Let me preface by saying I am one of those whites who can trace their blood back to Native Americans. And I don’t have to go that far-my dad. Despite my pale white skin, I have the last name to prove it.
I have an answer to the original post. The reason you wil find a lot of whites claiming Native American ancestery but not black ancestery is the approach white Americans have officially and unofficially taken with each race over roughly the period 1860-1970.
Both groups, Native Americans and African Americans, were viewed as inferior by white Europeans/Americans for much of this country’s history, with pockets of that belief lingering today. There was a difference in the beliefs directed towards each group, however.
Whites had very peacefully intermingled with Native Americans. This peaceful intermingling was at times genuine (French Fur traders and Native Americans in the modern Midwest and Canada), and at times self serving (eastern settlements partially dependent on peace with and help from tribes in order to survive). Despite the general belief that Native Americans were “savages”, there was also a respect at some level for them because of willingness to defend themselves and there ability to not tame nature, but to thrive in spite of it. Also, to mainland Europe, their was a mystique and romance to this “exotic” peoples. It didn’t hurt that written reports back to Europe during early settlement of the hemisphere tended to be erotic because of there stories of naked men warriors and beautiful women. By the time the Civil War ended, despite the fact that physical extermination of “troublesome” Native Americans was still an American goal, there was also a fictional romance to the Native American.
As Extermination became less and less a viable option to America, assimiliation became the preferred method of eliminating the Native culture. It was accepted at high levels of government and academia that Native Americans were capable of being “equal” to whites if they were just folded into the anglo gene pool. I could go into all the aspects of assimilation, but it would take to long for this post. Needless to say, anglo America was prepared to accept the “white” Indian. While the policy of assimilation was all but given up on by the mid '70’s, the acceptance of the “white Indian” and the fictional romance of all Native Americans lingered. Hence, whites are very willing to tell others they are decended from a Native American (in an interesting aside, whites are more likely to claim to be descended from a female Native American, and not a male. Another story, another time.)
Meanwhile, the black was subjegated to whites prior to 1865. The whites had a feeling of superiority over the black that exceeded that of their feelings towards the Indian, because while they decimated the Indians, they never fully controlled them, owned them. The fact that whites had so much power over the black populace led them to believe that the black was actually a lower life form, an animal. They gave the Indian credit for having some humanity because they did not have total control over them. After emancipation, segregation becomes policy. Keep them apart from the whites. Let white children be taught all of the horrible stereotypes, without ever having to get to know a black man or woman, so there minds aren’t opened up to the fact that all of those stereotypes aren’t true. Therefore, a white would gladly cover up black ancestory because a)it was embarrassing because of the societal stigma of the times, and b) Usually the the union of the person’s mother and father (usually black mother and white father) was eligitament, even rape.
Also, a lot times it is difficult for a child of mixed ancestery to pass as white, for obvious reasons. Therefore, these children often remained in the Native American or Black community, unless a white male married a Native Woman, which was fairly acceptable. As a result, the white genetics would often get “washed out” by marriages and children in the black, segregated community. The result is what we see as a black person with white blood. In the Native American community, Native women could marry a white man, bringing the mixed blood child into the white community, allowing for further marriages, children with whites, leading to “whites with native blood”. In addition, assimilation encouraged Native Americans to leave the reservation for the white community. Such is my case, where a Native American man leaves the reservation, marries a white woman, has a mixed child with her. That mixed child then has a white child (me) with a white woman.
I have studied this and written papers on it. I do not have citations in what I wrote, because I would need to dig up all of my college research. I will cite if asked, just give me time. Sorry for the length,but it is not a two sentence story to tell. I made things very general because of space constraints, so if anyone wants to hit me for generaliztion, I’ll gladly go specific. It’ll just take you three days to read what I write (as opposed to the four hours to read this).