#Black Indian

[earthseed]

on losing elders

Whale Rider (2002), dir. Niki Caro // Crying In H Mart (2021), Michelle Zauner // Daughters of the Dust (1991), dir. Julie Dash // Muttererde (2018), dir. Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor // The Burial of Kojo (2018), dir. Blitz Bazawule // Crying In H Mart (2021), Michelle Zauner // The Farewell (2019), dir. Lulu Wang // Black Indian (2019), Shonda Buchanan // Bandits (1997), dir. Katja von Garnier

[hodutemple]

Florida’s Afro-Indigenous Connections to Cuba

Florida’s history is deeply interwoven with the legacies of Afro-Indigenous communities, particularly the Muscogee, Seminole, and maroon societies, as well as their enduring connections with Cuba. This narrative explores how these cultures intersected through shared struggles for freedom, cultural exchange, and significant historical events.

Muscogee Warriors and Cuban Imprisonment: A Key Connection

One of the pivotal elements in this Afro-Indigenous narrative is the story of Muscogee warriors imprisoned in Cuba. In 1792, Muscogee warrior Estejoca led an attack on a Spanish store at San Marcos de Apalache in Florida. Captured by the Spanish, Estejoca was imprisoned in Cuba, Madrid, and even Manila in an attempt to remove him from his influence in Florida. However, his story does not end there. Estejoca made a daring escape while en route to Spain and found his way back to Florida, after stops in England and Nassau. This episode is significant as it demonstrates the longstanding interaction between the Muscogee and Spanish colonial powers, including Cuba.

Additionally, Indigenous people from the continental Southeast, including the Muscogee Creek peoples, continued to travel to Havana after Spain relinquished control of the region. This travel, whether for trade, political alliances, or cultural exchanges, further deepened the Afro-Indigenous connections between Florida and Cuba.

The Muskogee and Seminole Spiritual Legacy

The Muscogee language and spiritual practices have left a lasting imprint, particularly in Afro-Cuban religious traditions. The Muscogee words Polleta (meaning “conjuration”) and Polla (meaning “conjurer”) offer insight into how Afro-Cuban terms like Palo and Palero might not have originated in Spanish but instead may have traveled through Muscogee and Cuban cultural exchanges. This linguistic thread suggests that the interactions between Indigenous and Afro-Cuban communities contributed to the development of spiritual practices on both sides of the Gulf.

The Seminole people, who are closely related with the Muscogee, held the kapok tree sacred, similar to the Iroko. The reverence for this tree is mirrored in African traditions, where the Iroko tree is seen as a spiritual symbol. This points to a cross-cultural resonance between Seminole beliefs and those of Afro-Cuban practitioners, further deepening the link between Florida’s Indigenous populations and Cuban spiritual traditions.

The Story of Angola: A Community of Resistance

One of the most significant historical sites that highlight Afro-Indigenous connections is the maroon community of Angola. Located near the Manatee River in early 19th-century Florida, Angola became a refuge for up to 750 escaped enslaved Africans and Black Seminoles who fled from enslavement and persecution. Following the War of 1812, when the British left their garrison at Prospect Bluff, many maroons, including those from Angola, found sanctuary.

Angola stands out for its size and organization. Most maroon communities were small and mobile to avoid detection, but Angola’s population thrived, with up to 750 individuals farming, trading, and building a life of self-sufficiency. The settlement maintained close trade ties with Cuban fishermen and regularly exchanged goods such as deer hides and bird plumage for other supplies, illustrating the fluid cultural and economic exchanges between Florida and Cuba.

Cultural Exchange and Economic Ties

Angola’s connection with Cuba is further evidenced by the linguistic and cultural exchanges between maroons and Cuban traders. Names like Congo and Mayambe, which appeared among Florida’s maroon communities, are testaments to the African and Caribbean cultural influences present in Florida. Mayimbe, a term used by the Taino people to denote a high-ranking official or chief, was also used by some maroon leaders. This term’s use within maroon societies underscores the Afro-Indigenous fusion of leadership, language, and spiritual practices.

Angola’s residents were not only resourceful farmers and hunters, but also adept traders, often traveling in large dugout canoes to Cuba, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. These voyages, sometimes for bartering goods, also served political purposes. The Black Seminoles sought to negotiate their status under the 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty, which ceded Spanish Florida to the U.S. and promised rights to its inhabitants.

The Tragic Fall of Angola

Despite its success, Angola eventually caught the attention of American authorities. In 1821, General Andrew Jackson ordered an attack on the settlement. His Creek allies razed Angola, forcing its inhabitants to scatter across the Florida peninsula. Many of the maroons and Black Seminoles were captured or killed, but some found refuge further south, traveling to Cape Florida, where Bahamian fishermen aided their escape to Andros Island in the Bahamas. Here, they lived as free British subjects.

