We know that many whites claim to have native, especially Cherokee, ancestry. Do you think these are usually founded in reality? Would a genetic study of white Americans reveal a significant amount of admixture among people whose families have been here since colonial times?
I am always suspicious when anybody says they are part Cherokee. Because so many people say they are part Cherokee. Makes me think people just like to say Cherokee.
No white people ever claim O’odham or Kickapoo.
And I did have a friend who thought he was part native (Cherokee) who did the 23 and me. Not a Cherokee… Just a ordinary big fat German.
I don’t know about a genetic study, but don’t people have to prove lineage in order to be considered part of any certain tribe?
I have two friends (sisters) whose father was, I believe, one quarter Black Foot. Broad wrinkled face, flat cheekbones, large squashed nose, compact body. They resemble him but also their Anglo mother so lighter skin and hair. This was in East TN so not your usual Cherokee claim for that area. He’d been in WWII and I think that’s how he ended up settling there.
(Interestingly, they’re called Black Foot because the way they cured their moccasins turned them very dark.)
I am part Cherokee and Creek. I have ancestors on the Dawes rolls, and have blue and white cards. People on tribe rolls will know what those are.
I’m part (1/16) Kumeyaay. In abstract theory, I could apply for tribal membership, but, nah, that’d be absurd. I have absolutely zero cultural connection. (Well, other than a fondness for pinon nuts…)
I most certainly am part Native American although I only figured out exactly how a few years ago. It was right in front of me but hidden in family lore because of historical shame. One of my great-grandmothers who I knew exceptionally well was half Commanche and the product of a Jewish businessman that married a full-blood Commanche. For some reason, that was a huge family secret for a long time until I asked about it and let them know it wasn’t 1910 anymore. That makes me 1/16th Commanche just based on that bloodline alone but I also have some other Native American paternal bloodlines that bring it up to 1/8th.
In retrospect, it should have been obvious the whole time and it was in a way but nobody ever mentioned it when my great-grandmother or even my grandmother was alive. My great-grandmother had jet black hair even into her 80’s and my grandmother did too. My father could easily pass for a Latin American even though our last name and other heritage is English. I also have very dark hair and high cheekbones. One of my brothers could pass for a Latin American and the other looks about as native as Justin Bieber. Go figure.
I have no doubt that many people claim Native American bloodlines when they don’t really have any but a lot of white people really do. My youngest brother (the one who looks perfectly English) is the only one that ever used it to his advantage. He is classified as one of the few Native American officers in the U.S. military today.
I blame Cher.
I think that’s a southern thing. (The Cherokee were a southern tribe.) In the north, people are more likely to claim they’re part Iroquois
Yes Shagnasty having “Indian” blood used to be a thing of shame and wasn’t talked about. This is from my experiences in the '50s and '60s. But sometime in the '70s TV started having a lot of PSAs about how if you were part Native American, you were eligible for some government money? subsidies?..something. I think a lot of people “saw the light” 
and suddenly became proud of their heritage.
Thanks to the Morse Society and Ancestry, there IS a reason I told my first grade teacher my mother was Mohawk and lived in the yard in a bark house. One of her ancestresses, a Fille du Rois. was a Huron. She would have been appalled :0 to have been called Mohawk. Being a blonde blue eyed widget, me, at the time, no doubt the teacher rolled her eyes. I’m not sure if it would show if I got tested- Mom’s grandfather’s mother was the link.
My genealogical research showed that I have one named Cherokee ancestor, which of course means she has her own ancestors, but I don’t know the names beyond hers.
My mother’s aunt married a Choctaw.
I had a client many years ago who claimed he was part Cherokee, because no one ever heard of the North Carolina tribe he was REALLY from (the Lumbee) , and it was easier for him to just say ‘Cherokee’.
Oddly enough, when he met ME, I was probably one of maybe two people in the Washington State Juvenile Rehab system who knew of his real tribe. The other was my boss. We were both from the same region in North Carolina.
According to my paternal grandparents, we do have Cherokee ancestry on that side, but they’re mainly English-Irish heritage & are quite pale (dark hair & brown eyes though). I’d probably be 1/64th or something on that side.
My mother, her mother & her mother’s father are all quite dark skinned. That side is French-German heritage. Outside of my mom, they’re quite racist & I seriously doubt they would’ve honestly admitted to any native or hispanic heritage. My mom is often asked if she’s Native American or Indian (broad cheekbones, dark skin & delicate features).
I look like my mom but with glow-in-the-dark, white skintone.
Yes, I know many people who look whiter than crackers who claim 1/32 Hawaiian blood or less.
I’m something like 3/256th Menominee on my maternal grandmother’s side. Plenty of French fur trappers did marry natives.
Brian
I am a descendent of Francis Duchouquet and his Shawnee wife.
My grandmother was half Meskwaki (Fox)/half Jewish. Reminiscent of that old Shecky Green joke about Rosh-Shoshone Indians.
When I was a kid and played Cowboys and Indians, I often chose the role of Indian.
There were family stories that my grandfather (from north Florida), who had dark skin (which he claimed was from a lifetime of outdoor farm work) had native American ancestry.
He’s long dead, but my father (his son) recently had a DNA ancestry test, with some surprising results: we do have a trace of native American ancestry (<1%), but we have a much larger chunk of sub-Saharan African ancestry (doing the math backwards from my dad’s DNA test, my grandfather was probably 1/4 or 1/8 black). This is assuming these tests are accurate, of course.
I think it’s likely that this ‘story’ of native American ancestry was invented by ancestors who were afraid of the social implications of being part black to explain their darker skin tone.
I’m supposed to be 1/16th Native American, but my recent genetic testing came up empty. But then, not everything is passed on, so maybe that skipped me.
On my father’s side, that history was buried, for good reasons socially speaking. About 15 years ago my mother said that she would never have married my father if she had known he was <slur for mixed blood>.