One of the earliest known owers of Africans slaves comes from the story of Nancy Ward Most Beloved Woman of the Cherokee Nation. She was given this title when after killing her husband's assailant was awarded the "gift" of an African slave as a prize for her bravery. The year was 1790. By the early 1800's Nancy Ward owned several slaves having begun then to purchase them on her own. The mixed blood leaders of the nation were also acquiring many slaves and by the time of the Trail of Tears the mass removal of the Cherokees in the 1830's more than 1200 Africans were taken to Indian Territory as slaves alongside their Cherokee enslavers.

For references see the following texts:
-Red Over Black. Slavery among the Cherokees by R. Halliburton

-The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist by Annie T. Abel

-Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society by Theda Purdue

[16 Jun 2000]