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The term '''mixed-blood''' in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] has historically been described as people of [[multiracial]] backgrounds, in particular mixed [[European Americans|European]] and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] ancestry. Today, the term is often seen as [[pejorative]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=Bonita |title="Real" Indians and Others: Mixed-blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood |date=2004 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=9780803280373 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sn9NwMkMZa4C}}</ref>
The term '''mixed-blood''' in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] has historically been described as people of [[multiracial]] backgrounds, in particular mixed [[European Americans|European]] and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] ancestry. Today, the term is often seen as [[pejorative]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=Bonita |title="Real" Indians and Others: Mixed-blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood |date=2004 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=9780803280373 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sn9NwMkMZa4C}}</ref>


== Early History ==
== Northern Woodlands and Subarctic ==
The first instance of mixed-bloods in the United States would be the marriage between [[Pocahontas]], daughter of [[Powhatan]], and [[John Rolfe]], a planter, on April 5, 1617<ref>{{cite web |title=Pocahontas Marries John Rolfe |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pocahontas-marries-john-rolfe}}</ref>. This marriage resulted in a mixed-blood son named [[Thomas Rolfe]]<ref>{{cite web |title=John Rolfe |url=https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/john-rolfe}}</ref>.
Some of the most prominent in the 19th century were "mixed-blood" or mixed-race descendants of [[fur traders]] and Native American women along the northern frontier. The fur traders tended to be men of social standing and they often married or had relationships with daughters of Native American chiefs, consolidating social standing on both sides. They held high economic status of what was for years in the 18th and 19th centuries a two-tier society at settlements at [[trading posts]], with other Europeans, American Indians, and mixed-blood workers below them.<ref>[http://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/bieder-sault-ste-marie-and-the-war-of-1812.pdf Robert E. Bieder, "Sault Ste. Marie and the War of 1812:A World Turned Upside Down in the Old Northwest"], ''Indiana Magazine of History'', XCV (Mar 1999), accessed 13 Dec 2008</ref> Mixed-blood is also used occasionally in [[Canada|Canadian]] accounts to refer to the 19th century [[Anglo-Métis]] population rather than Métis, which referred to a specific cultural group of people of [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[French people|French]] descent, with their own language, [[Michif]].


Another early Native American-European marriage would be that of [[Mary Kittamaquund]], daughter of Kittamaquund, Tayac of the Piscataway tribes, to Giles Brent, Deputy Governor of the [[Maryland Colony]] (1643-44),<ref>{{cite web |title=Giles Brent, MSA SC |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000100/000141/html/141bio.html}}</ref> in 1644<ref>{{cite web |title=Maryland State Archives, Margaret Brent |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002100/002177/html/mbrent2.html}}</ref>. They went on to have many mixed-blood descendants<ref>{{cite web |title=Mary Kittamaquund |url=https://queenfamilyky.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/mary-kittamaquund-giles-brent/}}</ref>.
== Southeastern Woodlands ==
⚫
Similarly in the Southeast Woodlands, tribes began having inter-generational marriage and sexual relationships with the Europeans in the early 1700s. Many Cherokee bands and families were quick to see the economic benefits of having trade, land and business dealings with Europeans, strengthened through marriages. Prominent Cherokee and Creek leaders of the 19th century were of mixed-descent but, born to Indian mothers in [[matrilineal]] [[kinship]] societies, they identified fully and were accepted as Indian and grew up in those cultures.<ref name="perdue">David A. Sicko, Review: ''"Mixed Blood" Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South'' by Theda Perdue, ''The Florida Historical Quarterly,'' Vol. 83, No. 2 (Fall, 2004)</ref>


Many colonists men married the daughters of Native American chiefs to gain the rights to vast tracts of land. As a result, many Americans are descended from these mixed marriages.<ref>{{cite web |title=To Make Them Like Us |url=https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5597&context=etd}}</ref>
⚫
== Notable examples ==
Renowned persons of mixed-blood ancestry in United States' history are many. One such example is [[Jean Baptiste Charbonneau]], who guided the [[Mormon Battalion]] from [[New Mexico]] to the city of [[San Diego]] in [[California]] in 1846 and then accepted an appointment there as ''alcalde'' of Mission San Luis Rey. Both his parents worked with the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]], his mother ''[[Sacagawea]]'' as the invaluable [[Shoshone]] guide and his French-Canadian father [[Toussaint Charbonneau]] as an interpreter of Shoshone and [[Hidatsa]], cook and laborer. J.B. Charbonneau is depicted on the United States dollar coin along with his mother ''Sacagawea''.


