Mixed Blood Indians
Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South
THEDA PERDUE
Series: Mercer University Lamar Memorial Lectures
Copyright Date: 2003
Published by: University of Georgia Press
Pages: 160
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46ndrf
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Mixed Blood Indians
Book Description:

On the southern frontier in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, European men-including traders, soldiers, and government agents-sometimes married Native women. Children of these unions were known by whites as "half-breeds." The Indian societies into which they were born, however, had no corresponding concepts of race or "blood." Moreover, counter to European customs and laws, Native lineage was traced through the mother only. No familial status or rights stemmed from the father. "Mixed Blood" Indians looks at a fascinating array of such birth- and kin-related issues as they were alternately misunderstood and astutely exploited by both Native and European cultures. Theda Perdue discusses the assimilation of non-Indians into Native societies, their descendants' participation in tribal life, and the white cultural assumptions conveyed in the designation "mixed blood." In addition to unions between European men and Native women, Perdue also considers the special cases arising from the presence of white women and African men and women in Indian society. From the colonial through the early national era, "mixed bloods" were often in the middle of struggles between white expansionism and Native cultural survival. That these "half-breeds" often resisted appeals to their "civilized" blood helped foster an enduring image of Natives as fickle allies of white politicians, missionaries, and entrepreneurs. "Mixed Blood" Indians rereads a number of early writings to show us the Native outlook on these misperceptions and to make clear that race is too simple a measure of their-or any peoples'-motives.

eISBN: 978-0-8203-2716-7
Subjects: History
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. Preface
    Preface (pp. ix-xiii)
  4. [Map]
    [Map] (pp. xiv-xiv)
  5. CHAPTER ONE “In the Indian Manner”: Natives and Newcomers in the Eighteenth Century
    CHAPTER ONE “In the Indian Manner”: Natives and Newcomers in the Eighteenth Century (pp. 1-32)

    In the late eighteenth century the famous naturalist William Bartram traveled extensively among the Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees. In addition to collecting botanical samples, Bartram wrote about the land he saw and the people he met. On his journey, Bartram encountered a variety of non-Natives, people of European and African ancestry, who made their homes amongthe Indians. One of those he met was a British trader to the Seminoles, whom he described as “a stout genteel well-bred man, active, and of a heroic and amiable disposition, and by his industry, honesty, and engaging manners, had gained the affections of the...

  6. [Illustrations]
    [Illustrations] (pp. None)
  7. CHAPTER TWO “Both White and Red”: Biracial People in Indian Society
    CHAPTER TWO “Both White and Red”: Biracial People in Indian Society (pp. 33-69)

    In 1768, a group of Cherokee headmen met British emissaries at Hard Labour Creek to negotiate a land cession. The great war chief Oconostota addressed the assembly and described an increasingly common situation. The British deputy superintendent of Indian affairs, a man named Alexander Cameron, had, Oconostota announced, “got a son by a Cherokee woman.” Cameron, whom the Cherokee headman referred to as “beloved brother,” had been a trustworthy interpreter of English words and deeds for the Cherokees. Moreover, he was able to explain the Cherokee position on issues to the British, and the Cherokees hoped that the son would...

  8. CHAPTER THREE “Designing Half-Breeds”: The Politics of Race
    CHAPTER THREE “Designing Half-Breeds”: The Politics of Race (pp. 70-104)

    In 1816, as he tried to negotiate a land cession with the Chickasaws, Andrew Jackson fumed that the resistance he encountered came from “the designing half-breeds and renegade white men who have taken refuge in the country.”¹ Like many whites of his generation, Jackson regarded Indians as simple and naïve, almost childlike. He did not believe that they could mount the kind of opposition that he had confronted. Consequently, their refusal to do his bidding meant that someone else was manipulating them, in this case, “half-breeds and renegade white men.” Jackson implied that the behavior of these men—their resistance...

  9. Notes
    Notes (pp. 105-128)
  10. Index
    Index (pp. 129-135)
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