Buffalo Tiger: A Life in the Everglades a Life in the Everglades (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780803213173)

In 1959 a group of Miccosukee Indians, frustrated in their attempts to gain official recognition by the United States, met with Fidel Castro and were recognized by the Cuban government. The man behind this unprecedented move to provoke the United States 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.

This book is the story of Buffalo Tiger's life, told in his own words. Born in a small village in the Everglades in 1920, Buffalo Tiger grew up immersed in the traditional customs and language of the Miccosukees. Making their home for generations in the remote reaches of the Everglades, the Miccosukees were able to retain much of their older way of life well into the twentieth century. 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. He and other Miccosukees fought for years to escape the shadow of the larger, better known, and more politically powerful Seminoles. As the first tribal chairman of the Miccosukees, Buffalo Tiger oversaw the adoption of a tribal constitution and worked diligently for 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., strikingly illuminate a memorable life, a tireless leader, and an Indian community still proud to call the "River of Grass" its home.

Author: Buffalo Tiger, Harry A. Kersey
ISBN-10: 0803213174
ISBN-13: 9780803213173
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Language: English
Published: 06/01/2002
Pages: 184
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.99lbs
Size: 9.24h x 6.32w x 0.85d

Review Citation(s):
Multicultural Review 03/01/2003 pg. 74
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2003 pg. 110 - Recommended/Regional General