My family, on my mom s side, has the same belief (well, some of them, anyway), and as with yours, th

But here methinks I can hear you observe What! Englishmen intermarry with Indians? But I can convince you they are guilty of much more heinous practices, more unjustifiable in the sight of God and man. . . for many base wretches amongst us take up with negro women, by which means the country swarms with mulatto bastards, and these mulattoes, if but three generations removed from the black father or mother, may, by the indulgence of the laws of the country, intermarry with the white people, and actually do every day so marry. Now, if instead of this abominable practice which hath polluted the blood of many amongst us, we had taken Indian wives in the first place, papers need to travel to canada it would have made them some compensation papers need to travel to canada for their lands. . . . We should become rightful heirs to their lands, and should not have smutted our blood . . . The Reverend Peter Fontaine of Virginia, in a letter to his brother Moses, dated March 30, 1757 There's long been a belief among the many family members on my father's side that my father's papers need to travel to canada grandmother was "part Indian." From what I've gathered, such claims are common in white families in the United States. White claims about what may be just as likely -- being part black -- are almost non-existent. I would like to know what percentage of Americans who self-identify as white contain non-white blood, but reading around on the topic tells me that any particular statistics are not universally accepted by genealogical and DNA experts. Also, since so many people who did have African or Native blood and could pass for white did so, only DNA tests for a large percentage of white Americans could provide reliable percentages (but even then, the tests themselves papers need to travel to canada aren't necessarily reliable -- the "Native American" results, for example, papers need to travel to canada could be confused with Asian ancestry, given the geographic origins of Native Americans). According to a Guardian article by Paul Harris on the increasing popularity of genetic testing, "One-third of white Americans, papers need to travel to canada according to some tests, will possess between two and 20 per cent African papers need to travel to canada genes. The majority of black Americans have some European ancestors." (I've yet to find informed estimates of white Americans with Native American genes -- please tell us in a comment if you know of any.) Harris points out that "Native Americans are growing in numbers, not because of a high birth rate, but because many Americans are discovering unknown native ancestors written in their DNA." I doubt the same discovery about African American blood is causing that recorded population to increase. Given the regularity with which white Americans impregnated slaves in order, among other reasons, to increase their "property" (and then going on, in some cases, to sell their own children), and again, given the ability of many light-skinned "black" Americans to pass into white society -- given these and other factors, I would think that DNA tests for whites probably turn up more African American than Native American blood. And yet, few white people who find black blood probably go on to proclaim their black ancestry, while many who find Native American blood do go on to proclaim that ancestry. I should also note that white people in the United States are not the only ones who hope to find Native American ancestry. Many African Americans seek it as well, and significant interaction between the two groups means that some find it. And many Latino/a Americans, of course, don't have to search far at all to find their Native American roots. Some of the white Americans who take DNA tests or search census and birth records for Native American ancestry do so in the hopes of claiming financial benefits. As Harris writes, Native papers need to travel to canada Americans often complain they are swamped by "American Indian Princess syndrome," because every white person wants native DNA in their past. In a world of minority grants, scholarships and Indian gambling rights, any debate over DNA and race could easily also become an argument over resources. Some of these questing white Americans just want to know "who they are." This strikes me as a a dubious quest -- would finding some Native American or black blood really make a person who was raised white, looks white, and gets taken and treated as white, any more "black" or "Indian"? It's also clear that most white people looking for Native American ancestry are hoping to establish a more romanticized papers need to travel to canada connection to Indian-ness. A connection based in, and stuck in, the past, much more so than the present. These are the white searchers (sometimes called " pretendians ") who hope to fill up a certain emptiness in their bleached-out, whitened identity, papers need to travel to canada but want little part of actual, ongoing Native American struggles. Many of them will never go to a reservation to experience the results of white genocidal practices , even if they do find Native American blood in their DNA. They're rarely papers need to travel to canada willing to fight for treaty rights , nor help with such contemporary problems as compulsory sterilization or substance abuse . Indeed, papers need to travel to canada they're