NEW ORLEANS – In June 2008, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma re-interred a Seminole woman who had died while a prisoner of war at Jackson Barracks, in New Orleans.

A year later, the Seminole Nation sent a delegation to Fort Pike and Jackson Barracks, in New Orleans to dedicate a plaque in honor of Seminole War Chief Jumper and all the Seminole men and women who died in route to Indian territory as prisoners of war.

“By enacting resolutions declaring these burial sites as sacred sites, the Seminole tribal government formally recognized the Indian Removal Act and other federal Indian policies as a grave injustice to the American Indian,” said Ted Underwood, Seminole Nation tribal member.

“Historically, the ceremony was important, moving and emotional. From a personal standpoint we have a more realistic understanding of the suffering our ancestors went through and what we are today because it. The sacrifices our people endured have sustained us through the years as a people who survive,” said Seminole Chief Enoch Kelly Haney.

Honoring Seminole Ancestors took place June 14 at Fort Pike and Jackson Barracks in New Orleans.