Er-r-r . . . Indigenous Americans

Footnote

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

Photo Above: “It’s in our DNA!” – stated 20-year old cowboy, Andre Jumper of the Florida Seminoles to a National Public Radio reporter. I think that is true . . . at least in certain indigenous tribes. We have a inborn love of cultivating plants and raising livestock. Certainly, it is true for our family. Most of my cousins and I have ended up living in rural, mountainous areas. Until temporarily trapped against my will in the Atlanta burbs, I raised herd dogs, dairy goats, sheep, pigs, geese and Scottish Longhorn cattle on a professional scale. Andre looks astonishing similar to how I looked at his age, after working long summer hours in the sun on construction sites or when I was studying archaeological zones all summer in Mexico. Well, I didn’t have quite as good a tan as he has. LOL We must be distant cousins. The Seminole branch of the Creeks originated in northern Georgia and western North Carolina.

A Linked-in message from Mexico

Engineer Rafael Gamez Guzman contacted me yesterday on Linked-In from Mexico to tell me, “Los primeros vaqueros no eran blancos mi amigo.” (The first cowboys were not Whites, my friend.”

I think that he was surprised that I both answered in Spanish and agreed with him. We had an interesting exchange of messages then he sent me this magnificent virtual reality program on Tenochtitlan . . . which is at the bottom of the article.

Raphael asked me what I remembered most about Mexico. I told him that is was the warm hospitality of its people and the three beautiful, intelligent young women, who came into my heart on my four trips there.

Yes, the first cowboys were mixed blood Native Americans in northern Florida. They were the sons of Spanish fathers and Native mothers, who really did not fit into either world as it was . . . so created a new world, based on animal husbandry. The Creeks in Georgia and Alabama quickly got into raising hogs and cattle on a large scale and soon thereafter developed reputations as master horsemen . . . cowboys.

Those Creeks, who moved to Florida, were called Seminoles. The escaped Africans, who were given refuge by the Creeks and Seminoles were called Black Seminoles. Those Creeks, Seminoles and Black Seminoles, who were forced to relocate to Oklahoma, were already skilled cowboys, when they arrived on the Western Plains.

Here is a drawing I did in Mexico of a deaf and dumb Indigenous herdsman (cowboy), who I befriended on top of 10,000 feet Cerro Gordo Mountain, overlooking Teotihuacan. He didn’t want me to point my camera at him, but didn’t mind sitting on a boulder for me to sketch him. He was herding horned cattle and goats. Notice that he is holding a “herding cane” just like what was used by the first cowboys in Florida.

https://tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl