When blacks would go into Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and live with the Creeks, they had the opportunity to marry into the tribe. When they did, they became a member of the tribe. This is the story of the Simmons family. It tells the history of their family from Cow Tom, the first member of the family to be a Black Creek who was a chief of the tribe, through his present-day descendants who had their citizenship in the Creek Nation taken from them in 1979 when the Creeks wrote a new constitution that fell in line with what the U.S. Government wanted for them to have more autonomy over their tribal culture, lives, and government. The family and other Black Creek families are trying to get the Black Creek citizenship returned to them and have shown through their genealogies that they are blood Creeks.

I found this book fascinating on so many levels. Obviously, I enjoyed the Simmons Family history. I liked reading of their successes and prosperity as they were treated like people in the Creek Nation. I liked seeing the opportunities for them before the white settlers came into Indian Territory after the Civil War. The U.S. government broke treaties with the tribes and forced their bigoted roles onto the tribes, especially Black members of those tribes.

Reading the history and culture of the Creeks was interesting. I learned so much that I was never taught in school. I also liked learning some of the history of Oklahoma. I knew little of it and have only recently learned of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. I appreciated knowing it still affects the race relations between Tulsa residents.

I liked that Mr. Gayle puts his experiences into the book since his family only moved to Oklahoma when he was eight. I liked how he takes the history of the Black Creeks and thinks about its effect on him today. It makes me think also of how much I need to learn of the Black experience and the negative impact that still abounds within the Black community from slavery, Jim Crow laws, police brutality, and white privledge and apathy.

This is a book all people need to read. It opened my eyes to how much we are not taught and how much is whitewashed or ignored. Very well written and worth your time though it is a hard book to read. ( )

nonfiction, Black and Indigenous American history, (systemically racist) historical policy effects on the ability to recognize complex identities, among other rights.

interesting and well worth learning about, though the way all the information is spliced together sometimes makes the narrative arc harder to follow. But there's value in telling each person's stories, and for showing how complex the issues are. Recommended. ( )