Why does every American claim to be part Cherokee?

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Never Washoe, Pima, Lakota, Hoopa, Comanche or Seminole... always Cherokee, the leather-clad Plains Indians with the paint horses and the feather head-dresses... the 'Classic' Indian. And often it's Choctaw Cherokee... It's just a really common ancestral claim, and I don't know why.

Why is this? Was inter-marriage THAT prevalent? Or is it just wishful thinking and family mythology now that Indians are seen as stoic, embattled noble warrior-victims?

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I think when people say this, they're talking about the Jeep.
(i.e. they're transformers!)

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Blame Tim McGraw.

― Bryan (Bryan), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:43 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.page.sannet.ne.jp/adeux/c/cher01.jpg

― may pang (maypang), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Because Cherokee's probably the most recognizable tribe, and claiming to be part Cherokee is like adding exoticism without having to deal with any of the racism. Win-win. Thomas King had a bit about this in his Massey Lectures for 2003, The Truth About Stories. Worth checking out.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Is Cher supposed to be counted as a plus or minus for the Cherokee Nations?

(xpost)

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:46 (twenty-two years ago)

My son actually is part Cherokee (his mother's side). The Cherokee were a pretty large tribe, fwiw.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard some of that on CBC and read some more in the Globe, I think? (I read a lot of newspapers, and am forgetful.)
Anyway, I second Thomas King.

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Being part Cherokee sounds better than my grandmother saying she's "part squaw"

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:48 (twenty-two years ago)

This has annoyed me for years! But who knows, maybe it's true.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

cher is 1/2 armenian. that isn't as sexy as saying you're cherokee, apparently.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Who knows. I've got Incan blood though.

― kephm, Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Andy, by "every American" do you per chance mean every Playmate?

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually am half lakota. My mother always told me that most people who claimed to be cherokee were blowing it out their ass. She also claimed that there were a bunch of problems with tracing cherokee ancestry and tribal registration with the Cherokee tribe was all fucked up, I'm guessing this has something to do with the Trail of Tears, but I don't really know.

Every girl I ever went to elementry school with claimed to be the great grandaughter of a Cherokee Princess. You can read a bit about this here: http://eveningrain.com/Myth.html

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)

My great-great-(great?) grandfather on my dad's side was a chief for some obscure tribe in Maine. Not Cherokee, though.

CHEROKEE PEOPLE, CHEROKEE PRIDE...

Sorry, had to do it, couldn't resist!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess I suspect that alot of the claims are bullshit. Most Americans have pretty young roots here (1880-1910 arrivals) and the ones that came before that would probably not have been eager to intermarry, unless no other women were available (i.e. Alaska and Canada, the early days of the Gold Rush, etc.). Certainly the Spanish intermarried extensively with North American Indians in Mexico, Arizona, etc.

I believe that alot of the claims are just family folklore - i.e. "They say you great-great-grandfather was killed in the Battle of Little Bighorn," etc. - and that most Americans are as nordic/wasp/irish/italian as they appear.

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

HI DERE!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

maine, might be micmack!

― kephm, Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Penobscot?
Passamaquoddy?
Wabnaki?
Micmac?
Maliseet?

(those are all I can remember, mainers represent, yo)

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Did the Iroquois get to Maine?
(not exactly obscure, mind you)

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

actually I think wabnaki and penobscot are the same...

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:03 (twenty-two years ago)

(Today, the four Maine Indian tribes are the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy, known collectively as the Wabanaki, "People of the Dawnland.")

I am such a dork. Apparently I miss Maine, too.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

So does my brother. Did you ever go to Belfast? or Freedom?

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Well my great grandmother's house was built on a pet cematary...

But, seriously, my great-great-great-grandfather really was an Indian chief but I'm not sure of the details. I know it's not a story, my dad's side of the family has roots in Quebec and Maine that go back several hundred years.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

It might have been Penobscot, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe Passamaquody. I'll have to inquire.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Yep, I went all over the place and one of my best friends lives in Freedom - another in Harmony. (It sounds like such a nice place)

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

luna, you wouldnt miss it much this week (todays high in boston: 9 degrees)

― kephm, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, another usesless fun fact: Paul Newman recently filmed a movie in the house where my great-grandmother lived (and where my great-aunt lives).

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm part Chinee.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

My Great Grandmother was one of the first babies born in the Temperance Colony in Saskatchewan, a group of British fussy-britches bent on outlawing spirits.

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.spiritconnectionstore.com/images/Store%20pics/daydreamers.jpg

Okay, the thread has changed... bring me crappy, saccharine Indian inspired art!

