Native Americans isolation from Western influence caused their culture do develop in unique and different ways from the Europeans. The differences between these two cultures would be evident in the conflicts that followed throughout the centuries. The Native Americans would lose certain aspects of their culture and be forced to assimilate to European values and traditions, but during the turn of the 20th century Native Americans would come to define their culture through Western traditions and come to embrace and even rally behind certain aspects of Western culture. The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes would experience these struggles and continue to do so today. Native American culture has been encroached upon by whites from the 16th century to present day including their traditions being diluted in modern times by Western influence, but against all odds, along with the migration of Native Americans to cities, the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes are trying harder than ever to preserve their culture through arts, dancing, religion, and language.

          The clash between Western and Native American culture caused conflict which has had effects on the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes that are still being felt today. The first encounters between Native Americans and European explorers showed the clash of customs and technologies between both groups. While Native Americans greeted European explorers with gifts and friendship, the favor was not returned as the Europeans came ready for battle. The Europeans came in bigger boats and armed with more advanced weaponry than the Native Americans. Native Americans saw the Europeans as potential allies and friends, but all the Europeans saw was land to be exploited, and people in the way.[1] This difference in attitudes towards foreign people marked an important difference in the customs of Native Americans and Europeans. Whereas the Europeans came from a capitalist society that emphasized the attainment of wealth and land as the defining aspect in an individual's social status, the Native Americans society placed a greater emphasis on community values such as the sharing of land and wealth. This difference in their society’s goals would lead to conflict in the European and Native American relations which would have detrimental effects on the Native Americans. Europeans observed many differences between Native American cultures and their own which they recorded. Native American’s crude weaponry made them deal with problems like fending their village off from alligators in ingenious ways that astounded the Europeans. They would ram a pointed pole down the alligator’s throat. When the alligator bit down they would turn the pole, flip the alligator upside down, and attack its soft belly. Native American medicinal practices also shocked the Europeans. Some practices included cutting a sick man’s forehead and sucking the blood from the wound, and a pregnant woman drinking blood to make her baby stronger.[2] These differences from the Europeans caused European settlers to view them as uncivilized people. The Europeans justified their actions against Native Americans as a need to “civilize” the Native Americans. The difference in technologies caused the Europeans to have an advantage in conflict with the Native Americans. The Europeans advanced weaponry allowed them conquer many Native Americans peoples and force them into agreements against their will. The introduction of these new technologies such as steel, guns, and horses changed Native American society. Although their less advanced weaponry left them at the mercy of the Europeans, Native Americans were able to gain these technologies through trade. These new technologies would revolutionize the way native Americans hunted, fought, and practiced medicinal operations. Conflict with European settlers caused the Seminole tribe to move to its current location in Florida. By the 1700’s most of the Native Americans in Florida had been wiped out by disease, slave raids, and battles with other tribes. This open land allowed for the Creek Indians to move into Florida and eventually become the Seminole people. The Seminole and Miccosukee people originally settled in swamps and marshes because white settlers didn’t want that land.[3] Conflict with the Europeans had not only wiped out the previous Native Americans, but it also caused different tribes to move into Florida seeking to escape oppression from settlers. This pattern of conflict between Native Americans and Europeans would influence the Seminole and Miccosukee culture through where the tribes settled. The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes’ culture was shaped by their encounters with Europeans along with the conflict causes over the differences between the two cultures.  

