose lightly because their covid19 vaccination efforts. And so in addition to slavery these five tribes also do things like creek newspapers a model of europeanamerican newspapers edit government structure similar to that it was my states of these are key things that are working alongside each other and the governor as well as the american merging of governorsec and as far as this reasons is because these five tribes choose to assimilate in various ways, what emergence begin calling them the five civilized tribes in arkansas, and five tribes because five civilized is problematic in along with these proximity comes with the idea the people are inferior and while justio like in the United States on the u majority the people and organizations do not have the slaves the accumulates a good, crating the culture, and economy that highly valued unregulated slavery and the slave owners. And then needing the reese, an event earlier process change the lives of all of these slaveholding tribes as well as about people he lived among family that is the indian removal and the context of the various had several really to reconcile the fact that they wanted native american lands, with the reality they do not have the manpowerty or the to just take it by force slimming treaties and agreements with native people for parcels of land for control the various regions in the colonial time of the native people in the europeans negotiated settlement on relatively equal grounds and often with native people actually having more power and influence in his relationshipsue with raven political measures as well as war and violence after the revolutionary war, the white congressional native american land, increased as he sought resources and homesteads have moved further west. The plantation slaverys and dispenser the 19th century. In the agricultural and homes in her second they began illegally squatting of the lands on o tape and governments follow the lead and frankly that interstate laws of the native americans of the landed. The results part of an effort to force the indians to move west of the Mississippi River as the americans have been trying to get them to do since the beginning of the country. Or to force them to allow otherwise to take the lead. Now native American People i guess this and sometimes militarily tomorrow conflict but also through law which is what they were told to do is with ever told t civilized people did come the use the law but all of these were ultimately unsuccessful for the majority of the native people especially in these five tribes. As you probably know, this is going on through the 1820s by the 1830s come the government was under jackson and chose the support for these white southerners were doing by advocating for the indian removal act. Now for good reasons, indian removal is considered for many tribes to be really foundational during crating a journey to solidify the resilience as a people but when they want you to take from this talk is that indian removal did the same thing for the enslaved people endured alongside their owners in the five tribes those people of african descent remember removal as really trauma the solidify the memberships in these tribes their shared history with these tribes so that really two different ways of black history intersect and what ive given you and thats first that the indian removal is necessary for these plantations of slavery and secondly, any removal itself involves people ofof africa descent. And now as for these tribes going up removals, many historians are arguing that actually rebuild better than before and so they force create buildings and homes and plantations and there are many people are very economically successful was that make it to again what is been known as indian territory. But about 30 years pass, the United States is increasingly divided over slavery. We have the civil war the nations work important influential families owning enslaved men and women tribes were interested in these occurring in the United States with documentaries about race and civil war and the central slavery all of thesey things tht you think about is key to this country and also very s importat 85 tribes in a some types of especially cherokee and the greek nations were large over the institutions of slavery and running in the war. Now is the confederacy in the building alliances in an effort to recruit them for the consider confederacy talk to the five tribes using agency very familiar with membersib of the tribe they really tell them what they want to hear they argue they will give them with the United States and unions have not been givingg them and so thy think it would allowow them to have more say the government and have congressional w reputation1 nuclear dignity and territory forever without White Settlement and be more reliable to me than for the moment they had the u. S. Government can multiply for something elise allow them to keep the slavery pretty well the unions averaging 63 was of course had not known the confederacy with a kathys promises, probably not enough early confederacy was partially composed of the states that had just forced the five tribes out of the romance around 30 years earlier still is treaties were enticing to the members of the five tribes. Summa shared etiology around slavery members five tribes and they have theyy think are very important geography pretty and so the indian territories especially for these five tribes are located, very close to texas, arkansas, confederate strongholds, the more western parts of the country at this time. And its important that they have some sort of protections. So the practical aspects of these annoyances as well as find the shirt sentiment around slavery. And so the going to the war on the five tribes, members of all of these tribes of the union said confederacy and others are refugees partially be hoping to avoid fighting. At about 14000 brought in and around you need territory just like in thehe United States anda number of the enslaved black men fight benefit lead to five for the union or stay and are forced to work for their confederate owners predict one of when the war is overcome of the United States ignores the fact that unsome tribal members five for e union at the north about they t had not five tribes any protections or give them extra ammunition and a set