The Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma - Essay Example

The Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma Introduction Seminoles are an ethnic group of NativeAmericans found in OklahomaState which can also be referred to as Seminole nation or creek. They settled in the United States thousands of years ago, an estimated period of 12,000 years. Their roots can be traced to eastern Asia where they are believed to have originated from (Dwyer & Birchfield , 2013). At around 1500 AD, the natives had their first encounter with Spanish explorers, today known as creeks. This was because of their settlement along rivers in the states of Alabama and Georgia. However, the natives referred to themselves as Este maskoke, which means the Muskogee people (Brown & Oglive, 2009) In 18thcentury, the Muskogee people, due to pressure mounted on them by the settlers, moved from Alabama and Georgia to Florida which was under Spanish rule.This was also attributed to the slavery and loss of land to the European invaders (Dwyer, Birchfield & Birchfield, 2013). They were also joined by the Hitchiti and Mikasuki people with whom they settled as farmers and ranchers. The Spanish referred to them as Seminoles which meant wild or untamed. Seminoles moved further south wards where they resulted to fishing and hunting for survival (Dwyer, Birchfield & Birchfield, 2013). By the end of 1700, more settlers from Europe migrated to the AppalachianMountains and ended up reaching the western coast of North America by 19th century. This forced the natives into reserved lands located to the west. The largest of the reservation, is now what is known as the state of Oklahoma. Natives who stayed back at their homes were attacked and defeated by the settlers. In 1830, a campaign to move the Seminoles from Florida to Oklahoma was launched by the then United States, which led to resistance wars fought from 1832 to 1858. This war resulted to the movement of most Seminoles to Oklahoma; however, a few did not surrender and remained to stay in the everglades and Florida (Dwyer & Birchfield, 2013). Sovereignty The Seminole have their headquarters in Seminole county located in central part of Oklahoma. The national council and tribal administrative offices are located at the edge of the Wewoka community. In addition, Court sessions that are of tribal decent are heard and settled in the BIA building located just across the administrative offices. The nation operates under as recognised 1969 federal constitution. The Public law passed under congress gives the Seminole people liberty to elect their own leaders. The nation is under a 28 member council which has a chief and an assistant chief. The 14 traditional bands selects a council representative to the council and after four years officers are elected. Language status Este maskoke empunuka, was what the Muskogee people called their language. This translates to the language of the Muskogee people. Due to the dispersion of the Muskogee people after conflicts with the Spanish, creek speaking entities split resulting into three dialects. Muskogee who settled in Oklahoma dialect differs in vocabulary from those who settled in Florida and the dialects are also intelligible. In addition, the missionaries arrived after the settling of the Seminoles and heavily influenced them (Brown & Ogilvie, 2009). With the help of learned Seminoles, an alphabet was developed and is still in use to date. This led to publication of many issues in Muskogee language, for instance newspapers. Generations that followed learnt to write and read in their native language using the alphabet that was developed. The Muskogee language alphabet has thirteen consonants which include stops and an affricate. The alphabet also represents a semi phonemic language that does not show pitch (Brown & Oglive, 2009). The stops and affricate include; (p), t (t), c [ts] (c) and k (k) which are articulated at the alveolar,labial,velar and alveoplatal regions. They are also voiced, unaspirated and lenis in between vowels. It also has four fricatives;one,f (f), that is found to be bilabial in some people but labiodental in some others. The second is (r) which is a voiceless lateral alveolar. The third is s(s) a sibilant alveolar which maybe retroflexed in some natives. The fourth is the glottal h (h) (Brown and Oglive, 2009). Creek language also contains resonant which are comprised of two glides which are alveoplatal y(y,e) and velar w(w,u,o), two nasals ;a bilabial m(m) and alveolar n(n) and the alveolar lateral I(l) (Brown & Oglivie, 2009). The language also has a vowel system made up of three short vowels that are phonetic. These are; i (e), a (a, v) and o (o, u). these short vowels contrast with other three long vowels; i:(é, e),a:(a) and o:(o). It also contains diphthongs listed as follows oy (ue), aw (vo) and ey (i) (Brown & Oglivie, 2009). The language also has pitch accent system with three tones; a hightone / ́ /, a falling tone / ̂ / and an extra high tone / ̌ / (Brown & Oglivie, 2009). High pitch tone in creek language is considered a non-phonemic tone with an iambic tone based on the syllable placement. Falling tone on the other hand, is grammatical and lexical while extra high pitches occur in intensive stem grade. The language itself is considered agglutinating with extensive verb and minimal noun morphologies (Brown & Ogilvie, 2009). Clan and social structures Seminoles lived in towns known astulwa, etawlv or Talofain Muskogee language. These towns were further subdivided into different mikasuke and Muskogee speaking towns. Residents of each town built log cabins and participated in farming. Each resident was or identified themselves according to the town they were born in and the clans were in charge of regulating families living in each town. A chief referred to as meko or miko was the head and had an assistant chief reffered to as heniha. Each town also had a war leader known as tustvnvke all in Muskogeelanguage (Clark, 2009).On a higher rank; each town had a representative on the national council which was in charge of national affairs. The council would then select a chief. This shows that the Muskogee had an effectively strong social-political structure (Clark, 2009). Seminole men on the other hand participated in hunting and fishing while women reared the children, cooked and were involved in farming. Traditionally, only men were allowed to be chiefs. However, this trend has changed over the years, modern rules allows women to be involved in tribal governments (Minahan, 2013). Unique traditions and gaming Despite the numerous culture the Seminole have been exposed to, they still maintain some of their traditional cultures and ways. Both Seminole men and women dressed in multi-coloured designs of clothes. These unique design of clothes is known as patchwork and is a symbol of heritage to the Seminole people. On the other hand, most Seminoles still speak Muskogee and mikasuke languages. However, the hitchiti language is on the verge of being discarded (Clark, 2009). In the Seminole culture both men and women participated in making sure their rich culture was passed on from generation to generation. This was done through storytelling, Artwork, traditional medicine and oral history. The Seminole people also made baskets from grass that grew in Florida. They also still hold an annual ceremony dubbed the green corn ceremony which includes a purification rite and transition to manhood ceremony. Disputes were also handled during this period (Minahan,2013). Seminole tribe is also involved in casino businesses which are the major revenue generating bodies. They run four casinos namely national bingo, Seminole casino, the river mist and Wewoka gaming casinos. These casinos operate in a unique way whereby the players play against themselves rather than against the house. The tribe also owns smoke shops, travel plazas, convenience stores and a motel. They are also involved in land leasing for oil and gas and their land is also used for livestock farming and pasture. The tribe owns about 35,000 acres of allotted land and as well privately owns Seminole national museum (Clark, 2009). Summary The Seminole nation and their tribes are diverse people. They have survived in the United States for many generations and still preserve their culture. As stated above, it’s evident they have taken a lot of precaution to avoid loss of their ways in spite of the interactions with different cultures and laws that demanded they denounce it. Their language is complex but a distinct prestige in their culture and they have spoken the language since time immemorial. Their society also showed a lot of socio-political advancement with inclusion of rites of passages and sharing of roles among women and men. This also translates to their mode of dressing that is unique. On the other hand, the Seminole people are also entrepreneurs who have invested heavily in casinos which are under gaming industry. They have diversified their wealth by further investments in the traditional cattle farming and motel industries. The Seminole sovereignty has remained unchanged since the 18th century, whereby they remained true to their course and have governed their own clans. References Brown, E. and Ogilvie, S. (2009). Concise encyclopaedia of languages of the world. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. Clark, B. (2009). Indian tribes of Oklahoma. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Dwyer, H. and Birchfield, D. (2013). Seminole history and culture. New York, NY: Gareth Stevens Pub. Minahan, J. (2013). Ethnic groups of the Americas. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. Read More