The Treaty of Kódeeslí’í
This text is a solemn treaty affirming peace, care, and mutual respect between the Lipan Apache Band of Texas Cuelcahen Ndé, The Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville, and the Negros Mascogos/Black Seminole communities of Texas and Coahuila.
Ndé, or the people commonly known as the Apache, lived a semi-nomadic life on land from Northeast Mexico to areas of West Texas. Their migrations along the Rio Grande often ranged north of the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. When Spanish conquerors first came onto Ndé lands in the mid-1540s, they had been guided by Zunis who stopped near Ndé land and pointed out they would not enter due to “Apachu.” Unknown to Spaniards, Apachu or the word Spaniards used, Apache, meant “enemy” to the Zuni. Ndé greeted Spaniards cordially and guided them safely, as water was difficult to find. By the mid-1600s, the Spanish were seeking gold and silver and wanted Ndé, as they had done with other tribes, to stay near organized townships for labor. This conflicted greatly with the semi-nomadic Ndé life, so problems developed when Spaniards insisted. There were fourteen bands of Ndé in what is now Texas. Bison were essential for the livelihoods of many communities in the central plains, where tens of millions of bison ranged down from Canada to Mexico. Spanish rule was overthrown in 1810, then European Americans settling in Texas began being granted huge tracts of indigenous land.
The Lipan Apache signed four peace treaties with Spain, Mexico, and the Texas Republic; however no treaty was honored. Mirabeau Lamar, President of Texas from 1838 to 1841, implemented an Indian removal policy in Texas similar to what the USA had done with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Texas Republic joined the USA in 1845 with the understanding that the project of Indian removal would continue under U.S. rule. By 1852, nearly one third of the U.S. Army was in West Texas to remove all Indians there. Ndé were sought for removal or extermination by soldiers, militias, and even headhunters who were paid for Apache heads—men, women, or children. Ndé who avoided capture had to live lives of anonymity and only passed down history and culture to selected family members.
The Black Seminole community is rooted in the coming together of sovereign Black and Native people in Seminole territory in what is now Florida, possibly as early as the 1600s. When the United States invaded Seminole homelands in the 1800s, however, the Black Seminole community, which had crafted a place for itself in the social fabric of Seminole society over generations, was thrust into diaspora. Fleeing the ever-present risk of re-enslavement and seeking another stretch of land they could call their home, our Black Seminole ancestors agreed to serve as military scouts for Mexico and the United States in exchange for promises of land beginning in 1850. In Texas, despite steadfast and courageous service, these promises were never kept, and Black Seminoles were evicted from the military reservation on Fort Clark when the unit of Seminole Negro Indian Scouts was disbanded in 1914. Regardless of designation by other sovereign entities like Mexico or the United States, the Black Seminole community has long acknowledged our dual indigenous roots from Africa and from North America. Addressing the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1992, for example, SISCA founder Ms. Charles Emily Wilson, who was the last Black Seminole born on Fort Clark in 1910, said that “together we created a Seminole society from both Indian and African roots” and that “[f]or more than 200 years we kept our double African and Indian heritage alive.”
Both communities have faced forced dispossession at the hands of colonial powers, and both communities have had to make difficult decisions regarding the life, death, freedom, and prosperity of not just their community, but other indigenous communities as well. In the face of struggle, dispossession, and violence, both of our communities have remained resilient and resurgent, maintaining traditions passed down through the generations, and, when called for, adapting new traditions, like those expressed in this treaty.
This treaty represents a commitment to tell the unvarnished truth - the entire history that has brought our two communities together, both good and bad. It represents a rejection of historical narratives that whitewash or even celebrate the anti-Black and settler colonial oppression we have experienced throughout history. For that reason, the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association, representing the Black Seminole community in Texas, along with Casa of the Black Seminole Diaspora, representing the Negros Mascogos community in Nacimiento de Los Negros, Coahuila, sign this treaty to acknowledge their ancestors’ history of harm against the Lipan Apache Band of Texas Cuelcahen Ndé and the Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville Texas, also undersigned. While this document is meant to acknowledge the harm of Black Seminole participation in the settler colonial dispossession of many Lipan Apache from their historical homelands, it is, more fundamentally, a promise oriented toward the future. This treaty represents a collaborative commitment to challenge the anti-Black and settler colonial systems that have historically sought to position our communities as mutual antagonists to one another. But to move forward, this treaty is our way, together, of formalizing and inaugurating a process of truth and accountability. This treaty between communities - between nations - represents an opening dialogue, a wellspring covenant for life, peace, and harmony moving forward.
We mark the occasion of the signing of this historic treaty with a ceremony during SISCA’s annual Juneteenth celebration in 2026, commemorating the June 19, 1865, emancipation of enslaved Africans in Texas. This treaty is named for the Lipan Apache word for Las Moras Springs: Kódeeslí’í. Here, at this sacred spring, we convene on this historic occasion to break bread and solemnize our renewed and deepened relationship. With the exchange of gifts representing the cultural heritage of each community, such as a white feather of peace from the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Cuelcahen Ndé, a bundle of Sage, Cedar, and Mescal Beads from the Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville Texas, and corn, rice, and sweet potatoes from the Black Seminoles, we mark our intention for mutual honor, respect, and care. We pledge to mark the passage of this covenant every year in perpetuity, and to keep our doors open for one another to attend annual celebrations such as Seminole Days, Juneteenth, and Fort Clark Days.