Broader Historical Context: Afro-Indigenous Resistance and Survival

The fall of Angola reflects a broader historical pattern of Afro-Indigenous resistance in the Americas. Throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries, maroon communities fought against the encroachment of European settlers and enslavers. The Afro-Indigenous populations of Florida, including notable leaders like Congo Tom and Carlos Mayamba, played crucial roles in these struggles. These leaders exemplified the fusion of African and Indigenous identities, leading their communities with wisdom and resilience.

These maroons and Black Seminoles navigated complex political landscapes, often seeking alliances with both Spanish and British colonial authorities. Their interactions with these powers underscore how interconnected Florida’s Afro-Indigenous people were with the wider Caribbean.

Modern-Day Connections and Cultural Legacy

Today, the legacy of Florida’s Afro-Indigenous connections to Cuba continues to resonate. The annual Back to Angola Festival, inaugurated in 2018, brings descendants of the Angolan maroons — many of whom live in the Bahamas — back to the Manatee Mineral Spring site in Florida. This festival celebrates the resilience of the maroons, the Black Seminoles, and their shared history of resistance.

The importance of honoring these cultural ties cannot be overstated. Modern scholars have also begun to uncover more about the shared histories between Florida’s Afro-Indigenous populations and Cuba, helping us appreciate the full scope of these cultural exchanges. The linguistic, spiritual, and political connections forged between maroons, Indigenous people, and Afro-Cubans highlight a transnational narrative of survival, adaptation, and cultural fusion.

Conclusion: Honoring a Shared Legacy of Resistance

The Afro-Indigenous connections between Florida and Cuba offer a rich and complex narrative of resistance, cultural exchange, and survival. From the Muscogee warriors imprisoned in Cuba to the maroon societies that thrived through their trade and political interactions with Cuban fishermen, the stories of these communities remind us of their agency and resilience.

As we continue to explore this interconnected history, we are reminded that these narratives form an essential part of the African diaspora and Indigenous heritage in the Americas. By preserving and celebrating these stories, we ensure that future generations understand the enduring spirit of those who fought for freedom and the deep cultural ties that shaped the history of both Florida and Cuba.

[i-love-sufjan-stevens]

Vintage Photos of Queer Couples of Color

[the-original-gays]

Regulus: I got 1% Indian on an ancestry DNA test.

Barty: 1% Indian? How could that have happened with your family?

Regulus: Well, it was a mouth swab test.

[blackfilmmakers]

Why did I already see two posts talking about how weird it is that Pavitr and Hobie are besties despite Pavitr’s clear resentment towards the British?

Like what parallels do you people even conjure up between White monarch colonizers stealing Indian possessions vs a Black anarchist punk?

Y’all just stay calling Black people colonizers for no reason

[theflytrap]

[lionofchaeronea]

Photographic half-length portrait of a Native American (Dakota) man named Sun Flower, taken by a photographer for Heyn Photo in 1899. Now in the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

[girlsthickai]

Gigantic ass 💕💫

Unlock the gates to Patreon and indulge in an irresistible world of exclusive, seductive content, curated solely for your pleasure. 🔥 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GirlsThickAI Thanks for the support! ❤️✨

[dadodo]

costumes for various villainesses, demonesses and other supernatural creatures in Journey to the West (1986)

costume design by Wang Yunqi

[littlecinnamonsworld]

🖤

[writingwithcolor]

Desi Parenthood, Adoption, and Stereotypes

I have a story set in the modern day with supernatural traces, with three characters: a young boy, his bio dad, and his adoptive dad. The boy and his bio dad are Indian, the adoptive dad is Chinese. The bio dad is one of the few people in the story with powers. He put his son up for adoption when he was a child because at the time he was a young single father, had little control of the strength of his powers: he feared accidentally hurting his child. The son is adopted by the other dad, who holds spite to the bio dad for giving up his son since he lost his father as a young age and couldn't get why someone would willingly abandon their child. This also results in him being overprotective and strict over his son. When the child is older, the bio dad comes to their town and the son gets closer to him, which makes the adoptive dad pissed, mostly acting hostile to the other guy, paranoid that he'll decide to take away the child he didn't help raise. Later when they get closer he does change his biases. I can see the possible stereotypes here: the absent father being the darkskinned character, the light-skinned adoptive dad being richer than the bio dad, the lightskinned character being hostile and looking down on the darkskinned character, the overprotective asian parent, the adoptive dad assuming the bio dad abandoned the son. The reason for his bias isn't inherently racist, but I get how it can be seen that way. Is there a way to make this work? Would it be better to scrap it?

