Hello all, and Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! Today I am celebrating that holiday as a counter-celebration of Columbus Day by presenting some beautiful Miccosukee patchwork I saw at a recent fashion show on their reserve. Before that, however, I just want to talk about the importance of celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day in place of Columbus Day.
The story of Columbus as taught to us at schools from a very young age is filled with lies and inaccuracies presented from the Eurocentric point of view that still dominates our culture. As children, we are taught that Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 to prove the world was round by reaching Asia through a Western route, and instead accidentally discovered a new land for Spain. We are told that this begun the exploration of the New World and fostered the Columbian Exchange that brought so much progress and positive cross-cultural exchange.
How can we present Columbus as the discoverer of the "New World" when there were plenty of peoples already inhabiting the Americas? These peoples included the Arawaks, who came out to greet the newcomers who would later enslave them. Even saying he was the first European to do so is inaccurate, but I won't go into that. The fact is that saying he discovered the Americas dismisses the thousands of years of settlement and progress that the Native Americans independently accomplished. They had their own cultures, civilizations, complex languages, and often more egalitarian societies.
Celebrating Columbus Day is worse than just celebrating a historical inaccuracy, however. Celebrating Columbus Day is celebrating the memory of mass genocide. Columbus and his men enslaved and captured natives on Hispaniola (modern day Cuba) and Haiti, who were forced to collect gold for the Spaniards. If they did not meet their quotas, their hands were cut off. Many committed suicide, and those who tried to run away were often killed. Half of the native population died within two years. When the Spaniards realized there was no gold left, even though there was not much to begin with, the natives were forced to work on encomiendas, where they were worked to death. As a result of this system, the Arawak population was completely wiped out by 1650.
We cannot continue to celebrate a day in honor of a man who helped annihilate a whole people, something which is continuously glossed over if not outright ignored in textbooks. Instead, we should use the day as a positive celebration of the people who have endured centuries of genocide, dehumanization, dislocation, and oppression, and who are even now fighting to overcome the lasting effects of it all. Indigenous Peoples' Day should be celebrated in order to help Americans understand not only what many of our ancestors did to the original Americans, but also how Native American cultures have survived and evolved. We cannot overlook their heritage, as it is a story of not just survival but genuine strength.
To celebrate I wanted to show some examples of Miccosukee patchwork I was lucky enough to see at the fashion show the tribe put on as a celebration of Native Americans' Day, which is celebrated by some Native American tribes on the fourth Friday of September. Patchwork is a contemporary art form of both the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes which evolved from earlier traditional forms of dress as well as the availability of new materials. Before showing you all the examples of this beautiful artistic tradition, I think it is important to briefly go over some of the incredibly interesting history of the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes.
The Miccosukee were part of the Seminole Tribe until 1962, when the two split over minor cultural and mostly political differences. They have a shared origin however, which emerged from the Muskogean People, the Creek Nation, and remnant bands of tribes native to Florida who had not accepted Spanish authority. The rather mixed group also consisted of runaway slaves which often assimilated into their culture. In fact, when the U.S. fought the Seminole Wars, part of the reason was to attempt to recapture former slaves among the population.
The Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes consider themselves unconquered, and rightly so, as they successfully resisted the U.S. government and moved south into the swamps of Florida. There they hid from the U.S. military, who had a very hard time fighting them during the Seminole Wars. In total, there were three Seminole Wars between 1816 to 1858. These wars forced the Seminoles deeper and deeper into the Everglades in order to avoid being moved. In the end, the Seminoles managed to make the US government give up on trying to force their surrender, and no peace treaty was ever signed.
The draining of the Everglades in the early twentieth century greatly threatened the Seminoles' way of life, as they had continued to hide out in swamps. In 1938, the US government, seeing this, set aside 80,000 acres of land for them to move onto in the form of three different reservations. While some did move onto these reserves, others were still justifiably distrustful of the government who had fought to remove them from their territory less than one hundred years earlier.
In 1957, after forming their own constitution and government, the Seminole Tribe gained federal recognition. In 1962, the Miccosukee Tribe gained federal recognition as a separate tribe. Today both tribes seek to modernize and look toward the future while still preserving their cultural identity and traditions. One very famous artistic tradition they share is patchwork.
Seminole and Miccosukee patchwork came about sometime between 1900 and 1920 after Seminole women, who traditionally were in charge of creating clothing, were introduced to hand-cranked sewing machines. This new technology and the greater availability of cloth led the Seminole women to experiment with new techniques, leading to the development of their now famous patchwork.
. The women competed to create more and more complex patterns of patchwork on their clothing. The more elaborate and complex the patchwork was, the more it was admired.
And now, without further ado, here are some of the more traditional patchwork designs I saw at the Miccosukee Casino's fashion show in honor of Native American Day:
These examples are not entirely traditional, as is a bit obvious in the neon colors of one of the skirts. The women usually wore long rather flowing skirts with long sleeves and a cape that usually only came to her shoulders. The blouse traditionally only really covered a bit more than their breasts, so here both the capes and blouses have been lengthened, just as they were over time as Seminole women assimilated to more European senses of decency. Men traditionally wore long shirts rather than pants.
