By: Jackie Hardy, NDG Contributing Writer
Dr. Belinda Noah grew up in a small Floridian town called Live Oak of Suwannee County. Noah credits her passion for wanting to tell the story about the strength and character of Black Seminoles that sprang from her childhood.
“When I was very young, my father, unfortunately, had an accident on the farm. A tractor turned over on him, and he lost his leg, so as he was recuperating during that time, he would entertain me by telling me stories,” explains Noah. This incident prompted her interest and lifelong quest to learn more about the history and family of the Black Seminoles.
Noah is an accomplished attorney practicing law ranging in International Law, Bankruptcy and Debt, Contracts, and Agreements for more than 20 years. Noah received her Jurist Doctorate degree from Florida State University in Tallahassee. She completed a Masters of Law for the Doctorate of Juridical Science Program at Widener University in Wilmington, DE.
In addition to her career in the legal profession, Noah has taught Environmental Law and Health Law at the university level as well as served as a visiting International Professor at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Noah can now add screenwriting to her impressive resume. In a telephone interview with the North Dallas Gazette, she also pointed to her prior experience within the media and communications industry before she began working on this current project.
“I was the first lawyer to start a legal talk show where I provided legal tips to the audience from A to Z, and I also produced videos years ago that looked at the historical facts surrounding the Jim Crow laws that existed in the United States back in the 1800s and early 1900s.”
Her recent project, “Princess Hialeah and the Black and Seminole Indians,” is a screenplay she wrote based on a book she authored 20 years ago entitled, “The Black Seminoles.”
“When I wrote the book, it was always my desire to initially write the screenplay for a motion picture. I’ve been interested in little known historical facts concerning African American, minority, and it has really concerned me that there’s just not much in the history books about true contributions that they’ve made and young people are not being educated concerning those contributions,” she adds on what led her to do this project.
Black Seminoles were also known as Seminole Maroons or Seminole Freedmen. They were a group of blacks and runaway slaves that joined forces with the Seminole Indians in Florida from the time approximately between the 1700s-1800s, per an article written by Kathleen Kuiper, former Senior Arts & Culture Editor of Encyclopedia Britannica.
According to Kuiper, throughout the 18th century, many free blacks and runaway slaves went to Florida, where they lived peaceably with the Seminole Indians. In 1693, slavery was abolished in the Spanish territory of Florida, in which the area became a safe haven for runaway slaves.
There were three wars fought within the Seminole tribe between the early to mid-1800s. The First Seminole War (1817-1818), was the most significant as it relates to African Americans. The premise of this war was an attempt by the United States government to recapture runaway black slaves living among Seminole groups. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, this war was led by General Andrew Jackson, where U.S. military forces invaded the area and ultimately seized Spanish-controlled Pensacola and St. Marks.
In the screenplay, Princess Hialeah is a fictional character loosely based on real-life characters of the Indigenous people of Florida. According to Noah, the story unfolds through the eyes of the protagonist, Seminole Princess Hialeah, as she struggles to live her mystical life in Florida that has been turned upside down amid the backdrop of the First, Second and Third Seminole Wars.
Noah hopes the film, once produced and released, will have not only an entertainment factor but also an educational one. As she intentionally hopes this story will give more attention to the adverse affects genocide has had on blacks and Indigenous people throughout history.
“In some respects, it changed the people psychologically,” Noah explains in regards to the damage genocide had, particularly on the Indigenous people both in the Black Native American and White Native American communities.
Noah is seeking to tell a story appealing to the majority of the population while remaining true to the story. She considered having a protagonist like Princess Hialeah to speak to the maternal aspect of the culture, while at the same time addressing the cohesiveness of the family in how they work together to achieve their goals.
“I was inspired by the need to educate the world concerning little known, but true history of the Indigenous people of Florida and the United States and that we were thriving and very successful long before Columbus arrived.”
According to Noah, this film will not only tell the struggles of the Black Seminoles but will celebrate the tenacity and endurance of its people, and that’s the message she hopes will resonate loud and clear to the audience.
“It’s based on a true story about African Indigenous people who faced the worst unimaginable form of genocide, racism, and other atrocities yet they still survived…they survived because of perseverance, courage, character, and love of family, people, and Nation. I think that if people hold onto those principles today and in the future, we will continue to survive and thrive, so that’s the message I want to deliver,” she adds.
Noah still needs financial investors, and she explains it is her desire to partner with an established film producer within the entertainment industry to help bring her dream to fruition.
For more information about how to partner with Dr. Belinda Noah in bringing this film to life, contact her via phone at 813-808-5351 or via email at info@belindanoahproductions.org or visit her website at www.belindanoahproductions.org.
Hello, my name is melissa johnson. I just learned my grandmother was a pure Seminole and my grand dad was a runaway slave for Georgia. I would like to see there story told. And the restitution that they deserve.
My name is Howard W Russell Jr both of my parents were from Florida and I would like to know could you point me in the right direction about finding out about if I have any native American history in my family
Hello, my father did some research many years ago in the 70’s. He had a plaque with our history that’s long gone. He knew he was of black Seminole decent. His family was from New Smyrna Beach. He’s since passed and I’d like to get information on our family history and don’t know where to begin.