Dear Abby,
Some distant cousin of mine married a Native American. I don’t know what tribe, never met either of them, and don’t even recall their names. I can still lay claim to “Native American blood” in my family, right?
Well, Native Americans are a small minority of the population of the US now, but were a large majority of the North American population at one point. So for those whose ancestors were here early, the odds seem likely. Also, Native Americans were enslaved along with Africans. That would have been another likely way for there to be interracial children.
I remember once being at a sci-fi convention. I was helping run the party room and was being harassed by a woman for my failure to purchase enough diet soda to fulfill the needs of the many diabetic convention goers. I was apologetic, but nothing seemed to satisfy this woman and somewhere in the midst of this she went off on a rant about the woes of being the victim of racism, as a Cherokee woman.
As this woman had very Anglo-Saxon features and was roughly on par with my skin tone (I’m a pale redhead) this was…a surprising assertion from her, to say the least. Are the Cherokee a freckly people?
Except for the Bantu. The Bantu just suck.
Seriously though, I have one friend who claims Native American heritage. He also holds a romanticized view of them.
My family hasn’t been in America very long. I have no idea what was going on back in Romania, Ukraine, Germany, or Austria.
I do know I had a great grandfather who spoke 5 languages including a dialect of Chinese. I feel my own ancestors are enough to make me feel like inadequate crap without borrowing other people’s heritage.
If someone is completely fabricating Native American ancestry, or inflating a small degree of ancestry into a large degree of ancestry, or embracing their Native Ancestry in an attempt to shun other aspects of their ancestry, I suppose I can understand why it would bother you, but it doesn’t really bother me unless their motivation for doing so is trying to fraudulently collect on benefits/services that exist to specifically assist Native Americans.
As far as what resonates with people, or what they find personally compelling about their ancestry…it seems entirely too subjective of a set of emotions to judge people for.
I suppose the way I think about it is to try and put myself in the shoes of a Native American ancestor looking forward in time at my future descendants. I would rather they acknowledge their connection to me rather than deny it, even if that connection is slight.
Exactly so. Anyone who has at least some ancestors who have been here since the 1600s likely has some Native American blood. And in the South, at least, that takes in a large portion of the population (white and black).
Also, with respect to the “Cherokee princess” claim, the fact is there was a lot of mixing going on in what is now the tri-state region of Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Google “melungeon” to see what I mean. It’s not at all surprising that Cherokee ancestry would be among the most common. Creek ancestry is probably also pretty common in these parts, but less commonly claimed, because, yes, there is a certain romantic aspect to having Cherokee ancestry. I suspect that a lot of people who have an oral history of having Native American ancestry leap to the conclusion that the ancestor was Cherokee rather than Creek.
You can’t throw a rock and not hit someone who has some Native American ancestry, and you are correct upthread, they all seem to be Cherokee.
Not me. My great grandmother was a bona fide Indian Squaw! Of course, we screwed up and were part Kaw (or Kansa if you prefer) a nasty bunch, from what I gather. However, the cool thing is, damn near everyone that claims they are Kaw, also claims Charles Curtis as a relation. And, I have a cool family photo of a blind school somewhere in Oklahoma with TWO genuine Indian Princesses! TWO! And blind to boot!
Now, I only say this because if it was at all possible to open up a casino on the droplets of NA blood I may have in me, I’d do it in a second. But other than that? When they found that bogus Bigfoot in the hills of northern Georgia, I thought they had rooted out a lost cousin or uncle of mine.
Trust me, Indians in the closet would be a definite improvement.
There is definitely something intrinsically cool about NA heritage that makes EVERYONE want to claim it. Consider this story: I have extra nerves in several of my teeth, so one day out of idle curiosity I Googled this trait. To my surprise, I discovered it is common among NA. I happened to mention this trivial tidbit to my husband in front of our son, who was 8 or 9 at the time. He immediately became enthusiastic that he had NA heritage.
Mind you, this kid, although American, has never even lived in the US.
In the same way, South African couloured people love to claim San or Khoi (Bushman) ancestory and White Australians love to trace thier ancestry back to the “original settlers” (read: deported criminals).
Anything that makes you unique, just like everybody else, I guess…
Grim
I knew a girl who claimed that she was part-Indian because she had these teeth in the back of her mouth called “talon cusps” that were supposedly only found in some Indian tribe and were “for chewing corn.” She was really hot and I wanted to fuck her.
In Anthony Kiedis’s book he mentions that “I recently discovered that I have some Mohican heritage, which would explain my love of nature” or something like that. That is absurd. I guess he believes in racial memories or something. He also believes in heroin and cocaine, because literally on every other page of that book he’s either quitting heroin and cocaine, or using heroin and cocaine again, and the book is like 700 pages long.
(Thanks, Argent. I was just considering reading it. But I’ve already seen that movie.)
I just stepped in to second Nzinga, Seated’s point in the OP: African culture is way cool. I particularly am fascinated with the ancient-world aspect of it. All the trading and visiting of each others’ royal courts bearing exotic gifts, and the libraries they established, and all that. I really like any historical contexts which remind me that humans have, at times, had a genuine respect and regard for each others’ cultures and sovereignty. At least until a skirmish broke out. But you know what I mean.