Over time, the forms and styles of Seminole clothing began to be influenced by the general culture as they began to be more interact with people outside their reservations and camps more and more. That influence can be seen in the following examples:
In these pictures you can see the form of the "Eisenhower jacket" which became popular after World War II. These jackets took their design from those made for the US Army late in World War II, which some Seminoles fought in. The influence of more "American" forms of clothing can also be seen in the button-down, short sleeve shirt, which looks almost like a Cuban guayabera with its two strips of patchwork. Since the Miccosukee tribe's reservations are located in Miami, where there is a large Cuban population, this inspiration is quite probable.
The fashion show got even more modern after these examples, incorporating patchwork into outfits in very beautiful and clever ways.
These examples were so beautiful and the patchwork sometimes so subtly included in ways that really added to the clothing. I thought it was really clever how in the last picture the patchwork elements have been used to evoke the currently fashionable trend of studs. Personally, the little girl in the Cinderella-esque dress was my favorite, not only because it was a reference to Disney, which I love, but also because she seemed to be one of the most excited to be part of the show that was presenting the patchwork tradition of her people, happily twirling around in her beautiful dress
The final model on the catwalk was a man dressed as a chiefly figure. This was a really nice way to wrap up the fashion show in a way that evoked the power, influence, and strength of the Miccosukee Tribe today, which has grown in so many ways.
After the chief-like figure, all the models came back out and walked across the stage once more, and you could see the progression of clothing from traditional to more modern patchwork that was still very much Miccosukee. It was incredible seeing their tradition and culture almost seamlessly inserted into modern forms.
I think the most amazing thing about this show, however, was not even the incredibly well crafted patchwork and fashion and the patchwork, but getting to see the pride evident on the faces of the models as they walked down the catwalk representing their culture.
I would apologize for writing so much on this subject, but honestly I think it's an important topic to write about, even on my very small platform. As a Spaniard by blood, this means acknowledging and accepting my own ancestors' roles in the destruction of Native American peoples and culture. As a student of Florida State University and therefore a '"Nole," this means feeling obligated to be informed about the tribe's history and its relationship with Florida State University, which is still attended by a largely white population that dominates our society as a whole. As a human, I feel the need to learn about how to avoid previous atrocities and celebrate the cultural aspects which make us unique as well as those that unite us together, so that we can live in a world in which all cultures are celebrated and appreciated.
I hope you have learned something new or at least enjoyed the beautiful Miccosukee patchwork, and I encourage you to learn more about any Native American groups in your area, because they are both relevant and important to our society today. I also encourage you to look into the truth about Columbus and the history of treatment of Native Americans, as well as their position in our country today. Even now, many Native American groups tribes have yet to gain national recognition.
If you want to learn more about any of these topics, the following are a few websites, books, and articles that I recommend.
About the reality of Christopher Columbus and Indigenous Peoples' Day:
- The first chapter of A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn, which you can find here, although I very much recommend the whole book.
- This very blunt video about Christopher Columbus' actions by the Big Picture RT, hosted by Thom Hartmann
- This NPR article that talks about Seattle changing its celebration of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day as well as discussing protests and demonstrations against the day in the US as well as in Central and South America.
- This background on the different days that celebrate Native Americans, including a list of the areas that celebrate them and the dates that they do, found here
- The resolution that Seattle passed replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day
- This very lengthy article on the scientific evidence of flora and fauna that provide evidence for pre-Columbian contact
- Also Chapter 7 of A People's History of the United States, that deals with all the broken promises the US has made to Native Americans and the extreme pressures put on them to continue to relocate. This chapter has a lot specifically about the Seminole resistance.
About Seminole and Miccosukee history:
- To learn about the Miccosukee Tribe's history and what they are like today in their own words, click through here
- This link for a timeline of Seminole history up to the end of the 20th century
- This article written by a contemporary Muskogean scholar on the origins of the Seminole and Miccosukee Peoples
- To visit the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole museum on their Big Cypress Reservation, click this link to their website
- To visit the Miccosukee Indian Village and Museum, click this link to their website
- This Washington Post article on the Seminole Tribe's unique relationship with Florida State University
- This more critical article on the relationship between the Seminole Tribe and FSU that brings up many important points
About Seminole and Miccosukee traditional dress and patchwork:
- This video from the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum explaining some of the history of Seminole patchwork using examples from their collection
- This history of Seminole traditional dress and the development of patchwork, with a diagram on the side on the meanings of a few patchwork designs
- This explanation of certain Seminole patchwork designs from the Oklahoma Seminoles
- This essay mostly on the modern production of Seminole patchwork, specifically looking at one artist that makes patchwork on the Hollywood Reservation
- If you want to read a book on the subject, The Complete Book of Seminole Patchwork: From Traditional Methods to Contemporary Uses, by Beverly Rush, which can be found on Amazon here