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

unless there were injuns in lwów, poland; smolensk, russia; harrogate, england; or funchal, portugal; then i am one american who can't claim to having any indian ancestry at all.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a very tiny part American Indian -- but I'm pretty sure it's Illini.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

And my great-grandmother is still alive, by the way. But quite senile, sadly. She used to be a big Stampede Wrestling fan.

― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

i am 1/16 seminole

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm half Dunedain, half Fremen.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:20 (twenty-two years ago)

spencer mua'dib

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmshai-hulud.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I don't claim any Indian, either... a little part Sami (Lapp), which is kind of like an Eskimo, I guess... the only blight on my pure teutonic northern soul.

Valhalla, I am coming.

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/LisaFoo.gif

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:32 (twenty-two years ago)

My god, that is appalling... is that from Erich von Däniken's website?

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

He's hacking the world-net!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

luna, you wouldnt miss it much this week (todays high in boston: 9 degrees)

You know, I do miss winter - not so much the ice, though.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

My god, that is appalling... is that from Erich von Däniken's website?

it's actually from a Donna Haraway book cover. her work is espcecially important with regards to origin myths!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm from Northern Minnesota, where the Finlander's inter-married quite a bit with the Chippewa. My father's side came here (America) as fur-traders (Last name: Hennepin) and they also married native women.

Reasons: Initially, men came here first to hunt, trap and mine. Women were scarce, or if they came, they either died in childbirth or went back home, to Europe, because Pioneer life was too harsh.

So, I have Finn/French/ and double Chippewa on both sides.

Maybe the Cherokee side comes from where people immigrated from. My friend is Scottish and Cherokee and has the family photos on the mantle to prove it. She's from Colorado.

― PsychoKitty, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:40 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.spiritconnectionstore.com/images/Store%20pics/spiritbuffalo.jpg

"Damn you, Bison-Spirit!! I'll get you yet!"

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Damn, Fabio has a twin?

There goes the mighty Stereotype Machine

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:58 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.cowboyandlady.com/catalog/add_item.cfm?CFID=500768&CFTOKEN=69037489

― andy, Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:10 (twenty-two years ago)

My grandfather was half Choctaw, which makes me 1/8, I guess. It's never come up, apparently he was really ashamed of his roots and didn't talk about it.

A lot of the claims probably are bullshit, but a lot of them are likely true (but it's people like me 1/8. 1/16, etc. where it's basically irrelevant). Between the original lands in the Southeast and the post-Trail reservations, they encompassed a lot of land, and were a populous tribe.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

fiddo = dances w/ cheese-steaks

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Everybody in America is Cherokee/Irish.

― Nemo (JND), Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Because we're oppressed, rebellious and drunk.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

and both native american and gaelic cultures (or, more accurately, simulations of same) are beloved by New Agers and hippies.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Now that I think about it,isn't there some theory about Celts having landed in North America and intermarrying with the Native Americans?

― Nemo (JND), Thursday, 15 January 2004 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

RE; Cherokee heritage

i am an indirect result of the French-Indian war (where they were allies, and some allies got a little, er..more closely allied)

― Orbit (Orbit), Friday, 16 January 2004 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

My ancestors were afraid of land-bridges.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 16 January 2004 01:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm half Dunedain, half Fremen.
-- Spencer Chow (spencercho...), January 15th, 2004. (later)
spencer mua'dib
-- fiddo centington (dubplatestyl...), January 15th, 2004. (later)
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmshai-hulud.

-- Spencer Chow (spencercho...), January 15th, 2004. (later)

I love you both.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 January 2004 01:57 (twenty-two years ago)

"Spencer" is a killing word.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 16 January 2004 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I still can't figure out why they called them 'weirding modules' in the movie (I mean I *know* why but still).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 January 2004 02:00 (twenty-two years ago)

All my mom's old boyfriends (like every single one of them) would tell about their slave ancestors who escaped and invariably joined the Blackfoot tribe.

― Dan I., Friday, 16 January 2004 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Which I always thought was weird cause the Blackfeet don't live anywhere near the american south.

― Dan I., Friday, 16 January 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm part Potawatomi - no Cherokee as far as I know.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 16 January 2004 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? Escape slavery, get away from the American South.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 16 January 2004 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess.

― Dan I., Friday, 16 January 2004 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

All those dudes could have just been trying to keep my mom happy, 'cause the only fetish of hers that trumped african american guys was native american guys. She always claimed some Cheyenne ancestry, which was just as unlikely as most people's Cherokee, seeing as how that side of my family can traced pretty unanimously back to Germany.

