W. T.Neal Civic Center

The Apalachicola River Indian Community Conference will be held on Saturday, March 17th at 6 pm at the W.T. Neal Civic Center in Blountstown Florida, and everyone is welcome to attend. Since 1996, the Annual Apalachicola River Indian Community Conference has worked to document the identity, history and cultural traditions of the descendants of the historic Indian settlements of Scott Town, Scotts Ferry, and Woods, and to advocate for the Indian families of the panhandle, whether of Creek, Lumbee, or Euchee (Dominicker) ancestry.
This year the conference will feature several presentations. Marcus Briggs-Cloud of the ‘College of the Muscogee Nation’ in Okmulgee, Creek Nation is producing a documentary with filmmaker Maria Gomez on the Indian communities in north Florida and South Alabama, and will be present with Mrs. Gomez to answer questions. Mr. Briggs-Cloud is a board member of ‘Cultural Survival’ (culturalsurvival.org), an international non-profit organization of the UN dedicated to the preservation of native cultures and languages, which was chartered by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to advocate for the tribal peoples globally.
Also on the agenda are the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Federal Acknowledgements decision on the Muscogee nation of Florida’s (formerly Florida Tribe of Eastern Creek Indians) petition for federal recognition slated for April of 2012, and an update on the Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw Indians Congressional Bill for federal recognition. As well, we will discuss the release in June of 2011 of the “Indians of North Florida” (by Christopher Scott Sewell and S. Pony Hill) through Backintyme Publishers (available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles, and others) will be discussed and a limited number of copies will be available to community members. It is a legal and social history of families identified as Indian in the panhandle during the segregation era, concentrating in the central panhandle counties.
This book has genealogical information and documents concerning the Ammons, Ayers, Barnwell, Bass, Bennett, Bird, Blanchard, Boggs, Brown, Bullard, Bunch, Butts, Bryant, Chason, Chavis/Chavers, Conyers, Copeland, Davis, Doyle, Forehand, Goins, Hall, Harris, Hicks, Hill, Holly, Ireland, Jacobs, Johnson, Jones, Kever, Laramore, Long, Lovett, Mainer, Martin, Mayo, Moses, Oxendine, Perkins, Porter, Potter, Rollin, Rowe, Scott, Simmons, Smith, Stafford, Stephens, Stone, Sweat, Thomas, Whitfield, and Williams families, all of which relate to persons identified as ‘Indian’ on primary historical documents (census, military, court, voter, and educational records) in Calhoun, Holmes, Liberty, and Jackson Counties. There will be a meal served at 6 pm and special presentations to community members.
For more information or question contact Chris Sewell (918) 402-3666 or go to northfloridaindians.org