Seminole/Miccosukee Art

Any general work, and many narrowly focused articles addressing the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians mention their extraordinary clothing, especially patchwork. Dress is the dominant art form for these native peoples. Since the late 1970s several “how-to” books have been published which are devoted exclusively to the “Seminole” patchwork technique. But until now, a book length treatment of the “Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians” has been lacking. Dorothy Downs has assembled in a single volume an ambitious collection of comments and pictorial evidence on all forms of Seminole/Miccosukee art. Extracting material from the historical record, she has added her personal observations of museum collections and the information gleaned from a number of Seminoles and Miccosukees. Unfortunately the result is often characterized by carelessness and conjecture

Permitting Problems: Environmental Justice and the Miccosukee Indian Tribe

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians is a federally recognized tribe that works and resides in the Everglades region of the State of Florida. The Miccosukee have been battling lax water quality standards through lawsuits since the 1990’s. Recent rulings in federal court held that the State of Florida has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to set nutrient criteria for the water bodies in the state of Florida until the Florida Department of Environmental Protection complies with the Clean Water Act. This article uses the principles of environmental justice to analyze ways in which the Environmental Protection Agency can lift the undue burden that the Miccosukee Indian Tribe is bearing due to the nutrient pollution occurring in the Everglades. Environmental Justice is a jurisprudence that is used when low-income or minority populations bear a disproportionately high burden of adverse human health or environmental effects. The Environmental Protection Agency has created a new, comprehensive environmental justice plan called Plan EJ 2014. This plan acts as a roadmap to better integrate environmental justice into the program’s activities and policies. The author addresses the environmental justice that is burdening the Miccosukee Indian Tribe, and suggests using environmental justice principles to set nutrient criteria in Florida, particularly the water bodies found within the land of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians

Facets of sovereignty. Institutions that Spur and Institutions that Retard Tribal Development.

That so many of their assets continue to be held in governmental trusts under outdated policy rationales creates great difficulty for indigenous peoples. But restoring control of those assets to their rightful owners will impose daunting responsibilities on judiciaries. Exchanging assets for a residual share of returns from a joint venture exposes one to shirking by co-investors. Judiciaries known reliably to penalize those who renege on commitments help investors persuade others to sink complementary assets in promising projects. But a court is an arm of the sovereign. Across history and geography justifiable rulings adverse to sovereigns have so often been honored in the breach that private parties are especially leery of sovereigns as co-investors. To attract assets into its realm a sovereign may thus invest in a reputation for abiding by waivers of sovereign immunity, or rely on a still stronger sovereign to bond its waivers. Reputations arise from observed court successes by aggrieved co-investors when their suits against the sovereign are meritorious. But many tribal reservations are small and poor, have offered few investment opportunities, and hence possess thin legal histories. At the same time, investors are skeptical that courts of more powerful sovereigns such as Canada and the United States dependably bond tribal waivers. Thus tribes often must pay investors high risk-premiums, resort to costly tribal ownership, or even forego promising opportunities altogether. The Sovereign’s Paradox refers to the difficulty that an entity with power to compel involuntary outcomes has in negotiating voluntary ones. This chapter explores ways to ameliorate that Paradox and thus improve returns from reservation assets.

[Review of] Patsy West. The Enduring Seminoles: From Alligator Wrestling to Ecotourism

Patsy West, long the archivist of photographs for the Seminole and Miccosukee Native nations of Florida, has written an exceptional book in her first full-length work, The Enduring Seminoles: From Alligator Wrestling to Ecotourism. Although she has devoted a lifetime to researching, writing, and cataloging the photos which show the degree of cultural change of these two groups, this is her first book on the subject

Letter from Mittie Horton Creekmore to Hubert Creekmore

Mittie writes from Jackson, Mississippi to Creekmore in Miccosukee, Florida regarding personal matters. She reports family and local news. Envelope included.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/creekmore/1567/thumbnail.jp

Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. United States Army Corps of Engineers

In Miccosukee I, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wanted to build a bridge along the Tamiani Trail that would, in effect, flood part of the reservations of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The Tribe sued the Corps alleging that the construction of the bridge would violate the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. The court concluded that a ―notwithstanding‖ clause in a Congressional appropriations act overrode environmental procedural laws. After Miccosukee I, the tribe sued the U.S. Department of Transportation, alleging procedural violations in the construction of the bridge. Once again, the Eleventh Circuit held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case, because a similar ―notwithstanding‖ clause deprived the court of the discretion to curb Congress‘ intent

Patchwork and PR: Seminole-Constructed Public Image

Florida Seminoles represent a unique response culture among Southeastern Native Americans. An amalgamation of tribes, their history has been marked by their adaptability in the face of massive cultural change. Today the Seminoles are a major force in Florida\u27s economy and politics. The public face they present has largely been of their own making throughout their history, and now it is more consciously so