Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I never said it didn't occur, just that it was rare and due to that there aren't many black/native mixed people in large quantities today. Also that Don Cheadle was shown to have no native ancestry even though his family were owned by a native American tribe.
Earlier in the thread, I stated my own family claims to have native ancestry. I've never taken a genetic DNA test as I'm too paranoid about people stealing my DNA (lol, I'm weird like that) but my aunt, who is the oldest member of my family swears that her grandmother, who was born in 1858 and lived until 1950 and whom my aunt lived with for her entire childhood (auntie was born in 1930) was "part Indian." I have yet to substantiate that and due to that I don't believe it. But if I find anything that points me in that direction, I will gladly inform my aunt of such as she gets very upset when I tell her our light skin and green eyes and straight hair probably come from regular old white people lol.
I do remember the PBS special now; Don was surprised his family was enslaved by Native Americans. I think there might be more people who are Indians who have African blood than there are African Americans who have Indian blood. Indians were more inclined to absorb the offspring into the tribe. I was in Idaho not long ago and met people who I assumed were black only to find out they were Indian. According to the diaries of Lewis and Clark , while they were in Idaho, William Clark’s black servant had the task of impregnating all the Indian women at the behest of their husbands.
Last edited by thriftylefty; 05-29-2015 at 12:21 PM..
Why do I feel there's a slight tone of distaste by some posters about African blood. It seems the common assumption is that African and Native -American coupling was rare, but I think it occurred much more than most realize. In New England there is a high degree of African blood in the local Native American tribes because colonists and early Americans established "Praying Indian Towns" so the local Christian tribes could remain segregated from the White community. The Native population was largely decimated by European introduced disease and wars so looking for a mate among Black Freedmen was not unheard of. Lots of Jim Crow laws forbade White and Native intermarriage but did not restrict free Africans from mingling with Christian Indians. Lesson Plans | Old Sturbridge Village
Why do I feel there's a slight tone of distaste by some posters about African blood. It seems the common assumption is that African and Native -American coupling was rare, but I think it occurred much more than most realize. In New England there is a high degree of African blood in the local Native American tribes because colonists and early Americans established "Praying Indian Towns" so the local Christian tribes could remain segregated from the White community. The Native population was largely decimated by European introduced disease and wars so looking for a mate among Black Freedmen was not unheard of. Lots of Jim Crow laws forbade White and Native intermarriage but did not restrict free Africans from mingling with Christian Indians. Lesson Plans | Old Sturbridge Village
That's true to an extent; Louisiana, as one example, explicitly banned black and Native American marriage, and North Carolina banned interracial marriage, period (see http://www.tn.gov/tsla/exhibits/blac...ion%20laws.pdf and http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/...44&context=dlj). Still, several Indian tribal nations in the south passed their own Jim Crow/black codes. And, often where interracial relationships weren't banned by law, they were strongly discouraged by custom.
And, perhaps I've read the wrong comments, but I don't detect distaste by some posters about African blood in this thread. That said, I'd agree that, while rare, black and NA mixing was and is more common than some people may think.
Last edited by prospectheightsresident; 05-30-2015 at 08:41 PM..
I do remember the PBS special now; Don was surprised his family was enslaved by Native Americans. I think there might be more people who are Indians who have African blood than there are African Americans who have Indian blood. Indians were more inclined to absorb the offspring into the tribe. I was in Idaho not long ago and met people who I assumed were black only to find out they were Indian. According to the diaries of Lewis and Clark , while they were in Idaho, William Clark’s black servant had the task of impregnating all the Indian women at the behest of their husbands.
I am currently reading Undaunted Courage, the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. York, Clark's slave, was indeed a popular pick by the Indians to have sex with their wives, but it wasn't necessarily to impregnate them (or maybe I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet!).
The Indians believed that one man's characteristics could be transferred to another via having sex with the same woman. York was large and very strong, and the men thought that if he had sex with their wives, that strength would be transferred to them. Worked out well for York. The first occasion had the woman's husband guarding the opening to the teepee while York did the deed with his wife so that no one would interrupt them.
I am currently reading Undaunted Courage, the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. York, Clark's slave, was indeed a popular pick by the Indians to have sex with their wives, but it wasn't necessarily to impregnate them (or maybe I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet!).
The Indians believed that one man's characteristics could be transferred to another via having sex with the same woman. York was large and very strong, and the men thought that if he had sex with their wives, that strength would be transferred to them. Worked out well for York. The first occasion had the woman's husband guarding the opening to the teepee while York did the deed with his wife so that no one would interrupt them.
Its hard to say what they knew about DNA if they intended to retrieve something of York's from their wives reproductive system for them selves. I wonder when these big dark children were born the men thought that it worked, they retrieved it and passed it on to their offspring.
Wanted to note since the older posts in this thread, I've tested my grandfather's DNA and he has ancestry from Robeson County, NC and does have a very small amount of native ancestry, only 1%. On one of the Gedmatch admixture tools it is a bit over 3%.
It is funny to me that I actually came across his suspected indigenous ancestry via traditional genealogical research methods - he is related to the Bass family of the early colonial period whereas the first European Bass to come to this country married an indigenous woman in the early 1600s. So I figured he may have some native DNA if it came through far enough to him. His maternal ancestors were from Robeson, Granville, and Halifax Counties in NC and earlier from various counties in VA. He also has some other suspected indigenous ancestry from the Potawatomi in MI that was included in an obituary of another, of his more recent maternal 2nd great uncles. So not sure if his small amount is from the distant or nearer ancestors. His 2nd great grandfather from MI was supposedly half Potawatomi according to older relatives.
Genuine mixed black/indian populations are few and far in between.
Always exercise a high degree of skepticism with any claims of "Native American" ancestry. This is particularly true with respect to people who claim to be mixed black/native american...for complex social reasons, lots of people in the past identified as some kind of Indian even though they were not at all. In some cases, whole tribes were made up.
Yes, this is true - claims of having Native ancestry, among both black and white Americans, are greatly exaggerated and seldom borne out by DNA testing, according to genealogy expert Dr. Henry Louis Gates.
Actually, Don Cheadle was over 95% African and didn't have any native blood. His family were owned by natives. Some native American tribes owned slaves and as such, his family actually did receive the "40 acres and a mule" unlike many other formerly enslaved individuals ass the tribe who owned them gave them some compensation after slavery ended.
As stated before, it is very rare to have native and African admixture.
Not rare. Keep in mind some countries like Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, it's pretty common to find people who are genetically a combination of NA, African, and Europe. Not all Native Americans lived in the US. The Western Hemisphere is a huge place, and different countries have different demographics according to race.
Not rare. Keep in mind some countries like Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, it's pretty common to find people who are genetically a combination of NA, African, and Europe. Not all Native Americans lived in the US. The Western Hemisphere is a huge place, and different countries have different demographics according to race.
I was speaking specifically of black Americans. It actually is rare to have black Americans show a percentage of NA in DNA ethnicity reports and if it does show it is usually only 1% or a "trace" amount.
I finally recently did my own DNA test and even though my maternal grandfather showed some NA ancestry, I did not, probably because it is too far away genetically to show up. He is closer to those earlier NA ancestors than I am so it makes sense his would show a trace amount and mine does not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
