Buffalo Tiger - (Indians of the Southeast) by Buffalo Tiger & Harry A Kersey

Book Synopsis

Frustrated in their attempts to gain official recognition by the United States, a group of Miccosukee Indians met with Fidel Castro in 1959 and were recognized by the Cuban government. The man behind this unprecedented move to provoke the U.S. government into action was Buffalo Tiger, a Miccosukee elder who has become one of the most prominent Indian leaders in the southeastern United States in the modern era. Born in a small village in the Everglades in 1920, Buffalo Tiger grew up immersed in the traditional customs and language of the Miccosukees. As the modern world encroached on the Miccosukees and the Everglades shrank around them, Buffalo Tiger became an energetic and outspoken leader of the community. As the first tribal chairman of the Miccosukees, he oversaw the adoption of a tribal constitution and worked diligently to implement reforms and to protect the community's cultural and natural resources. In the 1970s the Miccosukees became the first modern tribe to take complete control of their affairs and federal budget. Buffalo Tiger's penetrating observations about his people and the world around them, combined with the skilled scholarship of historian Harry A. Kersey Jr., illuminate a memorable life, a tireless leader, and an Indian community still proud to call the "River of Grass" its home. Harry A. Kersey Jr. is professor emeritus of history at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of several books, including An Assumption of Sovereignty: Social and Political Transformation among the Florida Seminoles, 1953-1979 (Nebraska 1996) and The Florida Seminoles and the New Deal, 1933-1942.

Review Quotes

"An excellent example of the ideal blending of Native viewpoint with Western academic literary demands."--Choice-- (3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)

"An important book that is both suitable as a teaching resource and provocative enough to spur further research."--Nicolas Rosenthal, H-Net Reviews-- (3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)

"This book will make its way into the bookstores and into the syllabi of American Indian history courses. It also serves as a wonderful addition to the paucity of literature on Native people in Florida during the twentieth century. Readers will definitely enjoy learning about the life and times of Buffalo Tiger, and hopefully this collaborative effort will broaden our understanding of Native struggles for sovereignty and self-determination in an age of colonialism, ethnic strife, and environmental devastation."--Jeffrey P. Shepard, Studies in American Indian Literatures-- (3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)

"This delightful autobiography opens a window into Miccosukee culture."--Native Peoples Magazine-- (3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Harry A. Kersey Jr. is professor emeritus of history at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of several books, including An Assumption of Sovereignty: Social and Political Transformation among the Florida Seminoles, 1953-1979 (Nebraska 1996) and The Florida Seminoles and the New Deal, 1933-1942.