Young Adult: Freedmen & Black Natives
There isn’t one way to be Native, and that includes the intersectionality of Native identity. Freedmen and Black Natives are part of Native communities. For Freedmen, their complex histories are tied back and woven throughout the Five Tribes—Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole—who enslaved people of African descent.
Each culture enriched the other. In their shared anguish as survivors of colonial conquest, Native and Black tribal people in the southeast came to depend upon one another in every facet of life, forging kinships and an inseparable bond, whether acknowledged or not, that continues to this day.
In this list, you will find books by or about Freedmen that introduce the history, joy, anguish and pride of their identities, as well as books by Black Natives who celebrate their familial traditions.
“Mvskoke Joy” by Marcella Bell in Legendary Frybread Drive-In
Author
Marcella Bell (Muscogee Freedmen)
Summary
The road to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June’s serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again. That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.
Conclusion
Knowing Freedmen’s histories and ties to Native heritage and communities helps broaden our understanding of the diversity of what it means to be Native. It’s important for Freedmen descendants and Black Native youth to see themselves and their multi-layered experiences authentically reflected in children’s literature. The following stories shed light on what it means to be of mixed-heritage in Indigenous communities, thereby giving a unique and fulfilling lens to readers, a perspective into a world not popularly known.
About the Authors
Pasha Westbrook, Stacy Wells, & Cynthia Leitich Smith
Pasha Westbrook, a Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen descendant, lives among the Arizona cacti with her husband and three beautiful boys. Braided Roots is her debut picture book. Stacy Wells (Choctaw Nation) is a youth librarian serving children from birth to teens. Her debut picture book, Stronger Than co-authored with Nikki Grimes and illustrated by E.B. Lewis (Lenni Lenape), is forthcoming in 2026 from Heartdrum. Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke Nation) is a New York Times-bestselling author of books for young readers, including Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Award. She is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books.