of the United States is in fact the some tribal members have fought for the confederacy against them. The point of the five tribes the confederacy behavior closely deserving of punishment during this distrust because it made the ice and with the confederacy that the seasonal overhead ability treaties with rated so they threaten to withhold money that they desperately need after a war unless they find a new treaty because they been chorused into it and so they treated itre of 1866 pretty sere as a five tribes official surrender as well as the reconstruction documents. Counseling want to be by that principle know most extreme items these phrases that session a blended five tribess are forcd to give up a majority of the lands we had just moved on, the around 30 years earlier. Then the three big items in these treaties relevant towards the discussion is a five tribes had space enslaved people and their nation and adopt them as citizens, had to get them planned pretty these nations had to get them specifically, and after all familiar with reconstruction really history in general, you know significant since pretty because americans in0 the u. S. That they did not get it. So this the United States intonation Indian Nation, theyre supposed to the right to create their own flaws nation completely sovereign in just about every other way in the iu. S. Is saying, going to force you to free people something we ourselves cannot do without a work of art of virtue to adoptis these people citizens given all of the rights of citizenship and we ourselves in 1866, have not yet done over to force you to give them land. And i was is right. Legally no. Another Cherokee Nation have been massive taken a they were the only one of the five tribes who decided to do this without direct coercion but all of the others, recent seminoles and chickasaw send the chop saws where they had emancipated linkages a people without american intervention. We dont know emancipation give their former slaves rights to citizenship prayed probably not theyve given them land, probably not this freedom these rights and especially this planet put the former slaves ofe the five tribes on a different plane and so africanamericans the United States to give them ddifferent opportunities, these opportunities are wasnt made by people in the office block their agreements a patient. So oklahoma is many black towns away had black i wall street, which of course anniversary of the massacre just passed more people are far more aware of black wall street and its existence pretty is with this moment, and reconstruction indian territory history, is really one of those interesting historical moments were my identities both historian and a descendent of former slaves and chickasaw and the chop saws which are called free people. They come into play because i have to recognize Something Else legally wrong is u. S. Intervention in the formations or as Indian Nations were not out of the Cherokee Nations case, or case in the nations. Twenty also need to recognize the people in my family might never have been freed if not for these technically legally just ecactions on the part of the United States printed know when to use that term former say slaves again andga again probaby presentation, i wanted to run of the strokes the indian free people is the general terms i use my work to refer to as a former slave of any of the five tribes and of course specifically, suffering people and free men and women refer to specifically. The former slaves of the chickasaw indians. And so the reason that the land is for the indian free people in these treaties 1866, is direct and historically significant is because this was black through American Government action republicans have not been able to giving africanamericans in the United States, land pretty and it was frankly impossible for the majority of republicans who were moderately to imagine taking them from a white person giving into a black person has im sure you know, Property Ownership o was continues to be one of the most revered american values. But republicans such as the secretary of interior and unit in the affairs time can imagine imgiving inland to people of african dissent because of the opinions the five tribes did value plan because it devalued private Land Ownership in the same way the White Americans dead and as you saw the indians use the plan is in civilized not properly use utilizing land therefore to Leon Community in atlanta people of african descent, is kind of the softy idealistic republican goal of like Land Ownership was still allowing the in the United States to maintain their land. And so heres the United States using this idea of this savagery against the five tribes who told you earlier, used to be considered civilized. Different from other native people and now that is no longer political if useful, the five rights once again, uncivilized in this change allows the black people take ownership of the landed indian territory. And indian free people in the five tribes played into this from what i tell you the chickasaw friedman and blaine goldman, in a way that he talked about his former a owners, thene said, at the time the indians did not have anything but small farms and of course the freedoms were among them so they do not work like it should just raise enough corn to make bread and so this may well maybe some bad the language that he uses some of the did not work like they should. To me you saying the idea of americanness test being enterprise and creating wealth. But in native americans are looking to survive and what he saying is that with american tutelage for people work capable of working harder, believe they should if they were only given the model and the opportunity. So this is strategic languages and ended free people were very aware that the United States had negotiated for the freedoms the Land Ownership about the native former slave owners of predict system have aligned themselves with white markings in the definitions of civilization and productivity in a small have been about people toiv the west, we see some of them also using these ideas about native american laziness like a productivity or civilization. And in fact, one of the most famous africanamerican leaders of the 19th century and really ryabout time, Frederick Douglass and several speeches were he sp