rarely willing to even acknowledge these problems, or do much of anything else that goes beyond vague, sentimental ideas of supposedly authentic Indian-ness. So why do a lot of white people cherish the possibility of Native American papers need to travel to canada blood so much more than that of African American blood, even when the latter may well be a more likely part of their background? I think as with the cherished Native American possibility, their distaste and sometimes even disgust for the possibility of black ancestors is based on received notions from the past, but also on those of the present. Ever since slavery in the U.S. was limited to black people papers need to travel to canada in order to divide them from working white people, they've been the most despised racial group. Any sober look at today's American culture in general papers need to travel to canada -- the primary source of our received notions about other people -- would reveal that disdain for racial minorities continues to be strongest for black people. Actually, papers need to travel to canada common white notions of American Indians are also largely ingested from current papers need to travel to canada cultural imagery, from "brave" or "noble" team mascots, to the continued predominance of TV and movie images of long-gone Indians over accurate representations of the remaining ones actually living today. As gwen notes in a Sociological Images post on this anachronistic tendency in non-indigenous appreciation of "Indian art," This tendency is apparent in other elements of U.S. culture, of course: movies like Dances with Wolves, books about noble savages, and conflicts over what types of technologies American Indians can use when spear fishing papers need to travel to canada (with non-Indians arguing Indians should only be able to use the methods that their tribes used in the 1800s) all indicate a wider perception that authentic Indians should inhabit a time-warp universe in which their cultures and lifestyles have remained basically unchanged since the late 1800s or early 1900s, a requirement we don t ask of other groups. As far as I know, no one in my family has taken a DNA test to settle the question of whether we actually papers need to travel to canada have Native American ancestors. If some of my relatives do decide to do it, I hope I get a chance to talk to them about just what it is they're really looking for. I'd also like to know what they plan to do if they find something else.
There is the father s-grandmother myth in my family too. I made a joke about this very thing the other week, and had a (white)someone approach me privately saying, very self righteously, I m not offended, but you should know my great grandmother is Native. Reply Delete honeybrown1976 June 16, 2009 at 9:24 AM
It s hilarious. The tribe of choice is always Cherokee as though they were the only ones. Also, they like to say that their relative was a princess. Until that is, I inform papers need to travel to canada them that princesses did not exist. As far as AAs making claim, the likelihood is a little greater considering that many runaway slaves were protected by Native Americans. However, that being said, not everyone can claim it. My husband s grandmothers are in fact both half-Native American (as well as black and European) and boy does it show. Countless times he and my youngest son are approached about their features (e.g. nose, lips, cheeks). But, they don t feel the need to put it out there ALL THE TIME. Reply Delete RiPPa June 16, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Thank you RiPPa, that s good to see! I ve been appreciating your blog for awhile now too. Hello alicia! Thanks for the great story g, that s sadly hilarious. Yes honeybrown1976, it is OFTEN a Cherokee Indian princess. papers need to travel to canada I ve read that the Cherokees were considered less savage papers need to travel to canada than others, and also that the choice papers need to travel to canada of a princess instead of just anyone helped to make up psychologically for the denigrated Otherness that the white person was claiming within him- or herself. It wasn t just an Indian, it was royalty! Reply Delete glitter fiend June 16, 2009 at 10:08 AM
I ve always been told my mom s family was part Native American, and as a child I was quite proud of this. By the time I was in high school, I no longer papers need to travel to canada felt comfortable claiming Native American papers need to travel to canada as part of my identity, since I and all my relatives look and identify as white and benefit from all those privileges. I began to suspect this was part of our family mythology papers need to travel to canada and not based on any fact. Recently one of my aunts did some investigating and determined our ancestry was Salish, but she still makes references to our Cherokee roots. I think she s confused. It s interesting how white people wish to claim this heritage in order to feel interesting, but have no interest in Native American rights. papers need to travel to canada And by interesting, I mean both sad and unsurprising. Reply Delete papers need to travel to canada misslynx June 16, 2009 at 10:52 AM
My family, on my mom s side, has the same belief (well, some of them, anyway), and as with yours, there s really no way of knowing for sure one way or the other. But one interesting thing - the relatively positive view of having Native ancestry as compared to African ancestr