As of the [[2020 United States Census]], 9.6 million Americans claimed Native American ancestry<ref>{{cite web |title=The Native American population exploded, the census shows. Here’s why. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/10/27/native-americans-2020-census/}}</ref>. That number does not include the millions of others who do not know they are mixed-bloods.<ref>{{cite web |title=Native Roots, Once Hidden Now Embraced |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/04/07/native-american-roots-once-hidden-now-embraced/8897fa1e-762e-4151-85f3-7b377a96d9ae/}}</ref>
Another example is [[Jane Johnston Schoolcraft]], inducted into the [[Michigan Women's Hall of Fame]] in 2008, in recognition of her literary contributions. She is recognized as the first Native American literary writer and poet, and the first Native American poet to write in an indigenous language. Jane Johnston was the daughter of a wealthy [[Ulster Scots people|Scots-Irish]] fur trader and his [[Ojibwe]] wife, who was daughter of an Ojibwe chief. Johnston Schoolcraft was born in 1800 and lived most of her life in [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan]], where she grew up in both cultures and learned [[French language|French]], [[English language|English]] and [[Ojibwe]]. She wrote in English and Ojibwe. She married [[Henry Rowe Schoolcraft]], who became a renowned ethnographer, in part due to her and her family's introduction to Native American culture. A major collection of her writings was published in 2007.<ref>[http://www.thesoundthestarsmake.com/ Robert Dale Parker, ''Jane Johnston Schoolcraft''], University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008</ref>


== Later History ==
In United States historiography, Republican and Democratic partisan debates over the antebellum extension of citizenship to "persons of mixed Indian blood" in western state constitutional conventions may or may not recalibrate [[Anne Hyde (historian)|research aims]]. The consequences of ratified constitutional articles on commerce and labor for public policy and, to a lesser degree, burgeoning western state and/or federal litigation, remain fruitful avenues for further research. The violent vectors of "free soil" ideas impacted Anglo-American and Native American cultures, already buffeted by wage labor systems. This violence, [[symbolic violence|symbolic]] or otherwise, interfaced with non-dichotomous notions of [[kinship]] and (related) Anglo-American lexical glosses of Native American cultural expression in [[Treaty of friendship|treaties of friendship]]. Such treaties featured seventeenth- and eighteenth-century interpretive applications of ''[[Jus gentium|ius gentium]]'', the Roman law of nations, and infrequently appeared in the antebellum period. Newspapers and southern secession, the (a)politics of slavery, and the (a)politics of Native America would be crucial for a sociopolitical lens.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sweet |first1=Jameson |title=Native Suffrage: Race, Citizenship, and Dakota Indians in the Upper Midwest |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |date=Spring 2019 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=99–109 |doi=10.1353/jer.2019.0008 |s2cid=150553402 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/717966}}</ref> Contemporary energy policy, technology, and notions of Native American sovereignties in [[History of South Africa (1994–present)|post-(neo)apartheid]] indigenous worlds converge, and then intersect with, community criteria in [[landscapes of power]]. These [[green politics]] rest on earlier precedents, such as the consequences of [[Grand Coulee Dam]] construction and 1950s scholarly debates over indigenous territoriality in [[Ethnohistory (journal)|American Society for Ethnohistory]] member testimony.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=Dana E. |title=Landscapes of Power: Politics of Energy in the Navajo Nation |date=2018 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham |isbn=9780822372295 |pages=187–92}}</ref>
For centuries now, Native Americans and Europeans have been [[interracial marriage|intermarrying]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Interracial Marriage in the Atlantic World |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199730414/obo-9780199730414-0279.xml}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Native and Settler Relations |url=https://www.stcmuseum.org/history-news/2023/3/6/native-and-settler-relations}}</ref> The [[fur traders]] and [[pioneers]] often married or had relations with Native American women, consolidating social standing on both sides<ref>{{cite web |title=Making Love - and Nations |url=https://www.sapiens.org/culture/making-love-and-nations/}}</ref>.


