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The Current Chief of the Cherokee Nation is Bill John Baker and he is only 1/32nd native american. Is this enough to really identity yourself as a native american? If someone told you they were only 1/32nd native american but identified as a native american would you find that strange at all?
I believe there are laws about who can call themselves native americans, as far as the federal government is concerned, and I imagine that effects the tribal standing as well. Unless you have some stake in the matter, though, I cannot imagine why you would care.
The Current Chief of the Cherokee Nation is Bill John Baker and he is only 1/32nd native american. Is this enough to really identity yourself as a native american?
The Cherokees clearly think so.
However, the question is not about what the Cherokee nation thinks, but what the readers of this forum think. To me it is such a stretch as to be ridiculous. I have one grt grt grandmother whose records indicate that she was "coloured" or "Negro." Being 1/16 African-American, when I look totally white and have been raised in a white European-American tradition, would make it very presumptuous of me to say that I am African-American.
On the other hand, I am 1/32 Dutch-American, British Loyalist which gets me into the Empire Loyalist Association. But they accept any degree of provable descent as they are interested in a political event.
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If someone told you they were only 1/32nd native american but identified as a native american would you find that strange at all?
Quite, unless they had stayed connected with a tribe, and were culturally involved with it as their primary identification.
Mr. Baker was involved in tribal council affairs for twelve years before his election as chief. The Cherokee nation allows anyone with an ancestor on the Dawes Rolls to be eligible for Cherokee citizenship; thus, to them the amount of Cherokee blood a tribal member has is technically irrelevant as long as you can find the necessary Dawes Rolls ancestor.
However, they are not always that relaxed about tribal membership. The Cherokees sided with the Union and freed their slaves in the midst of the Civil War, and after the war these freedmen were granted tribal membership. However, in a 1980 reversal their descendents were stripped of their Cherokee citizenship unless they too could find a Cherokee-by-blood ancestor on the Dawes Rolls. The controversy over their right to tribal membership continues.
Really good records or family rumor and inuendo, which is rampid as we are finding out. With Genetics many people are finding out they weren't who they thought they were
I found out today that I am not who I thought I was. I called my 82 year old Aunt from my real Dad, in our conversation she said that from my Dad I am part Irish, besides German and Dutch, and that my great great Grandmother from my Dads Dad was full blooded Cherokee. That makes me Portuguese, Dutch, German, Cherokee and Irish, that makes me 1/16 Cherokee. My aunt is going to send my the family geneology that shows my great great Grandmother. I also found out that a relative who lived in Georgia was a slave owner who left his property to one of his slaves on his passing.
What you are missing here, when the Cherokee Nation being removed between 1838-1839 to Indian territory (Keetoowah earlier, EBIC behind in NC), they didn't know *blood quanta.* When the Dawes was being prepared for several years, Cherokee only knew Cherokee. When they were asked, "How much Cherokee blood?" Most had no idea what part of Cherokee they were or weren't. They may have said, "Well, my mom was Cherokee", thus was written down 1/2 Cherokee. Now, the mother could have essentially been 1/4 Cherokee biologically. Recording blood quantum was very sloppy and many people incorrect blood quanta +/-.
How many Indian tribes adopted non-Indians or other Indian from other tribes? That person became a member of that nation or tribe.
The Current Chief of the Cherokee Nation is Bill John Baker and he is only 1/32nd native american. Is this enough to really identity yourself as a native american?
If someone told you they were only 1/32nd native american but identified as a native american would you find that strange at all?
Very, very strange. I'm 1/16 Hebrew, but I don't go around telling people I'm a Jew, but I guess by this guy's logic my children could....strange? I'm thinking.....yes, absolutely
My father's side of the family is heavily Native and I still identify as black. That is how we grew up and maybe it is a different dynamic than if we were considered white, but even as I embrace the other cultures in me I still consider myself what I grew up seeing myself as. If I found out I was 1/32 Spanish or Ethiopian, it'd be cool for trivial conversations, but no, I would never consider myself either of those ethnic backgrounds or nationalities.
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