REFLECTIONS

Number 126 in a series

Those tribal members who were children at Musa Isle in the 1920's and 1930's will remember Allan Davis. You may be surprised to know that at 94 he is still going strong. He retired about ten years ago from a shell and curio business which he opened 47 years ago near Pensacola. His sons continue the business, but Allan still walks into the store with a cup of coffee every morning.

I first met Allan Davis in 1980, referred to him by Cory Osceola's family. The Davis' and the Osceola's continued to keep up with each other after all those years. For my research on the Seminoles on Exhibition, a study of the new twentieth century economy based on tourism, Allan helped recreate the era of the Musa Isle Seminole Village in Miami, the most important of all the commercial Seminole Villages.

Allan did everything at Musa Isle to keep the attraction operational. He doctored animals, worked in the Trading Post, filled in as alligator wrestler, and he lectured to the tourists on Seminole customs.

When the promoter Max Kimmerer planned to take a Florida exhibit complete with a Seminole Village to Toronto for the Canadian National Exhibition in 1932 (and later to the Century of Progress in Chicago in 1933, and to the New York World's Fair in 1939), it was Allan who was in charge of the Seminole contingency. Josie Billie and William McKinley Osceola usually recruited the families who would participate. Once, they took Davis into the Big Cypress to locate families who they felt would financially benefit from such a trip. While these shows paid huge salaries to the mostly i.laponathi. (with some Creek) participants, there were drawbacks. The two latter engagements were for over six months and saw some cool weather!

On the first trip, Allan drove an old school bus all the way to Toronto, then to an additional engagement at the State Fair of Texas. At night, they camped by the side of the road. The women fixed their fires and cooked and everyone slept in the woods. The late L. Mike Osceola was told by his uncle Frank Willie that they had allot of fun on the road. They could not read maps, but at night when they camped, someone would ask, "Which way's Miami? Which way's home?" Willie, who had been raised in the days of canoe travel, would gaze at the stars in the nighttime sky and with the skill of a navigator, would point to the southern horizon, "There!"

The later trips that Davis and Seminole families took to expositions were made by train. Besides Seminole families, boxcars were loaded with cypress logs, poles and fans to thatch the village chickees. One of Allan Davis' favorite images was recalled on the New York World's Fair trip in 1939. On the morning of April 18 they arrived in New York City. It was breakfast time. The 50 Seminoles ate their breakfast, sitting in a circle on the marble floor of New York's Penn Station. The media must have been taken by the image too, as it was described on the Wire Service.

Davis' job trying to keep everyone in the Seminole Villages happy and content was not an easy one. How to make a home-away-from-home? Even at $50.00 per week (which was a very good salary back then), money did not combat homesickness. To combat the cold, Davis installed heaters in the chickees and bought tennis shoes for the women. But the six month trips were trying for everyone. Where was he to find grits "up north" in New York for making o'they (sofkee)? Davis had to order 100 pound sacks from a distributor in Kentucky. He partitioned off areas of the village so that the Seminoles could have some additional privacy and tried keep everyone content. How fortunate that in the midst of sell out crowds, in the middle of the nation's largest attractions of the day in Chicago and New York, down the street from "Bring 'em Back Alive" and Ripley's "Believe it or Not!", the Seminole Village retained its solidarity. Continuing to function in its traditional way, it was indeed a home-away-from-home!

Some of the individuals and families who were participants on the expo trips with Allan Davis were: The Johnny Busters, Junior and Mary with Sally Johns, Katie and Josie Jumper with Laura Mae and Moses, George Osceola, Chestnut Billie, Josie Billie, Frank Willie, Joe Henry Tiger, Mary and Ruby Tiger, Homespun Billie, and L. Mike Osceola. If you participated, but are not listed, please call or have a relative contact me at (954) 463-3653 (collect).