⚫
Many prominent [[Cherokee]] and [[Creek]] leaders of the 19th century were of mixed descent but, born to Indian mothers in matrilineal kinship societies, they identified fully and were accepted as Indian and grew up in those cultures<ref name="perdue">David A. Sicko, Review: ''"Mixed Blood" Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South'' by Theda Perdue, ''The Florida Historical Quarterly,'' Vol. 83, No. 2 (Fall, 2004)</ref>.
⚫
== Mestizo ==
''[[Mestizo]]'' is the contemporary term for [[Hispanic]] individuals (whether US-born or immigrant) of a similar mixed ancestry (Indigenous and European), but based on different groups. Many Hispanic Americans who have identified as "white" are of Spanish descent, having had ancestors in the [[Southwestern United States]] for several generations prior to annexation of that region into the United States. However, identification on the US Census has historically been limited by its terminology and the option to only select one "race" in the past. Others have classified themselves as mestizo, particularly those who also identify as [[Chicano]]. Hispanics of [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] and [[Cubans|Cuban]] descent are most numerous on the East Coast, especially in [[Florida]], [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[New England]].


For most families who are intermarried with Native American mixed-blood heritage, they are unable to enroll with their ancestral tribes due to [[blood quantum]] laws and not being able to prove their ancestry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bragi |first1=David Arv |title=Invisible Indians}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Over the Edge |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8g5008gq&chunk.id=d0e7238&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e3210&brand=ucpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Identity Crisis: Tribal Nonenrollment & Its Consequences for Children |url=https://www.embracerace.org/resources/identity-crisis-tribal-nonenrollment-its-consequences-for-children}}</ref>
The most recent Hispanic immigrants, who arrived during mid-century until today, have mainly identified as [[mestizo]] or [[Amerindian]]. They have come from [[Mexico]], [[Central America|Central]] and North [[South America]]. Of the over 35 million Hispanics counted in the Federal 2000 Census, the overwhelming majority of the 42.2% who identified as "some other race" are believed to be mestizos—a term not included on the US Census but widely used in Latin America. Of the 47.9% of Hispanics who identified as "White Hispanic", many acknowledge possessing Amerindian ancestry, as do many European Americans who identify as "White". Hispanics identifying as multiracial amounted to 6.3% (2.2 million) of all Hispanics; they likely included many mestizos as well as individuals of mixed Amerindian and African ancestry.

⚫
== Notable Mixed-Bloods ==
Throughout history, we have seen many leaders and persons be of Native American mixed-blood heritage. However, due to stigma, [[genocide]], and documents being destroyed, we will never know the true numbers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Were Native American records destroyed by a fire? |url=https://historyhub.history.gov/native-american-records/f/discussions/18313/were-native-american-records-destroyed-by-a-fire#:~:text=The%20reason%20the%20records%20began,also%20destroyed%20by%20the%20fire.}}</ref> Some examples of notable Native American Mixed-Bloods are:

*[[Charles Curtis]], Vice President of the United States, who was half-Native American<ref>{{cite web |title=Curtis, Hoover's VP, Touted Mixed-Race Heritage |url=https://www.npr.org/2008/07/07/92301413/curtis-hoovers-vp-touted-mixed-race-heritage}}</ref>.
*[[Edith Wilson]], First Lady of the United States as wife of President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. She was a descendant of [[Pocahontas]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Edith Bolling Galt Wilson |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/wilson-edith-wilson/}}</ref>.
*[[Jane Johnston Schoolcraft]], recognized by the [[Michigan Women's Hall of Fame]] as the first Native American literary writer and poet<ref>{{cite web |title=About Jane Johnston Schoolcraft |url=https://poets.org/poet/jane-johnston-schoolcraft}}</ref>.
*[[Jean Baptiste Charbonneau]], the son of [[Sacagawea]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Jean Baptiste Charbonneau |url=https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/charbonneau_jean_baptiste/}}</ref>.
*[[Edward Norton]], the actor, is also a mixed-blood descendant of Pocahontas<ref>{{cite web |title=Edward Norton is direct descendant of Pocahontas, records confirm |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/05/edward-norton-descendant-pocahontas-genealogical-records}}</ref>.
*[[Cameron Diaz]], claims to be 1/8th [[Cherokee]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Cameron Diaz is one eighth Cherokee |url=https://indianz.com/InTheHoop/archive/017261.asp}}</ref>
*[[Bob Barker]], was [[Rosebud Sioux]] through his mother<ref>{{cite web |title=Legacy of Robert "Bob" Barker |url=https://sdexcellence.org/Robert_(Bob)_Barker_1980}}</ref>
*[[Elvis Presley]], was Cherokee through his mother<ref>{{cite web |title=An Elvis Christmas |url=https://dnaconsultants.com/an-elvis-christmas/#:~:text=But%20Elvis%20Presley's%20diverse%20South%20and%20Central,and%20others%20among%20his%20forebears%2C%20were%20welcoming}}</ref>
*[[Chuck Norris]], is Cherokee through both parents<ref>{{cite web |title=Chuck Norris - Hollywood Walk of Fame |url=https://walkoffame.com/chuck-norris/#:~:text=Norris%20was%20born%20in%20Ryan,grandfather%20were%20Cherokee%20Native%20Americans.}}</ref>.
* [[Cher]], is 1/16th Cherokee through her mother<ref>{{cite web |title=Cher the "Half Breed" |url=https://dnaconsultants.com/cher-the-half-breed/}}</ref>.
* [[Jimmy Hendrix]], was 1/4th Cherokee through his grandmother<ref>{{cite web |title=Jimi Hendrix Wore A Coat of Many Colors |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/jimi-hendrix-wore-a-coat-of-many-colors-127496724/}}</ref>.

== Metis ==
''[[Metis]]'' is the term to refer to descendants of the [[First Nation]] peoples and French fur traders<ref>{{cite web |title=Metis means much more than mixed |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/from-scrip-to-road-allowances-canada-s-complicated-history-with-the-m%C3%A9tis-1.5100375/m%C3%A9tis-means-much-more-than-mixed-blood-1.5100783}}</ref>. They are distinct from the [[United States]] mixed-bloods.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dispelling Some Misconceptions About Metis People |url=https://circlesforreconciliation.ca/dispelling-some-misconceptions-about-metis-people/}}</ref>

⚫
== Mestizo ==
''[[Mestizo]]'' is the contemporary term for [[Hispanic]] individuals (whether US-born or immigrant). The most recent Hispanic immigrants, who arrived during mid-century until today, have mainly identified as [[mestizo]] or [[Amerindian]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Mestizo and Mulatto: Mixed race identities among Hispanics |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/07/10/mestizo-and-mulatto-mixed-race-identities-unique-to-hispanics/}}</ref>.


== Una Nation ==
== Una Nation ==
Within the United States, unlike how Canada has the [[Metis]] people, there is no formal tribal structure for the mixed-blood descendants of Native Americans who do not qualify for enrollment with their ancestral tribes<ref>{{cite web |title=Close to Zero: The Reliance on Minimum Blood Quantum Requirements to Eliminate Tribal Citizenship in the Allotment Acts and the Post-Adoptive Couple Challenges to the Constitutionality of ICWA |url=https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=mhlr}}</ref>. They have simply been forced to assimilate through the generations<ref>{{cite web |title=Blood Will Tell: Native Americans and Assimilation Policy by Katherine Ellinghaus (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/708352}}</ref>.
Within the United States, unlike how Canada has the [[Metis]] people, there is no formal tribal structure for the mixed-blood descendants of Native Americans who do not qualify for enrollment with their ancestral tribes<ref>{{cite web |title=Close to Zero: The Reliance on Minimum Blood Quantum Requirements to Eliminate Tribal Citizenship in the Allotment Acts and the Post-Adoptive Couple Challenges to the Constitutionality of ICWA |url=https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=mhlr}}</ref>. They have simply been forced to assimilate through the generations<ref>{{cite web |title=Blood Will Tell: Native Americans and Assimilation Policy by Katherine Ellinghaus (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/708352}}</ref>.


As such, in 2009 a family of mixed-bloods, headed by Alexander Ziwahatan (formerly Richard B. Lake, III), started a tribal group for these descendants<ref>{{cite web |title=Non State/Federally Recognized Tribe the Una Tribe, Grants Fake Cherokee Sen Elizabeth Warren Membership |url=https://www.originalpechanga.com/2019/02/non-statefederally-reconized-tribe-una.html}}</ref>. The tribe is called the ''Una Nation''<ref>{{cite web |title=HCR 16 Bill for Recognition |url=https://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2015/HCR16/}}</ref>.
As such, in 2009, a family of mixed-bloods, led by Alexander Ziwahatan (formerly Richard B. Lake, III and later ''King Ziwahatan of the Una''), started a tribal group for these descendants<ref>{{cite web |title=Non State/Federally Recognized Tribe the Una Tribe, Grants Fake Cherokee Sen Elizabeth Warren Membership |url=https://www.originalpechanga.com/2019/02/non-statefederally-reconized-tribe-una.html}}</ref>. The tribe is called the ''Una Nation''<ref>{{cite web |title=HCR 16 Bill for Recognition |url=https://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2015/HCR16/}}</ref>.


