DIANE FLETCHER

I've always thought she was so fine. Always wondered what her voice sounded like, how her eyes moved. What penetrating depths must've been in those eyes of hers. How did she use silence in her communications? A lot of questions jumped out at me, as I am sure it does others. Questions we will never know the answers to like what was her smell? How did her hands move? Did she have a loving touch?, and so forth. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 2.23.13

Diana Fletcher (1838?-?)
Seminole/African/Kiowa heritage

Diana Fletcher was the daughter of an enslaved African who ran away to seek freedom in Florida, and a Seminole woman who died on "The Trail of Tears," the forced relocation of American Indians to Oklahoma. It is said that she was separated from her father, once in Oklahoma, then adopted and raised by a Kiowa family.

Diana learned traditional Kiowa crafts from her step-mother: sewing, cooking, tanning buffalo hides, making tepees  and basket weaving.

When the members of the tribe raised enough money, they built a small school and hired a teacher. The Black Indian schools were operated by what were known as The Five Civilized Tribes: the Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminole. Some sources say Diana taught fellow Native Americans.

Diana's main accomplishment was valuing and preserving her family's history, culture and values, while, at the same time, learning to adjust and adapt to white American society. Because of ignorance, prejudice and racial hostility, the U.S. government attempted to force American Indians with African heritage, as well as all Native Americans, to reject their heritage. Because people like Diana maintained their traditions, we can now learn about their important contributions to the history of America.

The Hampton government boarding school was opened for Black students in 1868, with the intent of educating by training "the head, the hand, and the heart" so pupils could return to their communities as leaders and professionals among their people. In 1878, the institute opened its doors to American Indians. The following year, in a grand experiment led by Capt. Richard Henry Pratt, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania  was opened as a way to assimilate Indians into "civilized" society, although without the intent of returning graduates to their communities. - I Love Ancestry

Radmilla Cody is a Navajo/African-American woman. In 1997 she was Miss Navajo. It was an astonishing accomplishment. That event required a thorough knowledge of the tribe's language and customs. It was much more than a beauty contest. It was an expression, a continuation and enhancement of the nation's identity. Who won would represent the culture. 

Radmilla was raised by her Grandmother. The beauty of that is a powerful indictment against the African American community.  Had she been raised in most Black American families her Navajo lifeway would have been shoved into a bitter corner to spoil. So deep is the disdain for the other bloodlines it begs for analysis in horror. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2.24.13