Browse Items (44 total)

When the Miccosukee Tribe was finally able to secure an official reservation along the Tamiami Trail in the early 1980s, it served as a confirmation of their existence as a separate tribe and political entity, validating their long struggle to gain…

Out of three diverse communities, the original Seminole reservations—Big Cypress, Brighton, and Dania--would politically unify in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. From barely avoiding the termination of their federal supervision, the Seminoles…

Ingraham Billie, a Miccosukee medicine man, opposed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. His and other leaders’ resistance spanned over two decades from the enactment of the law through the campaign to ratify a Miccosukee tribal constitution in…

This image is representative of new trends that sometimes conflicted with longstanding traditions on the Seminole reservations. The juxtaposition of the Baptist Church––a relatively recent phenomenon among the Florida Indians––with the Seminole…

As Seminoles gradually relocated onto the reservations, chickees--dwellings made of cypress logs and palmetto fronds--became a common sight on the grounds. The presence of chickees allowed Florida Indians on reservations to maintain aspects of their…

This image documents the increasing contact between ranking individuals of the South Florida Indians and prominent state officials. While this hunting party undoubtedly came to the Everglades for recreational purposes, this contact also had…

This photograph was taken at the time of the formal Everglades National Park dedication. Admiral Leahy is to the right of the President and U.S. Senator Spessard Holland is behind the President and the Admiral.

Toward the middle of the 1900s, the…

For several decades after the reestablishment of contact with the U.S., Florida Indian subsistence was still tied to hunting and fishing. Although they traded for American goods, which they considered luxuries, this self-sufficiency gave them a…

In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge commemorated the signing of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 with members of the Osage Tribe outside of the White House. The law granted citizenship to all Indians in the United States, encouraging Native American…

In this image, President Nixon is signing the Blue Lake Bill, HR 417, which would return traditional Native American lands to the Taos Pueblo Indians. This and other laws worked to reestablish Native peoples’ control over their traditional…