October 1, 1953
- Written
directions from Ingraham Billie, Head Medicine
Man of the "General Council of
the Seminole Indians of the
State of Florida" in a notarized
letter of instructions to Morton
H. Silver, re-affirming the
eternal position of "no
money, only land," and
stated instructions to fight the
"money claim," filed in the name
of ALL Seminoles of Florida,
without the authority of the
General Council, and
acknowledgement of Morton's
advise as to the inadvisability
of taking such action,
translated and interpreted by
Buffalo Tiger.
October 1, 1953
- letter to Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, Secretary of
Interior, Washington D.C. from
Morton H. Silver. Same
letter sent to U.S. Attorney General,
registered mail, return receipt,
c/o Mr. J. Edward Williams.
November
6, 1953
-
Letter from
US
Assistant Attorney General
to Legal Counsel, Congressional
Record, p. 231-232,
UNITED STATES SELECT COMMITTEE
ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
Senate Hearing 95th Congress,
SECOND SESSION,
ON S. 2000
February 9, 1954, par.8, - "We
Want No Money"-
Written Buckskin Declaration to
the White House, prepared by
Morton H. Silver pursuant to the
wishes and instructions of the
General Council, translated,
interpreted and witnessed by
Buffalo Tiger.
July 3, 1955 -
Agreement
between Morton H. Silver and the
Seminole Nation, sometimes known
as the Miccosukee Seminole
Nation, p.1, par.5.
"Whereas the Seminoles have
maintained and still maintain
that they want
their lands rather than money
in payment therefore but realize
that not all of their rightful
lands can be guaranteed to them
as a practical matter;"
(emphasis supplied)
Signed by Buffalo Tiger and
witnessed by 16 signatures of
the General Council.
(stay tuned for photos of the
General Council signing the
above mentioned July 3, 1955
agreement)
March 7, 1956 -
NEW YORK WORLD-TELEGRAM
AND SUN,
Squeeze-Play
Perils Seminoles
"The Seminoles,"
Mr. Miller, a native Floridian,
went on, "do not want cash in
settlement of their rightful
land claims. Their General
Council fired a few earlier
attorneys because they tried to
persuade them to accept money."
(Above
quote by George John Miller,
Co-Counsel of Miccosukee
Seminole Nation, Constitutional
Law Professor of the University
of Florida, Rhodes Scholar and
former WWII officer in the Naval
O.S.S.)
March 25, 1956, Miami Sunday
News, p.14A, by Jane Wood.
Indians
Counter Land Settlement
col. 2, par.8
"Emmons stressed the fact
that a land settlement would not
affect the suit for
$350,000,000, including
interest, now being brought by
all the Seminole tribes of
Florida before the Indian Claims
Commission. Though the
Miccosukees of the Everglades
never wanted money, only land.
They will share in any money
coming from that suit.
Indications of the negotiations
were that the tribesman may end
up with some dollars they didn't
ask for as well as a lot of
saw-grass swamp."
(emphasis supplied)
November 25, 1956
-
Miami Sunday News, p.12A,
by Jane Wood.
Land Grant Spokesman Held 'Bad
Medicine' Seminoles On War
Path For Advisor's Scalp.
col.4, par.3
"Buffalo [Tiger] pointed out
that Denton also has said
Indians on the reservation don't
want cash. The Seminole
spokesman says he knows the
reservation Indians do want
cash. They are sueing the
U.S. for $350,000,000."
January 3,
1957 - The Miami
Herald p.2A. Miccosukees Say 'No to Paleface
Money, by Lawrence
Thompson.
col.1, par.1
"The medicine men of the
Miccosukee branch of Seminole
Indians made it clear Wednesday
that they will not give up their
way of life and traditions for
$188,000 or any other amount of
money."
col.2, par.1
"They had come to The Herald to
discuss their feelings about
being assimilated into the ways
of the reservation Seminoles."
"Specifically,
they were there to say they were
not interested in money which is
available to the entire tribe if
the Miccosukees would join the
reservation groups in a common
organization."
