First, the straightforward answer: In the nineteenth century, were the Black Seminoles considered Indians or negroes?
In the nineteenth century, the Black Seminoles were considered negroes, since they were primarily descendants of free blacks and fugitive slaves. Under the prevailing customs of North America, they were considered negroes in the nineteenth century, African Americans today. This was (and is) an external definition of their ethnic identity, as opposed to the internal definition adopted by members of the community then or now. Some members of the Black Seminole community might have disputed this classification in the nineteenth century, and would now. This is often the case with external ethnic classifications. (See the answer to the next question for more on this.) Historically, though they were identified with Seminole Indians, the Black Seminoles formed a distinct community within the Seminole confederation. That they were not considered Native Americans was made plain during the First and Second Seminole Wars (1817-18, 1835-42), when American slaveholders sought to reduce the “Seminol
