The Portal to Texas History 2025 Research Fellowship Awardee
Mark Mallory
Project Title
Where Rests John Horse?: Memory, Gender, and Sustained Racial Illegibility in the Black Seminole Diaspora
Project Description
Rooted in close collaboration with Black Seminole community members, I draw on original oral accounts and a wide range of primary sources to examine the contested representation and frequent erasure of Black Seminoles since the nineteenth century. My work examines and contextualizes how these representations have abounded in songs, films, children’s books, paintings, school curricula, museum exhibits, tourism materials, public monuments, and government documents.
Biography
Mark Mallory is a PhD candidate in History at Texas A&M University and an oral history volunteer with the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association. He received his M.A. in history from the University of Louisiana in 2021. In close collaboration with Black Seminole community organizations and community members from Texas and Coahuila, Mallory’s research explores the tensions between Black Seminole lived experiences and representations of Black Seminole history found in songs, films, children’s books, school curricula, public monuments, museum exhibits, and other media. Using English, Spanish, and Afro-Seminole Creole, Mallory has collected in-depth oral accounts from a range of community members in this Texas-Coahuila transborder region, primarily women and community elders.
