Native American Heritage Anyone?

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no proof but have always been told chippewa----Long straight almost black hair--almost black eyes---Dark complection(SP)--very high cheek bones. I would be so proud to know for a fact. We have extensive family tree but I don't have a copy yet.

Micah
 
I don't look it but my greatgrandfather on moms side was full indian. My uncle looked the part, my mom is white as powder that's been bleached three times. We have Cherokee blood
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You can add me also. My great grandmother was Narragansett Indian.

I never got to meet her since she died about 9 months before I was born. She knew I was comming, and freaked out my mother. My parents had not told anyone she was pregnant yet. When they went to visit her in the hospital, she told my mother....Don't worry the baby will be fine. That freaked my mother out, not so much my dad. When I was born I was a very sick baby. She must have known something because despite the medical issues early on, I did turn out to be fine.


Bluemoon
 
I could almost not even mention this, but so very long ago, I was decended from a woman named Morning Star, who also later got a different name. She was from the South Carolina area and I think the name of the tribe was either Mik-Mak or Mik-Mik. Don't know the spelling or history. I only found out about this about 10 years ago.
 
Supposedly we've got Choctaw and Cherokee, but we can't confirm it because my Memaw refused to talk about it. She once referred to herself as a halfbreed, and evidently that's what both types called her as a child, so she just blocked out all that completely. There's also some from my bioGrandad's line, but he was killed when my mom was 5, so no answers there.

All boils down to I'm an American, that's where my loyalties lie. Not with the NA (maybe) territory, or the Irish or the Dutch or the German... etc etc... I'm just a mutt.
 
Ok Cherokee, Chocktaw, Camanche, Mascalero Apache and 3 more and yes I know that the first three are what everyone says they are when they clam to be AI. Oh well.

I've worked with several AI agencies and services. Taught beedwork at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland in the 70's and also worked at the Native American Drop-In Center and helped open the Urban Indian Child Resource Center also both in Oakland.

College would have been paid for in full through AI grants and scholarships with the help of Holly England (Eskimo) and Jim Mankiller (Cherokee) but dummy me I stayed homw and worked and had kids. Eight years old Vet school down the tubes, but guess it wasn't meant to be.

I have brown hair and hazel eyes and yep I run into the ones who want to do a lot of talking before they even know me. Always someone wanting to roll the eyes and grin like I'm trying to clam that Cherokee Princess Grandmother. Nope! My family were medicine people.

Even cousins would pick on my when I was little, but when I got to be a teen I just said at least I could pass and get a job. My GGGrandmother was so proud of me and said it was about time I stuck up for myself.

And to my mother's relief all of my protests and militant days were lived through and no I'm a human being.
 
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my entire family 100% native nooksack and Malahat tribes. i don't wish to offend but i find it a little disturbing when people claim they are some millifraction of native. What does that even mean to you? most of the time it means that some white person has some romantic idea of what it means to be indian. Being native being american indian and claiming such should be more than oh i have some indian in me. It is not just a blood quantum it is who we are. it is our struggles and our identity not some cool oh i am part italian and some of this and some of that becasue as a white american, my identity is linked to all other cultures other than mine becasue we have none. what does it mean to you? what does claiming 1/34th irish or 1/16th german do for you? just wondering. i deal with racism about my people everyday from people who then turn to tell me they are 1/99th indian. Again i am really not trying to be rude or put you down if you are not affiliated with a tribe. afterall you may not be indian but your heart can be. i just wanted to point it out.
 
As someone who has always been drawn to animals and nature, I was naturally drawn to and curious about the Native American cultures. Went through a long phase where I read many period books about what everyday life was like, how they lived, hunted, made clothes, etc. All of it was fascinating to me. I truly enjoyed learning about many of the native cultures. When my mom was doing geneology work, she discovered we had a Potowatomie in our background. I will admit to thinking it is pretty 'cool' even though I in no way consider myself to be Native American. I am sorry that you face racism even in today's 'enlightened' age; we are all equals, and should be judged as individuals. I try to do that in my own life. But, isn't it better to think it's 'cool' to be a fraction Native American, than to be ashamed and try to hide it?
When someone asks about my ancestry, I generally tell them German/Irish/Welsh. But I do think it's cool to have a native ancestor, way back, because I admire their closeness to the earth and it's inhabitants. It's part of my family history, and I'm proud of it.
Just my .02.
 
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I know my family's story. It's my fathers side, and I know how some of our family got here on the mayflower, how my state ( RI ) became a state, the wars, and the injustices carried out, who were from the Narragansett tribe, and who they married, and what happened to all of them. I know what my great grandmother endured, how she was treated by others, and how she really didn't care what others thought about her. She lived her life freely and openly, no matter what other people called her.
It has been passed down in our family for generations, and those same stories are passed down to my daughter as well. We are proud of who we are as a family, and I don't think any of them really care what percentage the other is. ( I could say more on that matter, but I won't.) I am a Rhode Islander ( one of the few native ones left) regardless of where I live now. My history is my history, and I'm proud of it. As far as my spirituality is concerned that's my business, and if I chose to share with someone I know and trust I will. Otherwise, I keep it to myself, and let everyone be who they want to be. No judgement, no harm, no foul.
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Bluemoon
 
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My 1/4 Blackfoot husband is very proud of his heritage and even before he and I began dating he had stories about his grandmother when she was still alive.

My great-grandmother's mother was a Saganing Ojibway, although I'm not entirely sure which clan. Her father-in-law (my great-great-whatever-grandfather from Scotland) was a fire-and-brimstone Methodist preacher who definitely did not approve of his son marrying an Indian woman. She was shunned by the rest of the family and died fairly young. Her FIL did not allow her to be buried in the family plot in the township cemetery and they ended shipping her body downstate to be buried anonymously. Of course now that the Saganing tribe has a prolific casino, her descendants have been scrambling to find written proof as part of the tribe, but personally I'm not too worried about it. I did live on the Saganing reservation for a summer when I was 18.

Regardless of my heritage, I've always felt a connection to the land of northern Michigan and the lakes to the point where I wouldn't be happy if I lived anywhere else. I need my Great Lakes and pines and birch trees.

My other 3 branches of the family are recent Polish immigrants and I was raised bi-culturally Polish-American (although one great-grandmother on that side is an ethnic Gypsy), so that's how I tend to identify myself.

My husband is mostly German, more than half, with 1/4 Blackfoot on dad's side and some Scottish on his mother's side. He identifies mostly with his German ancestors but knows his connection to the Blackfoot.
 

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