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Seminole children and teacher in Dania
circa 1930 Florida State Archives |
By Jane Feehan
Seminoles did not attend school regularly in Florida until the 1920s. There were a few reasons. One, according to L.A. Spencer, agent for Indian affairs in Florida, was resistence of older Seminoles to learning the ways of the white man.
"They say that when an Indian learns to read and write, he learns to lie," said Spencer. "The tribe has been adverse to attending school and has shown an animosity toward the white man’s learning because, it is said, they were antagonized by a former missionary some years ago."
Also, federal money was not made available to Seminoles as was to Indian tribes in other states. "They [Seminoles] were classified as 'outlaws,' " Spencer added. They did not all leave Florida as they promised the federal government after taking money to relocate (see: https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/01/seminole-chief-billy-bowlegs-king-of.html ).
Nevertheless, some funds came through in the 1920s. A school for Seminoles opened in 1927 in Dania, in south Broward County. The school opened and closed there before land was officially set aside for the Seminoles in 1938 (Hollywood Reservation).
Classes were organized by Lena King of the Creek Indians of Wetunka, OK. King worked with L.A. Spencer, from Fort Myers, to bring education to the Seminoles of Florida. Though the teaching group were all of the Creek Nation, they were, explained a news account, related to the Seminoles, "... the Florida group being an offshoot called the 'wanderers,' which is the Indian interpretation for Seminole."
Teachers taught English (few Seminoles spoke it). Young students attended an hour in the mornings and an hour during afternoons. Seminoles were also taught farming and "housework." Adult men attended after 7 pm. to learn English and reading. The school provided classes up to the 8th grade. One student covered two to three grades in each of the first few years he attended but wound up staying three years in the 8th grade; there was no other level.
One group of Seminoles did accept the white man's ways: medicine men. They "retired" in favor of white physicians because 80 percent of Seminole babies, according to a news account, died by age three. After a few years of help from physicians, the Seminole mortality rate was the same as that of the white population.
Sources:
Miami News, Jan. 25, 1927
Miami Herald, Nov. 21, 1929
Tags: Florida history, Seminole history, Seminole education, Broward County history