     The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes’ culture is expressed through traditions shown in their art, dancing, language, home's, foods, and ways of life. Miccosukee and Seminole tribes placed a great importance on art and incorporate it into their daily lives. Women from these tribes express their culture in their arts by making beadwork, patchwork, and weaving baskets. Men from the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes make other arts and crafts considered to be “men’s work” such as silverwork, chickee building, and woodwork.[4] Both the Seminole and Miccosukee cultures place a great importance on dance and religion. The Stomp Dance is an important part of the Seminole culture that is still maintained today. The Stomp Dance was originally held to as a social event to build bonds in between people. This, however, changed during the 20th century when Seminoles started to have dance festivals to attract tourists. At first this seemed like a loss of culture because the cultural festivals were being monetized, but Seminoles came to rally behind these dances and identify themselves with them.[5] Religion also has strong ties to dancing that are evident during the Green Corn Dance. The Green Corn Dance is a ceremony that takes place every year in which ties with the Breathmaker and spiritual medicine are restored. Seminole and Miccosukee people believe that the Breathmaker gave them the “pointed land”, Florida, and taught them how to live with other creatures. The Green Corn Dance ceremony is held in three locations and features a sacred fire and medicine bundles.[6] The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes continue these religious practices in present day and these dances have become a central part of their culture. Traditional Miccosukee and Seminole culture is continued today through the preservation of language. Language has been an important part of Seminole culture that connects young Seminoles to their heritage and ancestry. The Seminole are part of a group of Native Americans that speak a 6 language group known as the Muskogean languages. During the Trail of Tears the Muskogean languages speakers were forced West or into Florida. The Seminole in Florida still speak a dialect of Creek and Mikasuki today, in Central Florida and The Everglades respectively. Both the Seminole and the Miccosukee fear that their children will stop speaking their native languages and lose part of their culture. Miccosukee and English or Muskogee and English are taught at the Miccosukee reservation so as to preserve their culture.[7];[8] The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes continue to preserve their culture through their architecture. Seminole and Miccosukee architecture has become one of the most recognizable features of their culture. The Seminoles originally built chickee’s to maximize the amount of ventilation they got. A chickee is a dwelling without walls, made of logged framework with a thatched roof over a raised platform. Although at first it was a building meant for practicality, the chickee has come to be a defining aspect of both Seminole and Miccosukee culture.[9] Seminole and Miccosukee tribes showed their connection to nature and their tribe's self-sustainability through the foods they ate. As well as hunting and fishing, the tribes planted corn, beans, melons, and squash and gathered nuts, roots, and palmetto berries.They also ate the bulbous roots of the coontie plant as a source of starchy flour. Today Seminoles continue to hunt animals and plant food. Sofkey is a food that is still eaten today at Seminole and Miccosukee reservations.[10] The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes continuation of ancestral culture is evident through their art, dance, religion, language, and food.

          Native American tribes are being challenged by Western influences and migration away from reservations, but are still trying to retaining their culture. Native Americans are moving to cities and in the process they are leaving their culture behind. As more and more Native Americans move to cities they lose a bit of their culture by not living on reservations and by not being surrounded by their culture and traditions. Native Americans moving to cities also struggle to find jobs and some end up in gangs which tarnish the reputation of their tribes and lead to anti-Native American sentiment.[11] As Native Americans separate themselves from their ancestral culture they have accepted certain Western values and have fused their culture with Western activities under a new identity. One of the defining aspects of their Western-Native American identity is the game of football. In the Haskell School for Native Americans the Native Americans celebrated a football game win by parading around in their cultural wear. This shows how Native Americans have accepted their culture and roots, but have done so under the Western game of football.[12] At first a tradition thrust upon them by schools seeking for the   assimilation of Native Americans to Western culture, football has become a sport in which modern day Native Americans take pride in, in its part in their culture. The Seminole tribe has allowed Florida State University to use its name for their football team and Chief Osceola for their mascot. Although these symbols might be seen as the mocking of a culture, the Seminole tribe sees it differently and continues to allow Florida State University to use its name. “The resolution also invites FSU "to continue their relationship and collaborate on the development of logos and nicknames that all members of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and officials and students of Florida State University can be proud of."”[13] This excerpt from the source shows how the Seminole tribe sees the football team as something they can be proud of that represents their culture. The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes have dealt with Western influences upon their culture by mixing both cultures into a new identity which they take pride in.