February 24,
1957 -
The Miami Sunday
News, p.6A Expert
Coming To Hear Seminoles' Land
Claims, by Jane
Wood.
col.1, par.4
2 Factions
Rose Problem
"Basis of the difficulties is
the existence of two factions
among the Indians: The
reservation, "money-wanting"
group, and the non-reservation,
Everglades, "land-seeking"
group."
col.2, par.1
"Reservation Indians,
represented by attorney Roger
Waybright of Jacksonville, are
suing the U.S. for $50,000,000
plus interest under the 1946
Indian Claims Act. The
total may amount to $350,000,000
of taxpayers' money if the suit
is successful."
col.2, par2
"Miami Attorney Morton Silver
represents the Everglades
Indians, who are seeking land
rights and have asked that this
question be settled before the
money claim is taken up."
September 17,
1957 - Miami Herald p.12A, by
Dan Brown - Glades Indians
Split on Accepting White Man's
Ways
col.6, par.8
"The Indians are meeting at the
mission tonight and express
their regret that you could not
meet with them. They asked
me to explain that the group
meeting at Jimmie Tiger's camp
has nothing to do with this
group.
This group does
not want any money from the
federal government or the
state."
(emphasis supplied)
col.7, par.1
"The medicine men are guided by
God and Indians follow their
advise as they have always done.
They said God made land for all
of us and we do not want to
break God's rule. It is
hard to explain this to you."
March 19, 1958
- The Miami News, p.12A.
Fire Your Lawyers, Indians Told,
by Jane Wood
col.4, par.2
After a long pow-wow with
councilmen, Buffalo Tiger,
chairman of the council, told
Mr. Silver: “All these Indians
want is land, and hunting rights
and the things that go with the
land we have talked about
before. They want it so nobody -
not the state or anybody - can
take it away from the Indians
forever, unless the tribe
decides something else.”
September
21, 1958
-
The Miami Herald, Section
F, by Bob Reno. U.S. GETS
ULTIMATUM FROM INDIANS:
'Settle All Our Land Claims
NOW!' 60 Days Or Else
September 1961 - Seminole Indian
News,
vol.1, no.2, col.4.
Seminoles Ride Again, To
Washington This Time
"The Everglades Miccosukee Tribe
of Seminole Indians, the
unsurrendered Indians, who do
not live on reservations, are
sending two observers.
Howard and Homer Osceola,
co-chairmen of the Executive
Council, go to make sure nobody
misrepresents the Miccosukee
Tribe. This tribe wants
their land, not money."
(emphasis supplied)
October 1961 -
Seminole Indian News vol.1,
no.3, p.4, col.1
"The reservation tribe is sueing
the U. S. government for money.
The Miccosukee tribe
wants land." (emphasis
supplied)
December 1961
vol.1,
no.4
p.1
But what we, the council of the
Miccosukees do not understand is
this: When we reorganized in
1957 the Indian Bureau people
said:
"You can’t get any federal
handouts if you don’t organize
under the federal reorganization
act, and you can’t do that
unless you live on a
reservation."
We said, as we always did,
"We don’t
want handouts, we want our land,
and we don’t and won’t live on a
reservation on welfare."
Now they say, to this third
tribe they are trying to
organize under the Indian
Reorganization Act: We’ll help
you with loans.
February
1, 1964
- The Saturday
Evening Post, by Roy Bongarts.
Do These Indians Really Own
Florida? col.2, par.6
"Buffeted by such hostile snubs
from the North, the Indians also
rage against some of their own
people. The depth of their
passion to be left alone is
illustrated by what they turn
down when they refuse to bow
before the white man's dollar..."
(emphasis supplied)
February 2, 1978 - Letter to Hon. Gerald Ford, President of the United States, from Executive Council of the Miccosukee Tribe of Seminole Indians.
p.2, par.4
Ours is a nation which has never surrendered. Our fathers have told us the United States made treaties with our nation and other nations where the United States must protect our people and lands forever. We want our land, not money.
August 10, 1978 - Letter to Hon. Jimmie Carter, President of the United States
from the Executive Council of the Everglades Miccosukee Tribe of Seminole Indians
p.1, par.5
Over the years we have said we want our Everglades homeland protected in trust as you agreed under the treaties, and that we will not accept money for our land, or for U.S. treaty violations. In the past, we had offered to settle for swamplands in our Everglades homeland, which your State of Florida is trying to claim.
p.3, par.3
Our wise men have always warned us of the evil spirit and its beast helpers that would try to put their mark on us, and tr to take away our land and freedom. Our Miccosukee Nation’s hands will never touch the evil claim money and our foreheads will never take the mark of the BIA beast.
Stay tuned
for more "No Money"
references.
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