As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a member of a Metis group called the Melungeons, but I’ve never considered myself in any way to be an Amerindian (that’s my preferred blanket term for the diverse group of American aboriginals, commonly known as Indians and Native Americans). We’ve never been recognized in that capacity, though another Metis group, the Lumbees, have gained some recognition from the government.
Anyway, a thread in Cafe Society on Indian movies got me thinking. I’d like to know if there are any Dopers who are members of the federally recognized Indian tribes. For that matter, are there any South American Indians or Inuit Dopers?
Yes there are. I am part Cherokee, although not officially…My ancestors escaped(or were abandoned) off of the trail of tears(so the family legend goes), and therefore there is no record of them. They refused to talk to anyone about it, not even their own children and grandchildren. When I was younger I used to get people asking me all the time what sort of indian I was (I usually told them Hekawi). I also got called all sorts of racial slurs. I don’t get that so much now that I am older.
There are some here though that are officially…Lib comes to mind.
D’oh. Forgot to add that I consider myself as a typical white American.
[slight highjack] You’d think with Native American and Mediterranean blood in me, I wouldn’t be as pale as I am but noooo, genetics aren’t as straightforward as my teahcers led me to believe. A pox on their houses! [/sh]
According to family legend, I may have some (pretty much negligible) amount of native blood. But it seems to be pretty much overwhelmed by the extremely European rest of me. My boyfriend’s a quarter Algonquin. His mother’s half and has actually been quite involved in things related to that aspect of her heritage. (She has a master’s degree in Canadian studies, with emphasis on heritage preservation, and did her thesis on Algonquin humor, despite a lot of resistance to it.) And yet they’re both nearly as pale as I am, though his mom’s siblings are considerably darker.
I guess my dreams of sunburn-resistant superchildren will come to naught… sigh
My father was half Cherokee. My mom’s mom was Choctaw. Both my folks are dark-skinned. I have very dark hair but fair skin, so I don’t look Native (unless I’m well tanned).
I was not allowed to learn of either heritage. I speak more Sioux now than either the Cherokee or Choctaw. I know more history of Plains Tribes than my own from living in Wyoming for 5 years and having Sioux, Arapahoe and Cheyenne friends.
As for self-identity, I mark Cherokee on ethnicity monitoring forms here in the UK. In US census information, my folks always made me mark white.
I am proud to be who I am, but regret not having learnt more about my family’s past.
Maternally, my grandmother (who looked very typically indian) is the result of a Comanche/Cherokee woman marrying an Irisher (who may have ben mixed, too). Doing some research of my own, I now think GreatGranny was full Comanche, not Cherokee at all. You know how family history is… Mom and some cousins look part Indian.
Dad’s fam came from Prussia to San Antonio in the 1880s or 90s, so all Eastern European there.
FTR, I don’t look very typically Indian because of my blonde hair, and I consider myself ethnicly White. But, looking at photos of the younger, thinner, more outdoorsy me, you would clearly see both sides of my genetic heritage.
1/4 Aleutian on paternal side; 1/8 Massasoit on maternal side. My older brother is very dark, but I got all the Nordic/Russian genes of my parents. I’ve been told I can’t be “Indian” cause “You don’t look it.”
I’m a small part Creek, but I couldn’t tell you how much (I get it from Mom and Dad). All I have to show for it is high cheeck bones and my grandma says I have indian shaped legs, but they look like everyone elses to me. My Irish shows through much more (fair, rosy complexion, green eyes, and strawberry-ish hair).
monster and I are part Mescalero Apache, but we are estranged from our father so we don’t know much about it. moster got the skin tone, I however am as white & freckled as can be.
I would love to be a tribal member, but I can’t really trace it. I need to get the census records since they lived on the res somewhere between 1934-1940 or so.