? I am pure, whitebread american of pure european roots - although I will conceed that there is a mild possibility that some non-celtic genes crept in back in imperial Roman times. Scots, Welsh, Manx, and a small admix of French and a fair amount of German.
I make absolutely no claim to being american indian, but since the 1600 parts of us are pure North American born in the area now known as United States native american mutts. Actually, you have to go back almost 200 years to find someone who wasn’t born in the continental US in my family tree.
mrAru actually does have an indian woman married into his family tree back in 1730ish. One. Single. Makes him less than 1/300th or something absurd like that[you do the math] and he considers himself to be 100% white anglo saxon protestant american.
So your saying you can’t tell people about ancestors that really are part of your family? You have a bad attitude. Those ancestors are as important as the other ones I guess you still allow people to talk about.
Oh, yeah, common as dirt among white folks, and a lot of them romanticize it, too.
As it happens, THIS white chick knows she absolutely positively does not have any NA in her background. Nada. For a brief period when I was a child I wanted to have NA ancestors because it seemed everyone else did, but I got over it.
Also as it happens, my husband does have NA in his background and yes, it is the Ubiquitous Cherokee. In his case, however, he remembers spending time with the great grandmother in question, there is photographic evidence, and other documentation of this woman so I’m reasonably sure in his case it’s completely legit.
However, he also is culturally and visually “white boy”, has never claimed to be NA on any census form, never even thought of trying to utilize one of the NA-reserved programs the government has, or anything of the sort. About the only effect it has on him is a lack of body hair compared to a pure Caucasian and an ability to get a really nice tan in the summer. Oh, and he wound up diabetic but that happens to white people, too. Nor does his family seem to romanticize their “Cherokee blood”. Fact is, his family has lived in an area originally owned by the Cherokee for over 300 years, it would be a little surprising if they didn’t have some NA in their background. What’s unusual is that they have a recent and very identifiable Cherokee ancestor.
I thought you kept the indians in the cupboard?
Harmonious Discord, I think the thing is that this is coming from people who have had no personal contact with the NA culture they ‘came’ from. It has had no effect on shaping who they are. It’s interesting to note, but saying you’re ‘part Cherokee’ when the last full-blooded ancestor in your family died 200+ years ago…I can totally understand where the OP is coming from.
Why can’t it be Iriquois or Sioux (no, I don’t know all the names of the tribes that get lumped in to Sioux). How about Blackfeet? Something. Anything…
My ancestry on these shores dates back to the late 1600s. No doubt I have some black and some NA blood in there somewhere-the Kentucky portion of my family were small farm holders who owned 1 or 2 slaves. Since I most closely resemble Casper the Ghost, have been told I look more British than anything else and don’t really care, I don’t claim any NA or black blood. I also look askance at those who claim “celtic” heritage (or should that be Celtic?)–you know, the ones who claim their ancestors come from Tara (in Ireland, not from GWTW) and had witches for progenitors etc. :dubious:
Why we all can’t just be Mr and Ms Noone Special from Nowhere in Particular baffles me. It’s like those previous life people–they’re all from King Louis’ court or Egyptian princesses or concubines to Pharoah etc. Funny how no one ever claims to be the daughter of Sarah in the Bible or some scullery maid’s descendant from a Victorian workhouse.
Also psychotically horrific and suicidally stupid. Like every other major culture. It’s foolish to romanticize the past, and ancestry is not a personal accomplishment.
I must admit I find it strange sometimes when my US friends claim all manner of British heritage. Yes, we sent boatloads of settlers over there but they wanted to get away from this county - why on earth would you want to claim heritage here? What’s so great about it? What does it give you, that your US heritage doesn’t?
I suppose I don’t really understand it because I’m English. My parents are English, my grandparents were English, in fact we’re English as far back as we can find. Yes, somewhere centuries ago we might have been Angles or Saxons, or Normans after the invasion, but essentially we’re English and always have been. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest that I can’t claim my family came from some mystic isle out in the mists…it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still me.
Yeah. When embracing and celebrating one’s history and culture, it is traditional to kinda focus in on the good parts.
Listen, I appreciate how foreward thinking you are, I really do, but in my opinion, one of the joys in life is acknowledging all of the beauty of all of the cultures of the world. I suspect a lot of these folks don’t see the beauty of black and African culture because this society hasn’t glorified it, as it has with the Native Americans.
And for the record, I am not expecting black folks with a “full blooded Cherokee Indian Grandmother” to deny that aspect of their heritage; I am saying I believe 99% of these folks to be either lying or flat out wrong.
I’m in an interesting situation on this discussion. Many years ago I had my name legally changed, and the last name I chose was one that I plucked out of my own head. What didn’t occur to me at the time was that it sounds like a Native American name; I am often asked by people when they first hear it if I’m Native American, despite the fact that I look nothing like anyone’s image of one (brown hair, beard, blue-gray eyes). In fact, there’s no chance that I have any NA ancestry, since all my grandparents came to this country from Germany, Ireland and Italy.