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So Apparently I'm an indian.
azith28
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my grandmother has been following the family tree for a long time as a hobby, and I remember her mentioning when i was much younger that I had an ancestor that was an indian princess of the Avoyel tribe of Louisiana back in the 1700's. At that age i didnt think much of it, but recently I've wondered what this might mean seeing as how i currently have been marking the box 'Caucassian' on government forms. I'm interested in finding out how to determine if I'm 'indian enough' to qualify for non-white status? I'm not exactly holding hope that I'm suddenly part owner of a casino, but hey, it cant hurt to ask.
Thanks
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Honestly though, I don't think a possible ancestor in the 1700's is going to net you any benefits.
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that is why 90% of the time it does not ask you what race you are, it asks you what race you identify with.
if you're interested in tracing that lineage or learning about the culture most active tribes will help you. Different ones have different standards of who they'll consider a member of the tribe.
I would say it's probably not a big enough part of your heritage to start changing the boxes you tick off for college applications and so on.
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You have to be really careful with this term if you choose to explore your ancestry, because very few Native American tribes had something approaching royalty and basically none from what's now the US.
The term is believed to mainly come out of racism of the times. Interracial marriage was abhorrent to many Europeans, and was even outright illegal some places, but almost all marriage taboos (race, blood relation, age, religion) went out the window if you were marrying somebody of wealth or noble title, because either way you were marrying into a higher status than your own. So every Indian or black bride was a princess, the daughter of a chief or... Well, there just weren't enough chiefs on the continent to have produced so many daughters even if it was a thing.
The term might get you met with skepticism (having an indian princess in the family became something of a fad in the mid/late 20th Century), might earn you a simple correction, or if you catch the wrong person might get you accused of perpetuating the attitudes that created the term, which is a pretty shitty thing to get blind sided with when you're genuinely interested in your ancestry (this happened to my grandmother while trying to trace a line of her family tree that dead-ended with a Polish orphan who married a Chippewa girl).
Also the last part of your post was very racist.
Anyway, since you haven't provided very many details, it's a little hard to answer your question about whether you're "indian enough" in any legal sense. I say it's extremely unlikely, though. Just as a back-of-the-napkin calculation, you can figure anywhere between 10 and 13 generations between 1750 and today, so one Avoyel ancestor would make you anywhere from 1/1024 to 1/8192 Avoyel. I am completely unfamiliar with the practices of the Avoyel tribe when it comes to recognizing members, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and suggest that 1/1024 isn't going to cut it.
If you're serious about finding out about a part of your heritage (even if it's a very small part), Google immediately turns up the website of the Avoyel-Taensa tribe/nation at www.avoyel-taensa.org/. The site has a short history page, some links to useful resources (including at least one genealogical resource), and contact information for an office where you could probably ask about more in-depth materials if you're interested.
So what is it you want from this thread? I'm honestly curious.
You are probably the thread - and likely the board's - authoritative expert on this particular tribe. I would be surprised if anyone in here comes up with information that you don't already know, or can't be found in 30 seconds using Google.
People noted that having one Native American ancestor from several hundred years ago makes it extremely unlikely that you are going to be eligible for any sort of benefits - financial or otherwise.
People also pointed out that, while you may think it's a harmless joke, commenting on 'casino money' is something you should put more thought into because it represents a kind of casual racism - a kind of racism you might not even be aware of - that's likely to offend people. You clearly aren't or weren't aware of that, nobody is saying YOU are racist, they are saying that what you SAID is racist.
But anyway, what are you looking for / what do you want from H&A? Advice on who to contact or where to look into your background? Information on different tribes in the area? Share stories from people with similar backgrounds?
Some of my (now dead) family members were actually ashamed of that heritage, so it's nice to at least hear that you're interested in it.
Uh, no one's baiting... your comment was just very casually racist. It doesn't matter if our opinions mean nothing to you because it doesn't change the fact. No tribe is going to want some racist white guy among them. You're the one on the help/advice forum.
Basic advice: don't be racist towards a group you may want to include yourself in. Saying that you aren't "expecting to inherit a casino" because you may be part Indian is a very racist thing to say.
Their favorite thing every day is when someone calls up to say, "Found out I'm part Native American. Where do I sign up for the free stuff?"
There's no free stuff. Just a heads up.
Seriously, the thing you just did is outrageously offensive and... dumb. There's just no other word for it. You didn't say, "I'm proud to learn I'm descended from this people and I want to learn more about them." You asked how to get on that fantastic native gravy train...
Oh, Avoyel isn't even a federally recognized tribe. This is just a non-profit group dedicated to information about the genealogy, etc.
First, they'd have to be a federally recognized tribe. THEN you'd have to be at a minimum 1/32nd, but more often closer to 1/8 related.
Not meaning to be offensive and not realizing things you say are offensive does not trivialize the offense your words can cause, and if you want to find out about your genealogy, the people you'll probably have to consult could be very touchy about things like this, and if they decide you're some white goose who wants to have a trendy indian princess grandmother, they might tell you to go fuck yourself, no matter how genuine your interest is.
Honestly, @azith28 , beyond doing a geneoligical study to see if you get to check a different box, if you need to ask, then the answer is probably no.
Whatever, as an Indian person growing up in the south, nothing would frustrate me more when some kid would say "You're Indian? I'm 1/2341251341th Cherokee". "No, I'm Indian from India." "
"AIN'T NO SUCH PLACE, I'LL HIT YA IF YOU KEEP MAKING FUN OF ME!
Edit: So pardon me if I'm being particular, but Indians come from India, and Native Americans are the people that were already here when the Europeans showed up. It's not really a debatable thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_of_the_United_States
tl;dr: Native Americans are also called Indians, or American Indians, depending on who you talk to. They share a name with those who hail from India.
They do not share a name, they were misnamed by people who didn't know better =\
This thread is not about your particular ethnic naming hangups.
My Aunt married into her husbands Tribe, but I'm in Canada.
I've struggled a lot with this personally, since I'm mixed race but have light skin and relatively european features. BUT, my ethnicity is a major part of my identity and a large source of pride in my life so I continue to classify myself as "mixed-race" or "middle eastern". Is it lying a little? Maybe. But I think a big part of what counts is how you see yourself and how you identity yourself
Since this part of your identity is so new, it seems unlikely that you would classify yourself as native american. And a lot of people in the thread have pointed out that legally this isn't really a status you can claim. You do have a great opportunity now learn a lot about this piece of your family history and explore your family tree more! So this doesn't have to be the end of the road.
Again, I think a huge part of identity comes from how you choose to see yourself (just in my opinion) so if you really feel like this is a part of who you are then there's nothing stopping you from exploring this more, even if the tribe your ancestors are from isn't federally recognized.
Canada has different rules for that sort of thing, depending on when it happened.
Nowadays it's determined by the band, but up till the mid 80s women took the status of whoever they married.
Which also meant that women marrying out straight up lost their status.
The Indian Act was/is kinda fucked up.
I have a close family friend who was made an honorary member of the Lenape (Delaware Valley), if I am remembering things correctly.. I'll have to ask her at some point. She's spent a ton of time with them and did a bunch of ceremonial stuff. It's honorary though, it doesn't come with any legal status or anything.