With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Florida Tribe Re-Creates Daring Escape From The Trail Of Tears

This week, a group of Seminole Indians in Florida is commemorating an important historical event — when a Seminole named Polly Parker organized and led an escape from federal troops more than 150 years ago.

It came at a time when Indians were being deported to the West in what became known as the Trail of Tears. Florida's Seminoles call themselves the "unconquered people" because, through three wars with federal troops, they resisted deportation to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.

In 1858, at the end of the third Seminole War, Parker was one of a group of Indians held at a federal stockade on Egmont Key, an island in the middle of Tampa Bay.

On Sunday, a small group of Seminoles began a re-creation of Parker's journey. They went first to Egmont Key, where there's a lighthouse and Indian graves — a legacy of the years Seminoles were held there....

Read entire article at National Public Radio