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Many people believe racial and ethnic groups in North America have always lived as separately as they do now. However, segregation was neither practical nor preferable when people who were not native to this continent began arriving here. Europeans needed Indians as guides, trade partners and military allies. They needed Africans to tend their crops and to build an infrastructure.
Later, as the new American government began to thrive, laws were drafted to protect the land and property the colonists had acquired. These laws strengthened the powers of slave owners, limited the rights of free Africans and barred most Indian rights altogether. Today, black, white and red Americans still feel the aftershock of those laws. Read more...
In the state of Virginia, Native Americans face a unique problem. Virginia has no federally recognized tribes, largely due to Walter Ashby Plecker. In 1912, Plecker became the first registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, serving until 1946. Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly recognized only two races, "white" and "colored". Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying all Native Americans in the state as "colored", leading to the destruction of records on the state's Native American community
A Surname is a family name. It is that part of a person's name that indicates to what family he or she belongs. In the case of African Americans their ancestral names have been lost forever in many instances. The only claim the African American has is his or her name given by slave masters.
Many people are surprised to find the physical characteristics running in their family, indicate they are descendents of Native Americans. Well, the characteristics are all based on medical studies. The characteristics are not perpetuating stereotypes of Native Americans.
I started my journey to discover my Native American heritage and history many years ago. The history that I had not known began to intrigue me. It was the ancestry of my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. We were Cherokee from Alabama. Cherokee from Alabama was my ancestry.
Many questions about how the "Trail of Tears" was avoided. How our ancestry was kept secret since the 1870's for fear of repercussions? Why, now was it important to discover my identity? These were all questions that could be answered and were as I embarked on my journey to discover my family tree.
The journey led me to the National Archives, census forms, family Bibles, family elders and to a Cherokee Elder of the Kituwah (Cherokee people). My rich Native American history, and ancestry is now complete and will be shared going forward to all generations. No more fear to be a Native American!
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) are co-sponsoring IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas, a traveling exhibit about people of mixed African American and Native American heritage. Do you have a story to tell about your family's Native and African American ancestry? Please visit the NMAAHC Memory Book and share your experience.
James Austin ("Pap") Wiley, born in 1872 in Hamburg, Arkansas, was the son of Ellen, a black Cherokee born in Alabama about 1855. Photo courtesy of the Branton family.
2010 CENSUS – DID YOU KNOW…The first person listed on the Census form will determine if this is an Indian household. If you have persons of several races living in the same household please list the Indian person first, as this will determine the race of the household.
The 2010 Census provides an opportunity to document your Native American ancestry.
It is critical that all Native Americans self-identify as “Native Americans” or “Native Americans in combination with One or More races” when completing their 2010 Census questionnaires!The Census is the single most important event in America that drives all “Federal Formula” and “Need Based” funding decisions for the next ten year Period. It guides charitable services and grant programs to meet the needs of Mixed Blood Indians that are not enrolled in Federal Recognized Tribes.So, be sure to mark your Census, “Native American” or “Native American in combination with One or More races”.
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