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I've met more than a few full blood Indians (But, then again, I work within Indian Country). I've found that you'll typically find full blooded Indians within the tribes that have 1/4 or higher blood quantum. But, even here, one has to be careful as full blood on paper isn't necessarily full blood genetically. This is primarily due to the fact that not every member on a particular Indian base roll was full blood, though they may have been indicated as such. It also accounts for the fact that some Indian tribes, for enrollment purposes, have passed legislation stating that anyone in the tribe at a certain date is considered full blood, though in reality many did not meet this requirement.
But you'll find a lot of full bloods within the Mississippi Band of Choctaw (they have a 1/2 Mississippi Choctaw blood requirement, so being full blood is not out of the norm there) and, as some others have said, within some of the western tribes that don't allow for membership solely based on lineal descent; you'll also find more than a handful within the remote regions of Canada.
I've met more than a few full blood Indians (But, then again, I work within Indian Country). I've found that you'll typically find full blooded Indians within the tribes that have 1/4 or higher blood quantum. But, even here, one has to be careful as full blood on paper isn't necessarily full blood genetically. This is primarily due to the fact that not every member on a particular Indian base roll was full blood, though they may have been indicated as such. It also accounts for the fact that some Indian tribes, for enrollment purposes, have passed legislation stating that anyone in the tribe at a certain date is considered full blood, though in reality many did not meet this requirement.
But you'll find a lot of full bloods within the Mississippi Band of Choctaw (they have a 1/2 Mississippi Choctaw blood requirement, so being full blood is not out of the norm there) and, as some others have said, within some of the western tribes that don't allow for membership solely based on lineal descent; you'll also find more than a handful within the remote regions of Canada.
That is interesting information. I was once shocked by someone on City-Data stating that they had never met a Jew. I wondered how that could be possible--but then, I realized I had never met an Indian, at least not one who adheres to their traditions and identifies with a specific nation. I'm in New Jersey. It's easy to see how someone in another part of the country that did not draw Jewish immigrants as the East Coast cities did might never meet a Jewish person.
Since then I've visited the Western Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is cared for by the Hualapai, and so I did meet the ones who worked there.
While we do have some remnants of original people here, they are few and far between. You get a lot of people CLAIMING they have Indian blood, but I don't believe most of them. It seems to be a popular thing to say, but when I know your great-grandparents were born in Ireland or Italy, it's kind of hard to swallow that some Cherokee--because they are ALWAYS Cherokee--wandered up to Newark in the 20th century and impregnated one of their daughters. My family has been here since the 1700s and 1800s, and I have no Indian heritage.
One of the witnesses when I married my wife in our living room is full blooded Choctaw. There are many in the Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma area.
Most likely an ancestor came to New Jersey from the Southeast during the Industrial migration. So not far-fetched at all, unless you know the lineage of ALL the grandparents.
I see a lot of my neighbors in Knoxville who look like they have Cherokee ancestry, even though they don't identify as such. During the trail of tears, many Native families left the lighter skinned children behind to be adopted by neighbors.
Most likely an ancestor came to New Jersey from the Southeast during the Industrial migration. So not far-fetched at all, unless you know the lineage of ALL the grandparents.
I see a lot of my neighbors in Knoxville who look like they have Cherokee ancestry, even though they don't identify as such. During the trail of tears, many Native families left the lighter skinned children behind to be adopted by neighbors.
That's plausible...in one or two cases. But how likely is it that there are hundreds of white people running around north Jersey who had that sort of situational Indian ancestry? It's a common claim.
Based on my travels the best region to what you are looking for are the northern territories of Canada, including Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the northern remote reaches of Quebec. Trust me when I say that most of these subarctic peoples and tribes are in no way shape or form remotely "white" in appearance.
In the states, I have found that typically members residing on the Navajo and Pueblo reservations to look pure native in appearance.
In general, outside a few other select reservations mostly scattered throughout the inter-mountain west, the proportion of pure-blooded Native-Americans decreases greatly. I know the current census says that Native American and Alaskan Native peoples constitute 1% of the population. My guess is that the real figure is probably around 0.4 or 0.5%.
I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and there's a moderate amount of Native Americans that intermix. My 6th grade Math teacher was actually Hopi and culturally fully Hopi. She did a day where she shared the culture of her people and brought in some things and it was very interesting.
I also went on a week long "mission trip" to help out a church and community on the Navajo reservation and obviously met a lot of what people would call full blood natives.
With that said "full blood" Native Americans are probably more mixed than one would guess due to historical populations.
That's a hypothesis for a lot of people why tribes are tenuous with using DNA results link to tribal membership. Some people have lost their tribal status due to that.
Personally I think there's a difference between your DNA and your culture. The latter can be changed as well. If a Native American adopts a child with no Native American DNA but they are raised in that culture where does that fit?
Likewise if I find I have distant Native American ancestry and want to absorb a lot of the culture and learn it and respect it why not identify with it *shrug*.
truly full blooded, i would say none on low side and no more than 10 in the whole united states
Good, random uneducated guess.
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My family has been here since the 1700s and 1800s, and I have no Indian heritage.
Source? That sounds very odd, and is something I've never heard before.
