Today in Labor History November 15, 1842: 20 enslaved African-Americans, owned by the Cherokee, escaped and tried to reach Mexico, where slavery had been abolished since 1829, in the largest Slave Revolt ever in the Cherokee Nation. Along their way south, they were joined by 15 slaves escaping from the Creek Nation in Indian Territory. Some Native Americans held war captives as slaves, even prior to European colonization of the Americas. This included the Haida, and numerous tribes from the Pacific Northwest. And many more Indigenous people were captured and enslaved by the Europeans during the colonization process. A small number of tribes also held African-Americans as slaves. While many other tribes gave sanctuary to African-Americans who had escaped slavery, incorporating them into their societies, like the Seminole.

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