[UrbanQuest]

Just curious because a friend just sent a bunch of pictures from his high school reunion and supposedly his class was like 50% Native American and visually it looked more like 90% white.

[debzkidz]

I have no idea about a percentage but I can tell you there are lots of Native Americans that look "white". There are plenty of people in Oklahoma that have blond hair and blues eyes, but are in fact, Native American.

[Crosstimbers Okie]

There are a lot of black Indians too. Some are tribal members due to being descendants of Five Civilized Tribes Freedmen. Some have Indian blood.

[Oklahoma_Traveler]

Before Oklahoma was a state, only Native Americans could hold land in the area. As a way around this, many white businessmen and settlers would marry a Native American so that they could be "adopted" into the tribe. After the marriage, they were free to do with the land what they wished. Those early days in Oklahoma were slightly chaotic, so this was not completely uncommon. I'm summarizing, of course, but you can imagine how often that happened, and how their offspring would look.

As Crosstimbers mentioned above, many colored people also migrated to Oklahoma to escape persecution, as well as other reasons. So now you not only have white Indians, but you also have Black Indians as well.

And still, through the years, Native Americans have intermingled with other races quite frequently, which also accounts for the more pale coloration of their skin. There is a small minority that has held true to their ancient customs, but we're all Americans now. I don't think there's a percentage, but if you look back through history, you can begin to get an idea.

[BlackMM]

People are funny when it comes to Indian blood. Someone could be 1/340th Cherokee, but if they can prove it and have an Indian card, they will claim it to get benefits and the coolness factor in telling their buddies "I'm part Indian".

[e_cuyler]

Some of it is because there were a lot of white people marrying into the Southeastern tribes pretty much from the very beginning of the area being colonized. I recall reading someplace that Georgia was one of the few colonies where intermarriage wasn't illegal.

Cherokee are infamous among other tribes for not having any minimum blood quantum, so you can have a CDIB card that states you have 1/512 degree of Indian blood [I have seen one.] So long as you can trace back to an ancestor on the Dawes rolls. You can also be quite a bit Indian and not look it. I am almost half Indian [but from two different tribes] but look completely white.

I believe John Ross, the chief during the removals was only an eighth Cherokee, so it really isn't anything new. That's less than me!

The "benefits" are not really that much, I was able to pay in-state tuition to attend the University of Arkansas, and that's about it. I don't know where people get the idea that you get all these benefits from being Indian. Even Indian preference in hiring is far from a sure thing. I think people especially from outside Oklahoma get the idea that all Indians get checks from casino revenues. This might be the case with smaller tribes [I think here in California tribal council members often get a cut from the gaming monies] but not for anyone I know!