The Una Nation is not a federally recognized Native American tribe, though, in 2015 it sought to be state-recognized by the state of [[Oregon]] as the first mixed-blood tribe in the United States<ref>{{cite web |title=Bill for State Recognition |url=https://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2015/HCR16/}}</ref>.
The Una Nation does not claim to be a federally recognized Native American tribe. However, in 2015, it sought to be state-recognized by the state of [[Oregon]] as the first mixed-blood tribe in the United States. However, the [[Oregon Legislature]] failed to vote on the bill, leaving the tribe unrecognized by the state<ref>{{cite web |title=Bill for State Recognition |url=https://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2015/HCR16/}}</ref>.


Unlike Native American tribes, enrollment with the Una Nation is open to all mixed-blood descendants of Native Americans<ref>{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Warren offered enrollment by the Una Nation, an unrecognized ‘mixed-blood’ tribe |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/27/elizabeth-warren-offered-enrollment-una-nation-unr/}}</ref>. They also do not require proof of descent<ref>{{cite web |title=Unrecognized ‘Mixed-Blood’ Tribe in Oregon Offers Warren Membership |url=https://freebeacon.com/politics/unrecognized-mixed-blood-tribe-in-oregon-offers-warren-membership/}}</ref>.
Unlike Native American tribes, enrollment with the Una Nation is open to all mixed-blood descendants of all Native American tribes,<ref>{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Warren offered enrollment by the Una Nation, an unrecognized ‘mixed-blood’ tribe |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/27/elizabeth-warren-offered-enrollment-una-nation-unr/}}</ref> but do not require proof. As of 2019, the tribe had 35,000 enrolled members.<ref>{{cite web |title=Unrecognized ‘Mixed-Blood’ Tribe in Oregon Offers Warren Membership |url=https://freebeacon.com/politics/unrecognized-mixed-blood-tribe-in-oregon-offers-warren-membership/}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Baster]]
* [[Half-breed]]
* [[Half-breed]]
* [[Half-caste]]
* [[Luk khrueng]]
* [[Marabou (ethnicity)|Marabou]]
* [[Fictional universe of Harry Potter#Muggle-born|Mudblood]]
* [[Mestizo]]
* [[Mestizo]]
* [[Mischling]]
* [[Multiracial]]
* [[Multiracial]]
* [[Quadroon]]
* [[Chicano]]


== Notes ==
== Notes ==

Revision as of 22:13, 14 March 2024

"Mixed blood" redirects here. For other uses, see Mixed blood (disambiguation).

The term mixed-blood in the United States and Canada has historically been described as people of multiracial backgrounds, in particular mixed European and Native American ancestry. Today, the term is often seen as pejorative.[1]

Early History

The first instance of mixed-bloods in the United States would be the marriage between Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, and John Rolfe, a planter, on April 5, 1617[2]. This marriage resulted in a mixed-blood son named Thomas Rolfe[3].

Another early Native American-European marriage would be that of Mary Kittamaquund, daughter of Kittamaquund, Tayac of the Piscataway tribes, to Giles Brent, Deputy Governor of the Maryland Colony (1643-44),[4] in 1644[5]. They went on to have many mixed-blood descendants[6].

Many colonists men married the daughters of Native American chiefs to gain the rights to vast tracts of land. As a result, many Americans are descended from these mixed marriages.[7]

As of the 2020 United States Census, 9.6 million Americans claimed Native American ancestry[8]. That number does not include the millions of others who do not know they are mixed-bloods.[9]

Later History

For centuries now, Native Americans and Europeans have been intermarrying.[10][11] The fur traders and pioneers often married or had relations with Native American women, consolidating social standing on both sides[12].

Many prominent Cherokee and Creek leaders of the 19th century were of mixed descent but, born to Indian mothers in matrilineal kinship societies, they identified fully and were accepted as Indian and grew up in those cultures[13].

