This week we explore cultural art depicting Gullahs, Seminoles, and Black Seminoles or Seminole Maroons. Our guest is artist Johnny Montgomery, a descendant of Gullahs who were forcibly removed from West Africa and shipped in bondage to America.  He is a proud American with no hyphens.

But he is also quite proud of the Gullah people he descended from, growing up eating healthy portions of eel, crab, and grits. He said eating alligator and racoon was not out of the norm. A retired Army paratrooper with time in Vietnam’s jungle, Johnny is a veteran of the defense of Saigon during the Tet Offensive of 1968. He wore jump boots for three decades of military service that took him around the world. And then, upon retirement, he exchanged that life for a more leisurely pursuit with a brush and easel of a painter.

His artwork is a rich and deeply personal exploration of the Seminoles and Black Seminole. Johnny uses his practical knowledge and his heritage to paint history onto his canvases. Johnny Montgomery’s art is important. Single-handedly, he has given us a vision of what the Seminole of many different hues may have looked like during the Seminole Wars period. He paints robust characters with vibrant colors.  

Most importantly, he does this from perspective of a Black man. His Seminoles are not depicted stereotypically and erroneously as “savages” or “slaves.” Instead, he presents them as a real people, who were strong, fierce, brave, and resilient. A major presentation is his Battle of Okeechobee, which hangs at the Seminole Nation Museum in Wewoka, Oklahoma. He has also presented at the annual Seminole Negro Indian Scout Association’s gathering in Brackettville, Texas.

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 

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