Two problem areas stand out with this ask: 

You seem confused with respect to how racial stereotypes are created, and what effect they have on society.

Your characterization of the Indian father suggests a lack of familiarity with many desi cultures as they pertain to family and child-rearing.

Racial Stereotypes are Specific

Your concern seems to stem from believing the absent father trope is applied to all dark-skinned individuals, when it’s really only applied to a subset of dark-skinned people for specific historical/ social/ political reasons. The reality is stereotypes are often targeted.

The “absent father” stereotype is often applied to Black fathers, particularly in countries where chattel slavery or colonialism meant that many Black fathers were separated from their children, often by force. The "absent black father" trope today serves to enforce anti-black notions of Black men as anti-social, neglectful of their responsibilities, not nurturing, etc. Please see the WWC tag #absent black father for further reading. 

Now, it’s true many desis have dark skin. There are also Black desis. I would go as far as to say despite anti-black bias and colorism in many desi cultures, if one was asked to tell many non-Black desis from places like S. India and Sri Lanka apart from Black people from places like E. Africa, the rate of failure would be quite high. However, negative stereotypes for desi fathers are not the same as negative stereotypes for non-desi Black fathers, because racially, most Black people and desis are often not perceived as being part of the same racial group by other racial groups, particularly white majorities in Western countries. Negative stereotypes for desi fathers are often things like: uncaring, socially regressive/ conservative, sexist. They are more focused around narratives that portray these men as at odds with Western culture and Western norms of parenting. 

Desi Parents are Not this Way

Secondly, the setup makes little sense given how actual desi families tend to operate when one or both parents are unable to be present for whatever reason. Children are often sent to be raised by grandparents, available relatives or boarding schools (Family resources permitting). Having children be raised by an outsider is a move of last resort. You make no mention of why your protagonist’s father didn’t choose such an option. The trope of many desi family networks being incredibly large is not unfounded. Why was extended family not an option?

These two points trouble me because you have told us you are writing a story involving relationship dynamics between characters of both different races and ethnicities. I’m worried you don’t know enough about the groups you are writing about, how they are perceived by each other and society at large in order to tell the story you want to tell.

As with many instances of writing with color, your problem is not an issue of scrap versus don’t scrap. It’s being cognizant of the current limits of your knowledge. How you address this knowledge deficit and its effect on your interpretation of your characters and the story overall will determine if readers from the portrayed groups find the story compelling.

- Marika.

I have one response: what? Where are the father’s parents? Any siblings? Is he cut off? Is he American? A Desi that has stayed in India? 

Estrangement is not completely out of the question if the father is Westernized; goodness knows that I have personal experience with seeing estrangement. But you haven’t established any of that. What will you add?

-Jaya

[causereyna-artie]

Just incase you're having a bad day, I want you to know that in some universe Fleamont Potter is probably throwing it back Desi drunk dad style at a jegulus wedding

[siriusblack-the-third]

Ok but we all agree that James Fucking Potter has the longest, thickest, prettiest damn eyelashes on this earth right?? Cause he does. The prettiest.

He removed his glasses once in the Great Hall during lunch and the Hogwarts students haven't gotten over it since then. They're envious. They're jealous. They're mad. Mascara and eyelash curler have nothing on his lashes. They're attracted to him.

(Sirius is in pain. James already has the largest brown doe eyes, and then he has the prettiest eyelashes too?? People keep asking him why he always goes along with whatever James says like- have you not seen that boy bat his eyelashes and say "pretty please with a cherry on top pleaseeee"?? He's a menace. A threat to society. A manipulator. Sirius loves him.)

(James loves Sirius back.)

(He may also be doing the eyelash thing on purpose.)

[chasingthestarss]

Regulus Headcanon:

He knows a bunch of languages, it was something he was interested in and he actually learned them unlike Sirius. Pandora is Greek and sometimes she will ramble in Greek and Regulus matches her. Remus speaks Dutch and more often then not uses it for cursing but Regulus call him out every time. Lily learned German and gets really frustrated when Regulus knows it too. Hogwarts may have people from all over but generally Regulus can understand basically anyone it’s his biggest flex.

But he doesn’t know Hindi and of course that is the language James speaks. And Regulus doesn’t understand him. It drives him crazy. But James loves speaking Hindi to Regulus because he knows that Regulus doesn’t understand him.

[aahanna]

"Desi vintage art of living is a stunning tapestry of timeless elegance, traditional Indian charm, and classic sophistication, woven together with love, nostalgia, and a deep connection to heritage, creating a truly unique and beautiful way of living."