We, the undersigned, affirm this treaty:
The Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association
La Casa of the Black Seminole Diaspora
The Lipan Apache Band of Texas Cuelcahen Ndé
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville Texas
Ndé, or the people commonly known as the Apache, lived a semi-nomadic life on land from Northeast Mexico to areas of West Texas. Their migrations along the Rio Grande often ranged north of the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. When Spanish conquerors first came onto Ndé lands in the mid-1540s, they had been guided by Zunis who stopped near Ndé land and pointed out they would not enter due to “Apachu.” Unknown to Spaniards, Apachu or the word Spaniards used, Apache, meant “enemy” to the Zuni. Ndé greeted Spaniards cordially and guided them safely, as water was difficult to find. By the mid-1600s, the Spanish were seeking gold and silver and wanted Ndé, as they had done with other tribes, to stay near organized townships for labor. This conflicted greatly with the semi-nomadic Ndé life, so problems developed when Spaniards insisted. There were fourteen bands of Ndé in what is now Texas. Bison were essential for the livelihoods of many communities in the central plains, where tens of millions of bison ranged down from Canada to Mexico. Spanish rule was overthrown in 1810, then European Americans settling in Texas began being granted huge tracts of indigenous land.
The Lipan Apache signed four peace treaties with Spain, Mexico, and the Texas Republic; however no treaty was honored. Mirabeau Lamar, President of Texas from 1838 to 1841, implemented an Indian removal policy in Texas similar to what the USA had done with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Texas Republic joined the USA in 1845 with the understanding that the project of Indian removal would continue under U.S. rule. By 1852, nearly one third of the U.S. Army was in West Texas to remove all Indians there. Ndé were sought for removal or extermination by soldiers, militias, and even headhunters who were paid for Apache heads—men, women, or children. Ndé who avoided capture had to live lives of anonymity and only passed down history and culture to selected family members.
The Black Seminole community is rooted in the coming together of sovereign Black and Native people in Seminole territory in what is now Florida, possibly as early as the 1600s. When the United States invaded Seminole homelands in the 1800s, however, the Black Seminole community, which had crafted a place for itself in the social fabric of Seminole society over generations, was thrust into diaspora. Fleeing the ever-present risk of re-enslavement and seeking another stretch of land they could call their home, our Black Seminole ancestors agreed to serve as military scouts for Mexico and the United States in exchange for promises of land beginning in 1850. In Texas, despite steadfast and courageous service, these promises were never kept, and Black Seminoles were evicted from the military reservation on Fort Clark when the unit of Seminole Negro Indian Scouts was disbanded in 1914. Regardless of designation by other sovereign entities like Mexico or the United States, the Black Seminole community has long acknowledged our dual indigenous roots from Africa and from North America. Addressing the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1992, for example, SISCA founder Ms. Charles Emily Wilson, who was the last Black Seminole born on Fort Clark in 1910, said that “together we created a Seminole society from both Indian and African roots” and that “[f]or more than 200 years we kept our double African and Indian heritage alive.”
Both communities have faced forced dispossession at the hands of colonial powers, and both communities have had to make difficult decisions regarding the life, death, freedom, and prosperity of not just their community, but other indigenous communities as well. In the face of struggle, dispossession, and violence, both of our communities have remained resilient and resurgent, maintaining traditions passed down through the generations, and, when called for, adapting new traditions, like those expressed in this treaty.
This treaty represents a commitment to tell the unvarnished truth - the entire history that has brought our two communities together, both good and bad. It represents a rejection of historical narratives that whitewash or even celebrate the anti-Black and settler colonial oppression we have experienced throughout history. For that reason, the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association, representing the Black Seminole community in Texas, along with Casa of the Black Seminole Diaspora, representing the Negros Mascogos community in Nacimiento de Los Negros, Coahuila, sign this treaty to acknowledge their ancestors’ history of harm against the Lipan Apache Band of Texas Cuelcahen Ndé and the Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville Texas, also undersigned. While this document is meant to acknowledge the harm of Black Seminole participation in the settler colonial dispossession of many Lipan Apache from their historical homelands, it is, more fundamentally, a promise oriented toward the future. This treaty represents a collaborative commitment to challenge the anti-Black and settler colonial systems that have historically sought to position our communities as mutual antagonists to one another. But to move forward, this treaty is our way, together, of formalizing and inaugurating a process of truth and accountability. This treaty between communities - between nations - represents an opening dialogue, a wellspring covenant for life, peace, and harmony moving forward.
We mark the occasion of the signing of this historic treaty with a ceremony during SISCA’s annual Juneteenth celebration in 2026, commemorating the June 19, 1865, emancipation of enslaved Africans in Texas. This treaty is named for the Lipan Apache word for Las Moras Springs: Kódeeslí’í. Here, at this sacred spring, we convene on this historic occasion to break bread and solemnize our renewed and deepened relationship. With the exchange of gifts representing the cultural heritage of each community, such as a white feather of peace from the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Cuelcahen Ndé, a bundle of Sage, Cedar, and Mescal Beads from the Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville Texas, and corn, rice, and sweet potatoes from the Black Seminoles, we mark our intention for mutual honor, respect, and care. We pledge to mark the passage of this covenant every year in perpetuity, and to keep our doors open for one another to attend annual celebrations such as Seminole Days, Juneteenth, and Fort Clark Days.
We, the undersigned, affirm this treaty:
The Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association
La Casa of the Black Seminole Diaspora
The Lipan Apache Band of Texas Cuelcahen Ndé
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Brackettville Texas