For most families who are intermarried with Native American mixed-blood heritage, they are unable to enroll with their ancestral tribes due to blood quantum laws and not being able to prove their ancestry.[14][15][16]

Notable Mixed-Bloods

Throughout history, we have seen many leaders and persons be of Native American mixed-blood heritage. However, due to stigma, genocide, and documents being destroyed, we will never know the true numbers.[17] Some examples of notable Native American Mixed-Bloods are:

Metis

Metis is the term to refer to descendants of the First Nation peoples and French fur traders[29]. They are distinct from the United States mixed-bloods.[30]

Mestizo

Mestizo is the contemporary term for Hispanic individuals (whether US-born or immigrant). The most recent Hispanic immigrants, who arrived during mid-century until today, have mainly identified as mestizo or Amerindian[31].

Una Nation

Within the United States, unlike how Canada has the Metis people, there is no formal tribal structure for the mixed-blood descendants of Native Americans who do not qualify for enrollment with their ancestral tribes[32]. They have simply been forced to assimilate through the generations[33].

As such, in 2009, a family of mixed-bloods, led by Alexander Ziwahatan (formerly Richard B. Lake, III and later King Ziwahatan of the Una), started a tribal group for these descendants[34]. The tribe is called the Una Nation[35].

The Una Nation does not claim to be a federally recognized Native American tribe. However, in 2015, it sought to be state-recognized by the state of Oregon as the first mixed-blood tribe in the United States. However, the Oregon Legislature failed to vote on the bill, leaving the tribe unrecognized by the state[36].

Unlike Native American tribes, enrollment with the Una Nation is open to all mixed-blood descendants of all Native American tribes,[37] but do not require proof. As of 2019, the tribe had 35,000 enrolled members.[38]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Lawrence, Bonita (2004). "Real" Indians and Others: Mixed-blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780803280373.
  2. ^ "Pocahontas Marries John Rolfe".
  3. ^ "John Rolfe".
  4. ^ "Giles Brent, MSA SC".
  5. ^ "Maryland State Archives, Margaret Brent".
  6. ^ "Mary Kittamaquund".
  7. ^ "To Make Them Like Us".
  8. ^ "The Native American population exploded, the census shows. Here's why".
  9. ^ "Native Roots, Once Hidden Now Embraced".
  10. ^ "Interracial Marriage in the Atlantic World".
  11. ^ "Native and Settler Relations".
  12. ^ "Making Love - and Nations".
  13. ^ David A. Sicko, Review: "Mixed Blood" Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South by Theda Perdue, The Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Fall, 2004)
  14. ^ Bragi, David Arv. Invisible Indians.
  15. ^ "Over the Edge".
  16. ^ "Identity Crisis: Tribal Nonenrollment & Its Consequences for Children".
  17. ^ "Were Native American records destroyed by a fire?".
  18. ^ "Curtis, Hoover's VP, Touted Mixed-Race Heritage".
  19. ^ "Edith Bolling Galt Wilson".
  20. ^ "About Jane Johnston Schoolcraft".
  21. ^ "Jean Baptiste Charbonneau".
  22. ^ "Edward Norton is direct descendant of Pocahontas, records confirm".
  23. ^ "Cameron Diaz is one eighth Cherokee".
  24. ^ "Legacy of Robert "Bob" Barker".
  25. ^ "An Elvis Christmas".
  26. ^ "Chuck Norris - Hollywood Walk of Fame".
  27. ^ "Cher the "Half Breed"".
  28. ^ "Jimi Hendrix Wore A Coat of Many Colors".
  29. ^ "Metis means much more than mixed".
  30. ^ "Dispelling Some Misconceptions About Metis People".
  31. ^ "Mestizo and Mulatto: Mixed race identities among Hispanics".
  32. ^ "Close to Zero: The Reliance on Minimum Blood Quantum Requirements to Eliminate Tribal Citizenship in the Allotment Acts and the Post-Adoptive Couple Challenges to the Constitutionality of ICWA".
  33. ^ "Blood Will Tell: Native Americans and Assimilation Policy by Katherine Ellinghaus (review)".
  34. ^ "Non State/Federally Recognized Tribe the Una Tribe, Grants Fake Cherokee Sen Elizabeth Warren Membership".
  35. ^ "HCR 16 Bill for Recognition".
  36. ^ "Bill for State Recognition".
  37. ^ "Elizabeth Warren offered enrollment by the Una Nation, an unrecognized 'mixed-blood' tribe".
  38. ^ "Unrecognized 'Mixed-Blood' Tribe in Oregon Offers Warren Membership".

References

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