The Melungeons are a tri-racial group, descended from Europeans, Africans, and Indians. Although the term Melungeon refers to a specific group, it has become a generic label for many similar groups: the Carmel Indians of southern Ohio, the Brown People of Kentucky, the Guineas of West Virginia, the We-Sorts of Maryland, the Nanticoke-Moors of Delaware,…
Category: Indians
Blood Quantum
I watched this Smithsonian presentation in real time. I wish I could make a rule that every genealogist playing with “Indian blood” (meaning Indian identity) would have to watch this presentation. Many genealogists make odd and exaggerated claims because they don’t understand the culture they are researching, often because they don’t know that someone else…
This should be required reading for every genealogist.
This should be required reading for every genealogist.
New Indians
There’s this thing going on. Whites turning into Indians, at least in part. Lots of hand wringing from purists, but it’s not actually clear how this will turn out. “Ethnicity is a tricky thing because it is commonly understood as something fixed and essential rather than what it more likely is: an unarticulated negotiation between…
Indigenous Heraldry
Although coats of arms originated in Europe and customarily follow European forms, there has been some movement toward adapting the emblems of indigenous people to heraldry. My father, Ridge Durand (1933-2002) was a Lakota pejuta wikasa (”medicine man”) and a member of the Spotted Eagle Medicine Men’s Society. He was a hunkpa (”blood brother”) of Pete Catches (Petaga Yuha…