Merry Christmas, everyone! We hope that you and yours are enjoying this holiday season. We hope that everyone is safe and warm. In this newsletter, we wanted to provide a recap of some of the past events that SISCA members have participated in and look ahead to some upcoming events that we are really excited about. Read on to find out!

On Friday, December 2, Corina Torralba Harrington (treasurer) and Windy Goodloe (secretary) traveled to Beaufort, South Carolina, to attend the Four Sierra Leone-Gullah Homecomings.

Ahead of the symposium, they attended a pre-Kwanzaa celebration at Georgia Southern University. The event was organized by Dr. Maxine Bryant. She is the Director of the Center for Africana Studies and the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Center. Lillian Grant-Baptiste spoke eloquently and beautifully about Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. It was created by activist Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West and Southeast Africa. (Wikipedia)

Following the pre-Kwanzaa presentation, they raced to Beaufort, hoping to catch Aunt Pearlie Sue and the Gullah Kinfolk's Christmas concert. They arrived in time to catch the tail-end of the performance, but just the short bit they saw was enough to know that the songs that are being sung in Mexico have origins in South Carolina. What was even more amazing was that Amadu Massally, the creator and host of the Sierra Leone-Gullah Geechee event, was called up to the stage by Aunt Pearlie Sue. He was recognized for all the work that he has done bringing the two groups togther.

Aunt Pearlie Sue is the creation of Anita Singleton-Prather, a native of the Sea Islands of Beaufort, South Carolina. Based on her grandmother, Aunt Pearlie Sue's character has entertained audiences with Gullah-flavored folktales for over 20 years from the schoolhouse to the White House.
In addition to being a renowned master storyteller, Prather is an educator, historian, business woman, writer, singer, actress, and director/producer.  She is the founder and artistic director of the musical performance group the Gullah Kinfolk. As a storyteller and singer, Prather has performed at many festivals, the Beaufort Gullah Festival, Penn Heritage Days Festival, Woodlands Festival, Spoleto USA  International Arts Festival in Charleston, SC and San Francisco Festival of the Sea, just to name a few. (from https://www.gullahkinfolktravelingtheater.org/aunt-pearlie-sue)

On Saturday, December 3, ahead of the symposium, there was an event that took place called Gullah Taste of Christmas. It featured numerous vendors and performances by the Gullah Kinfolk Traveling Theater. The highlight of the event (without question) was the rice cook-off.

The Four Sierra Leone-Gullah Homecomings was an event organized by Fambul Tik, which means "family tree" in the local Sierra Leonian Creole. The event, which was held at The Technical College of the Low Country brought together four groups that had traveled to Sierra Leone. The trips took place in 1989, 1997, 2005, and 2019. Members from each of the four groups told those in attendance about the experience of traveling to Sierra Leone, which is, for many, the area from which their ancestors were stolen into slavery.

The audience learned about a song that was sung in South Carolina that linguist Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner discovered was a Mende song, originally from Sierra Leone. 
 
They also heard the story of Priscilla, who was taken into slavery in 1750, at just ten years old. Her seven-times granddaughter was able to return to Sierra Leone in 2005. 

Renowned linguist Joseph Opala gave a brief history about the Black Seminoles. After his speech, Corina and Windy spoke about the Gullah-Black Seminole connection and what life was like in Texas and Mexico.

Below are a few pictures from the event: 
1. The beautiful HUGE Christams tree that was the centerpiece of the Taste of Gullah event.
2. Windy Goodloe, Amadu Massally, Corina Torralba Harrington, and LeeJay Krueger
3. Gabriel Greaves (Black Seminole and scholar) and Corina Torralba
4. Amadu Massally and Corina Torralba Harrington
5. Windy Goodloe, Amadu Massally, and Corina Torralba Harrington
​6. The Sierra Leonian flag

Florida Historical Black Research Inc,, one of our sister organizations received a grant that will enable them to present their annual spiritual remembrance/family reunion for five days in January. Make plans to attend this important event. Click the link below for more information.

SISCA will be participating in Fort Clark Days as both living historians and vendors. We are certainly looking forward to it. For more information, click the link below.

​Is it time to renew your membership? Our website makes it easy. Just click the button below to become a new member or to renew your membership. Or you can send us your check or money order by mail, if you prefer. Your membership is very important to us. There truly is strength in numbers. Become a member of the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association today. Thank you!

Thank you for your support throughout the year. May the new year bring continue health, love, and properity.

Seminole Days 2022 was amazing! This Seminole Days, the first we've been able to celebrate in-person since 2019, was one of the most well-attended celebrations. We appreciated everyone who took the time to travel to Brackettville to help us celebrate and honor the legacy of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts. Enjoy a few of the photos that were taken during the event.

We were honored to have Johnny Montgomery attend Seminole Days. He brought several of his paintings along with him. They were displayed in the Carver School throughout the weekend. He calls his work "cultural art." Many of his paintings depict Black Seminoles  and important events from our history. 

Members of the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association will be participating in the 4th Annual Texas Veterans Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The event will take place in Denton, Texas. The four Medal of Honor recipients buried at the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery will be honored. They are Adam Payne, Isaac Payne, John Ward, and Pompey Factor. Clarion Windus, the fifth Medal of Honor recipient who is buried at the Masonic cemetery in Brackettville, will also be honored. 
​For more information, click the button below.

Another important event will be taking place in December. The Four Sierra Leone - Gullah Homecomings will take place on Saturday, December 3, beginning at 2PM EST at the Auditorium of the Technical College of the Low Country (104 Reynolds Street, Beaufort, SC 29902).
For more information and to purchase tickets, click the button below: 

One of our sister organizations received a grant that will enable them to present their annual spiritual rememberance/family reunion for five days in January. Make plans to attend this important event.

FLORIDA BLACK HISTORICAL RESEARCH PROJECT, INC. RECEIVES NATIONAL GRANT FUNDINGFlorida Black Historical Research Project, Inc. (FBHRP) has received $50,000 from Telling the Full History Preservation Fund—a grant program from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, made possible through the National Endowment for the Humanities under the American Rescue Plan.
The funding enables the planning and presentation of a five-day “185-Year Seminole Maroon Family Reunion,” on January 11-15, 2023, a physical and virtual gathering in Jupiter Florida (in present-day Palm Beach County), site of the two pivotal 1838 Battles of the Loxahatchee River during the Second Seminole War, which significantly altered the course of full American history.
The event also marks the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking “160-Year Family Reunion” held in 1998, which brought Oklahoma Seminole Maroon (“Black Seminole” or “Estelusti”) descendants (of Trail of Tears survivors) to their Ancestral homeland of Florida for the first time, garnering remarkably broad local interest and support, and establishing permanent networks and exchanges which continue today, with January’s event expanding to include Maroon descendant communities in Mexico, Texas, and the Bahamas as well as Oklahoma and Florida itself.
FBHRP is one of 80 organizations that received $25,000 or $50,000 grants to interpret and preserve historic places of importance  that embody the history of underrepresented communities in our nation.
Telling the Full History grants support the core activities of humanities-based organizations as these organizations recover from the pandemic, using historic places as catalysts for a more just and equitable society. To learn more about this program, visit Forum.SavingPlaces.org/tellingthefullhistoryfund.

We want to say "thank you" to everyone who has supported SISCA, especially in recent months, as we prepared for Seminole Days and during Seminole Days. We truly cannot thank you enough.