Am I black or am I Indian? An examination of the marginality of the Estelusti

This study focused on the ways in which the Estelusti (Black Seminoles/Seminole Freedmen) negotiated their marginality within the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and with non-Freedman blacks. Using content analysis, I analyzed ten in-depth interviews of card carrying Estelusti through the prism of Weisberger’s (1992) general theory of marginality. Weisberger’s theory of marginality contends that the marginal person or group is caught in a structure of double ambivalence that is negotiated via usage of one or more of four response patterns: assimilation, poise, return, and transcendence. Although poise was the most discernible response pattern employed by the Estelusti, further research is needed.