Adopted into a white Dutch family here in west Mi, and after becoming an adult I couldn't stand the wondering about who I was anymore. Also, my daughters were asking questions about my heritage relative to health matters.
So, I went searching and found that I am not any part Dutch. Am Ojibwe (or Chippewa, the Americanized version of the word). My relatives came from Northern Ontario, along the river between Quebec and Ontario. They moved gradually away from there and ended up in MI after the Canadian Govt offered First Nations people money if they would leave their homes and go into the cities. (another effort to try to eliminate Native culture) Once they left, their names were removed from the census roles, and they were no longer members of the tribe. That made it very hard to research the records, since there was no-one connect to.
I was lucky enough to find some family names and place names, and then was able to find my way into our local Native Community.
I spent my whole life feeling as tho I was wearing someone else's clothing, or that my shirt wasn't buttoned up correctly. After finding out who I really am, I finally felt as tho I fit right inside my own skin, and am as proud of my Native heritage as if I had known about it from the day I was born.
For reading material that will help you with anything Native, the organization Oyate is excellent, offering books, music and movies that coverage all aspects of Native heritage, and helping with answering question about sensitive subjects like slang words and sports mascots, inappropriate remarks etc.
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