They Also Died on the Trail - Africans in the Indian Removal

"A Negro Boy died on the 24th of November"

"A Negro Girl died on the 17th of December" 

National Archives Publication M234
Image accessed on Family Search Roll Number 144 Image #140

I always appreciate seeing what other researchers have to share. Recently I spoke with
Terry Ligon, whom many know as a researcher of Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen. He shared a document about the removal of Chickasaws to the west. This document comes from National Archives publication M234 which is a large collection of multiple records from multiple tribes. Among those many records are some that reflect the removal of Chickasaws, and Terry Ligon found one such document that illustrated that Chickasaws removed slaves with them during their removal to the west. This record in fact is one of the earliest records reflecting Chickasaw slave ownership. He shared that document on his blog The Black and Red Journal.

Upon looking at the record, it is almost easy not to see the words. But----there is the heading on the document, reflecting the numbers of slaves both male and female traveling with each Chickasaw slave holder.  And now, looking more closely at the notes--they stand out on the page. Two children whose name will never be known are mentioned on this emigration roll of Chickasaws. These two black children died on the Trail of tears and are mentioned on this page. There are many more pages at the National Archives reflecting the removal from Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole Nations as well and many of those pages also reflect the fact that slaves were also taken westward on the same trail. 

On this Chickasaw record, the familiar names are there---the  names of some of the major Chickasaw slave holders. These Chickasaws of wealth were those who even when relocating to the west--were not going to leave without their slaves who would travel with Thm, to provide free labor and live in bondage under them.  Names like Kemp, Colbert, Perry, Turnbull, Sheco, and others.

Terry Ligon mentioned in a conversation how there was a black child who died, traveling with Jackson Kemp. Many researchers know that the legacy of the Kemps is still one that is strong in Oklahoma today. But likewise, there are just as many descendants of former slaves held by Jackson Kemp, who still live in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and beyond. *

The Kemp held child was not the only one who perished. Further down on the same document was a young girl who also died. Her slave holder was Tom She Co. Today that surname is well known as Sheco and also Chico. Descendants of the Shecos live in places from Oklahoma to California today.

The significance of those document must be stated. As many people speak of the westward migration on the Trail of Tears, it is important that the stories of the enslaved are also told. 


Many who don't know the story will quickly claim that these tribes "took them in" and protected them. Even some from the nations themselves have attempted to change the narrative of their own history, to distance themselves from the horrors of chattel black chattel slavery. But the records tell the story and it is one that must be told to prevent apologists from erasing this chapter of history.

The slave census reflects the status of hundreds of people in bondage held in Indian Territory. This page shows  how Jackson Kemps holdings of people in bondage had increased from the time of removal till 1860.

National Archives Federal Census 1860 Slave Schedule, Tishomingo, Chickasaw Nation
 

But by studying records such as this---of two children who were freed only by death from the slavery they were destined to have---the deaths of these two children whose names are not known tell us so much more. There must be a commitment to tell the entire story. The commitment to tell the entire story avoids a lie of omission---because they and many others, also died on the trail.

* One of the more well known descendants of Kemp-held slaves is actor Don Cheadle, whose ancestor  is Mary Kemp, a Chickasaw Freedwoman, whose father was enslaved by Jackson Kemp mentioned on both documents shown above.