Changing Situation: A Long History Is Confronted

Sign Posted Outside the Big Cypress Reservation in the 1950s that Reads "Welcome to Big Cypress U.S. Indian Reservation. Positively No Hunting, Fishing, Trespassing. Seminole Indian Tribe. US Bureau of Indian Affairs. Sheriff of Hendry County."  Courtesy of Florida Memory.

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Seminole Tribal Members Meeting with Governor LeRoy Collins in Tallahassee, 1957.  Courtesy of Florida Memory.

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By the mid-1950s, as the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes began the process of redefining their political relationships with the United States, federal and Florida officials were coming to terms with the Indians’ self-governance.  To deny Native Americans a measure of sovereignty would have been inconsistent with a national agenda that promoted decolonization around the world.  American journalists, social advocacy groups, and members of the general public weighed in, mostly in support of more Florida Indian autonomy.

While acknowledging that the Florida Indians had made progress in reorganization and had taken on more administrative responsibilities––particularly the reservation Indians––many U.S. officials felt that the Native Floridians were still quite inexperienced in running western styles of government.  In reality, with the drastically reshaped political atmosphere in South Florida, the two fledgling Indian governmental bodies did wish to continue working with white political figures for assistance with the administration of their programs and the protection of their land claims.