― Dan I., Friday, 16 January 2004 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

(wryly says the guy married to an indian chick, haha)

― Dan I., Friday, 16 January 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Because the Cherokee were one the 5 civilized tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Muscogee) which had adapted and to some degree integrated with the settlers prior to the trail of tears. So many people really are part Cherokee, but lots more do seem to think they are than is probably possible.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Friday, 16 January 2004 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Uh, down south maybe? Then again I'm not totally sure how integrated -- if the term is even applicable -- the Iroquois were, and they were sure as hell civilized, practically a nation state in certain ways.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 January 2004 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

You're probably right, a lot of the people who really are part Cherokee are from the Carolinas. I didn't mean to imply they're actually any more of less civilized than anyone else, they're just called that.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Friday, 16 January 2004 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I live in South Carolina, most people who are originally from here are indeed part Cherokee (somewhere down the line). Oh, I just learned that my great-great grandfather on my dad's father's side was a Penobscot chieftain or something along those lines.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

american indians allegedly originally came from siberia.
the slavs allegedly originally came from siberia.

ergo: US SLAVS ARE THE ORIGINAL INJUNS MOTHERFUCKERS!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:17 (twenty-two years ago)

(Just answering the original question here.)

I don't think every American claims to be part Cherokee. I suppose certain individuals who've previously mentioned how the Cherokees were among the more agreeable tribes in the Americas, and that the Cherokees were plentiful in number, probably hit on the reasons why it seems that way, but I don't think that you can claim that anyone who proclaims to be a certain percentage Native American would also state that their tribe was the Cherokee one.

Oh yes, and the part of me that's Native American? Apache. That's right -- the tribe where the women don't let anyone tell them what to do. Quite fierce tribe, from what I've read about them. Hm.

― As Sweet As Melody (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

ergo: US SLAVS ARE THE ORIGINAL INJUNS MOTHERFUCKERS!

The name of the team ain't the Cleveland POLACKS, you damned grabowski or whatever your name is.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

it should be, though.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

"At center field, Jerzy Czoglczdz."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, ally got the last name right -- it's AMTRAKOWSKI

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Clarity is mine.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 January 2004 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

My sister apparently got this really crazy stripper to quit yelling at her on cinco de Mayo by claiming she was part (1/4) 'Native American' (a libe btw but...it worked?).

― cant go with u too many bees (Abbott), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:30 (seventeen years ago)

i'm part native american btw

― blair underwood: "man up" (omar little), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:32 (seventeen years ago)

My best friend's grandma was 'part Native American' (who knows for sure – like the OP says, everyone claims this). She was a long-haul trucker in the '70s when Cher's 'Halfbreed' came out. She loved the song so much that she made a shirt w/those iron-on letters that says HALFBREED on it. My friend now owns it. Her grandma did a bad job distributing the letters, tho – the first & last end up under thew sleeves, meaning my friend is the proud owner of an ALFBREE shirt.

― cant go with u too many bees (Abbott), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:33 (seventeen years ago)

don't libe being an alfbree

― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:34 (seventeen years ago)

That is my new motto.

― cant go with u too many bees (Abbott), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:35 (seventeen years ago)

http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_lrg_images/596/40717596.jpg

― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:37 (seventeen years ago)

My fiance was telling me that her late father claimed part Native American, although she suspects that it was actually more likely that he was part Greek or something.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:37 (seventeen years ago)

What's it all about, Alfbree?

― Slowly Rotating Black Man (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:38 (seventeen years ago)

obviously lots of people have native/indigenous ancestry. but i've also always thought the eagerness to claim it came from american immigrant neurosis -- wanting to feel some kind of roots here, not just like an interloper. plus also it ameliorates some of the guilt at being part of an invading force that conquered and decimated the people who were here first.

i can't claim any such thing, having relatives on all sides who arrived from europe no earlier than the mid-19th century and all married and mated with other europeans as far as i know. i'm way more an ellis island american than a native american.

― would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:43 (seventeen years ago)

Now that the natives no longer put up an effective resistance to our taking away their land, USAers feel free to make heartfelt claims of brotherhood, if not actual blood ties. Also, to romanticize them and sprinkle glamour dust over their mostly-destroyed cultures. It's the feelgood thing to do.

― Aimless, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:43 (seventeen years ago)

Also it calms down strippers who are threatening to knife you (apparently).

― cant go with u too many bees (Abbott), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:45 (seventeen years ago)

I'd say maybe they are romanticising and that it's a feel good thing or whatever, but in Latin America it's basically the opposite. Almost everyone has some amount amerindian heritage but most play it down or deny it.

― languid samuel l. jackson (jim), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:49 (seventeen years ago)

which is so much worse.

― languid samuel l. jackson (jim), Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:49 (seventeen years ago)

i pretend i am native american
http://neuronarrative.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/cody.jpg

― velko, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:56 (seventeen years ago)

I'm adopted, which means I am free to go on claiming to be Norwegian/Ghanaian/Sioux/Polynesian with no one the wiser

PROVE ME WRONG

― Telephone thing, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 19:08 (seventeen years ago)

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