M I S S I O N
The Mission of the Florida Black Historical Research Project Inc. is to research, collect, and disseminate knowledge of significant contributions Blacks have made in the State of Florida.
Let’s Celebrate Florida History!
Join us in Jupiter, Florida, for the 187th
Anniversary Annual Seminole Maroon Remembrance
SATURDAY: West Jupiter Community Recreation Center
6401 W. Indiantown Road
Date/Time: Saturday, January 18, 2025, at 3:00 pm
SUNDAY: Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park
9060 W. Indiantown Road
Date/Time: Sunday, January 19, 2025, at 10:00 am
(Saturday’s lectures begin two days of events honoring Seminole Maroon history in Florida. See details about the weekend’s activities!)
DR. MLK JR. HOLIDAY WEEKEND EVENTS
REMEMBER ‘NEGRO FORT,’
HONOR SEMINOLE MAROON AMERICAN HERITAGE
The saga of the post-War of 1812 “Negro Fort” at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle (not to be confused with the older, more famous Fort Mose near St. Augustine) will be the special focus of the 2025 Annual Seminole Maroon Spiritual Commemoration of the Loxahatchee Battlefield with two events, January 18 and 19, presented by the nonprofit Florida Black Historical Research Project during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
Free Black Settlements Destroyed
The devastating destruction of the free Black settlement at the fort in 1816 would have repercussions for decades to come throughout the Florida peninsula and reaching as far as the Bahamas, Trinidad, and Cuba as it set the stage for the unrelenting decades-long war against Seminole peace, prosperity and freedom that would come to its turning point with the two “battles” of the Loxahatchee River in Palm Beach County in January, 1838.
Local Historic Sites
The two holiday-weekend events, featuring illuminating presentations on largely forgotten, yet decisive history, will take place at locations on West Indiantown Road in Jupiter, in the general Loxahatchee River and Limestone Creek areas of the established Seminole settlement to which Native and Maroon (African American) survivors of the Christmas Day, 1837 Battle of Okeechobee) had retreated.
Outstanding Historians Featured
On Saturday, January 18, at 3:00 p.m., Willard “Bill” Steele, former historian for the Seminole Tribe of Indians of Florida, who produced a 64-page study of the preliminary conditions and aftermath of the “Negro Fort’ for the National Park Service, will speak on “Florida’s Black Frontier,” focusing on Black settlements on the peninsula during the early 1800s, at West Jupiter Community and Recreation Center, 6401 W. Indiantown Road.
On Sunday, January 19, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park (in Riverbend Park), 9060 W. Indiantown Road, the Annual Spiritual Remembrance will feature author Dale Cox, discussing his book The Fort at Prospect Bluff, a detailed account of the origins, occupation, and destruction of “Negro Fort.”
Both presentations will feature overviews by Dr. Anthony Dixon, author of Florida’s Negro War, who will offer insights into the little-known history of “a fighting force of thousands, Red Stick Creeks, Seminoles, Miccosukee, other American Indians . . . and freedom-seeking maroons, gathered. . . to form the largest free Black settlement in North America” (from book cover of Cox’s study).
Annual Remembrance on January 19
Sunday’s event features traditional opening rituals, prayers, and ceremonies to honor the land and all of the fallen whose lives were sacrificed at the sacred battlefield site; also included will be insightful greetings from partnering organizations --Loxahatchee Battlefield Preservationists and Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department-- and two special musical presentations, amidst the historical and cultural exhibits on display.
Special Performances/ Cleansing Rituals
The Afro-Indigenous flautist known as “Fluteity” will honor Ancestors through her sacred Native American flute sounds, and the ever-popular Tallahassee-based Capital Battery Line of youths led by Brian Forbing will provide stirring drumming performances.
Admission to both weekend events is free and open to the public. For further information, please call 305-772-7714 or visit the FBHRP website at www.fbhrpinc.org
NOTE: These weekend events also contribute significantly to the Remembrance of the life, teachings, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and, notably, launch the observance of the centennial year of the birth of his contemporary human rights leader Malcolm X, which, tragically, is also the 60th anniversary year of his assassination; both leaders were murdered at age 39.
The story of the "Negro Fort" is the focus of our January event.
Did You Know?
• Africans were in the Americas centuries before Columbus and the “slave trade,” as shown by the research of scholars like Ivan van Sertima and Leo Weiner. Some evidence suggests an early African presence in Florida.
• Africans accompanied the first Spanish explorers and settlers of Florida, nearly a full century before the English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia.
• While the Southern colonies, and later Southern states of the U.S., were dominated by plantation slavery, Florida was Spanish territory and “Freedom Land” for Africans escaping enslavement and Native peoples escaping settler encroachment on their traditional lands.
• Pirates were known for exercising “complete integration and complete democracy.” Among the most legendary of pirates was Black Caesar, who operated in South Florida waters.
• The first invasion of a foreign country by the U.S. began with the incursions into Florida which became known as the Seminole wars.
• Both the words “Seminoles” and “Maroons” are derived from the Spanish word “cimarrones,” which was used for livestock which escaped into the wild. “Cimarrones” became “Siminoli” in the Creek Indian language, and then “Seminole” in English.
• “The Seminoles were a people, not a tribe,” consisting of numerous Native groups and Africans. Black Seminoles were especially valuable to the alliance as interpreters, since they knew both European and Native languages.
• The Seminole Wars were the costliest in U.S. history, in both money and bloodshed, until the Vietnam War.
• The main goal of the Seminole Wars was not only to “fight Indians” and to displace them west of the Mississippi River on the Trail of Tears, but equally importantly to "recapture the 'property' " of Southern slave owners and prevent further escapes of enslaved people.
• One of the most important sites of the Second Seminole War was the 1838 Loxahatchee River Battlefield in northern Palm Beach County, Florida, where Black and Native Seminoles, outnumbered and outgunned, fought bravely for their freedom, until they were captured by U.S. forces, dishonorably, under a flag of truce, and marched on the Trail of Tears to Tampa, shipped to Louisiana and east Texas, and marched to Oklahoma.
Dear Lovers of History and Culture:
This comes to request your support of Florida Black Historical Research Project, Inc.'s [ FBHRP ] new initiative, "Speaking Memory, Archives, and Artifacts."
This project was selected for promotion in a fundraising effort to support Black Non-profit organizations, Give 8/28, organized by Mighty Cause.
Financial Contributions--small, very small, tiny, really miniscule! none and large, very large, gigantic!--are appreciated .
Important also is your sharing this message with someone who you feel would support this effort.
We appreciate your support, your presence at our events, your financial contributions and your publicity. Every gesture is important. All support is welcome and valued.
On behalf of the Board of FBHRP, I thank you.
Sincerely,
Wallis Tinnie
Board Member
Florida Black Historical Research Project, Inc
REGISTRATION No. CH28088
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Website Photo Header Credit: Original photography and montage by Stephen Marc, depicting an Annual Spiritual Remembrance of the Loxahatchee Battlefield in Jupiter, Florida, a turning point in the "Seminole Wars." Prominently shown are the late Isa Hamm Bryant, founder of the FBHRP (in Seminole shirt), and Carib Tribal Queen Mrs. Catherine Hummingbird Ramirez, who has regularly performed the Opening Blessing and Prayer on these occasions.