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For those who visited the National Museum in DC (Native American), what do you think about the museum not recognizing Black Indians?
Erica :confused:
I had the opportunity to visit the new Museum in December 2004 while in DC for ANA training. My impressions were (1) there is a tremendous amount of wasted space, (2) the cafeteria, which served a variety of native dishes, was nice, and (3) that if they were going to give gallery space to cover groups like the Caribs of Dominica ( who many folks would catagorize as “Black Indians”) and the Metis of Western Canada, then they should give more space to the state-recorgnized tribes of the United States. They only one I noted was the Pamunkey of Virginia, altho I may well have missed some, since I had only a couple hours to spend.
Depending on who you ask, of course, the Pamunkey could also be construed to be “Black Indians” I would not put it that way, but others have…
I would suggest that any ideas for improvements be submitted to the Museum head. They are just getting started, and might be open to the idea of doing a special exhibit on that topic. As I recall, the Mashantuckett Pequots, one of the more well-known “Black Indian” tribes contributed heavily to the museum.
Dear Erica,
As Forest may have hinted at,maybe
some of the Black Indian groups will be
covered later by the Museum.
I hope one day to make a daytrip to
D.C. from Central VA to see the museum;
it would take me several hours to drive up.
Like you,Erica,I’m also descended from African slaves,Native Americans
(Powhatan & Saponi Confederacys),and
Europeans.I was raised in the black community also.
You make a good point saying we need to recognize and honor all our ancestral strains.
Of the estimated 30 million black Americans,historians estimate that at
least half,and perhaps as many as 95%,
have some Native American ancestry.
I would guess it’s possible that the majority of people in the US with Native
ancestry are in the Afro-American
community.
Roca
P.S.-Have you checked blackindians.com?
The site mentions some famous
Black Indians,among other things.
I am glad that I am not the only one who feels this way.
Yes, I did go to BlackIndians.com and saw pictures of famous Black Indians. It just would be nice if more Black Indians publicly embraced their Native American History.
Erica
roca,
You said, “Of the estimated 30 million black Americans,historians estimate that at
least half,and perhaps as many as 95%,
have some Native American ancestry.
I would guess it’s possible that the majority of people in the US with Native
ancestry are in the Afro-American
community.”
You’re entirely correct. The following is what I posted in this forum over four years ago on 7-20-2001.
“… Indian slavery was quite extensive in the southern colonies of what was to become the USA. Some say that Indian slavery was about half that of African-American slavery. I also said that that accounts for the difference in appearance between African-Americans and Africans. For indeed, if you start with a base of 66% African slaves and 33% Indian slaves, and carry the “issue” of these unions forward anywhere from 8 to 12 generations, you wind up with today’s African-American. Therefore, in all probability, virtually every African-American alive today has one or more Indian ancestors. Another way of saying the same thing is that with the exception of several tribes of eastern Indians, and with the exception of the numerous tri-racial isolate communities which dot the eastern United States, the legacy of the eastern Indians was that they were absorbed into the Black race.”
Later that day, I also said, “… it must be said that a fair amount of eastern Indians were also absorbed into the White race.
Thus, after many generations, the descendants were now no longer Indian. They’d become either White or Black. The only eastern Indians who retained their Indian identity were either: (1) Those Indians fortunate enough to have negotiated a treaty and gained reservation land, or (2) Those tri-racial isolate communities who self identified as Indian exclusively.”
I understand what you mean about Eastern Indians being absorbed into the African American or White American culture and are no longer considered an “Indian”. However, my great grandmother was a pure blood Crow or Blackfoot and my mother’s mother (my grandmother) I believe was a pure blood Indian but I am not sure about her side of the family because my mother was raised by her Grandmother who was an African American.
Personally, my Native American ancestors are closer to my generation than some other Black Indians but my family Lewis (father side of the family) only past down information and did not officially take recognition (I was told). My mother’s mother I am not sure about her exact bloodline but she was Native American.
It really bothers me that I do not have to be enrolled as an “African American” but I have to be enrolled in a Native American community in order to be recognized as a Black Indian. Personally, that is ridiculous!!!!
Erica
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