By Spessard Stone
The essential and continuing contribution of the African American in the settlement and development of southwest Florida in the 1800s is chronicled in African Americans On The Tampa Bay Frontier by Canter Brown, Jr., Historian in Residence of the Tampa Bay History Center.
Brown initially presents the African Americans, known as Black Seminoles, beginning with their involvement in the wars for control of Florida in the 1810s, to their dispersal, and final struggle in the Second Seminole War which culminated in westward emigration.
The settlement of old Hillsborough County, following the end of the Second Seminole War in 1842, brought white settlers, of whom about twenty percent held slaves.
The nature of bondage is examined, contrasting the brutal conditions of the sugar plantations versus that under yeoman farmers, in which the white masters often toiled alongside their bondsmen, and the leasing of slaves.
Likewise related is social life, including church attendance and various families.
The evolvence during the Civil War is delineated in various degrees, including slaves' changing status, refugees, U. S. Colored Troops, and Emancipation.
Finally there is accounted the unforgotten promise of Reconstruction, in which much progress in civil rights and education was made, only to be ended by the electoral dominance of conservative white Democrats.
This booklet will serve as an informative guide to anyone interested in this generally unknown era of Florida history and hopefully generate further scholarship.
The 5 1/4"x8 1/2" 80-page illustrated paperback can be ordered from the Tampa Bay History Center, P. O. Box 948, Tampa, FL 33601-0948, telephone 813/228-0097.
The charge for one copy is $6.54, including tax, postage, and handling. Two copies are $12.33.
This review was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of July 10, 1997.
July 24, 2001