          The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes’ unique culture underwent great change as conflict with the Europeans introduced different ideas and traditions, but both tribes continue to retain their culture and take pride in the new identity that resulted from the mix of ancestral traditions with modern Western ideas. The new culture that formed celebrated Native American traditions under Western activities such as football. This pride in their culture expressed by many Native Americans was a result of a diminishing of culture caused by people leaving reservations, but had also been happening centuries prior to present day. Along with the introduction of new technologies and ideas, with the European explorers had come a threat to the traditional way of life of Native Americans. Because of conflict with the Europeans, many Native Americans had to adopt certain practices and technologies to be able to stand a chance against the Europeans, but in adapting these technologies some of their culture was lost. This loss of culture by Native Americans was in some ways a loss of years of ancestral traditions, but at the same time it was the beginning of a new Native American identity that would continue to take shape during the 20th century.

Footnotes

1. "Le Moyne Gallery: Full Plates." Exploring Florida Le Moyne Engravings Gallery. Accessed March 6, 2016. http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/photos/native/lemoyne/lemoyne0/lemoy0.htm.

2. "Le Moyne Gallery: Full Plates." Exploring Florida Le Moyne Engravings Gallery.

3. "Everglades," Britannica School, accessed February 6, 2016,http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/33362#2199.toc.

4. Dorothy Downs, Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians(Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1995), v, http://questiaschool.com/read/99430559/art-of-the-florida-seminole-and-miccosukee-indians.

5. James Taylor Carson. "Southeast Dance." In The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience.ABC-CLIO, 2010-. Accessed March 6, 2016. http://americanindian.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1481694?terms=Stomp+dance

6. Dorothy Downs, Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. 7

7. "Muskogean languages," Britannica School, accessed February 6, 2016,http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/472915.

8. Dorothy Downs, Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. 5

9. “Everglades,” Britannica School.

10. “Everglades,” Britannica School.

11. Timothy Williams. "Quietly, Indians Reshape Cities and Reservations." The New York Times. Last modified April 13, 2013. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/us/as-american-indians-move-to-cities-old-and-new-challenges-follow.html?_r=0.

12. Benjamin G. Rader. 2004. “"the Greatest Drama in Indian Life": Experiments in Native American Identity and Resistance at the Haskell Institute Homecoming of 1926”. The Western Historical Quarterly35 (4). Western Historical Quarterly, Utah State University: 429–450. doi:10.2307/25443053.

13. Florida State University Thanks Seminoles for Historic Vote of Support. Accessed March 5, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20070608224336/http://www.fsu.com/pages/2005/06/17/historic_vote.html.:: Florida State University Thanks Seminoles for Historic Vote of Support." FSU.com ::"FSU.com

Bibliography

"Everglades." Britannica School. accessed February 6, 2016. http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/33362#2199.toc.

"Muskogean languages." Britannica School. accessed February 6, 2016. http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/472915.

Carson, James Taylor. "Southeast Dance." In The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience.ABC-CLIO, 2010-. Accessed           March 6, 2016. http://americanindian.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1481694?terms=Stomp+dance

Downs, Dorothy. Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. Gainesville, FL : University Press of Florida, 1995, v,

"FSU.com :: Florida State University Thanks Seminoles for Historic Vote of Support." FSU.com :: Florida State University Thanks                 Seminoles for Historic Vote of Support. Accessed March 5, 2016.

          https://web.archive.org/web/20070608224336/http://www.fsu.com/pages/2005/06/17/historic_vote.html.

"Le Moyne Gallery: Full Plates." Exploring Florida Le Moyne Engravings Gallery. Accessed March 6,

          2016. http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/photos/native/lemoyne/lemoyne0/lemoy0.htm.

Rader, Benjamin G. “"The Greatest Drama in Indian Life": Experiments in Native American Identity and Resistance at the Haskell  

          Institute Homecoming of 1926.” The Western Historical Quarterly35, no. 4. 429–450. Accessed March 6, 2016.

          doi:10.2307/25443053.

Williams, Timothy. "Quietly, Indians Reshape Cities and Reservations." The New York Times. Last modified April 13, 2013. Accessed           December 5, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/us/as-american-indians-move-to-cities-old-and-new-c

          hallenges-follow.html?_r=0.