Post by Okwes on Mar 6, 2006 13:56:47 GMT -5
Problem of the “White Indians” of the United States
Archie Phinney
muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v018/18.2phinney.html
This article is an edited version of a manuscript archived by NARA,
Pacific Coast Branch, Seattle, Washington. The manuscript was written in
1943. Archie Phinney was a field agent for the Reorganization Division
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was developing the preliminary
organization to begin the National Congress of American Indians at the
same time.
A most interesting racial phenomenon has been in process for more than
a century among the Indian tribes of the United States with regard to
white blood mixture and its effect on the social and political relations
of tribes people. This process of white mixture is culminating in rather
clear-cut divisions or classes among Indians on the basis of skin color,
which is one of the most important aspects of Indian blood quantum. The
proposition of “what is an Indian?” has become a problem increasingly
perplexing to the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the attitudes of the
tribes and the interests of the government converge on the questionable
status of Indians who possess small degrees of Indian blood. Both the
Indian Bureau and the Indian tribes have reached the point where a
practical redefinition and reclassification of Indians is imperative.
In such a redefinition of Indians it is most important that the Indian
tribes themselves take a stand on the question of their tribal
memberships. Some tribes have already done this but not in a
far-reaching enough manner. Sound criteria are still lacking for the
determination of “what is an Indian” for numerous purposes.
This article is an attempt to explore some of the features and factors
that need to be considered in any solution of the problem of dealing
with the large group of mixed bloods who are becoming more and more
prominent in Indian affairs. Obviously, this is a proposition of many
dimensions, and it would be an advantage to have several different
viewpoints presented in order to arrive at a comprehensive set of
criteria. Certain considerations will be presented here.
Many years ago the writer discussed with Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, physical
anthropologist of the Smithsonian Institution, the matter of the racial
purity of the North American Indian tribes. One of his comments was of
special interest: “There is probably not a full-blood Indian in this
continent today.” And he went on to point out the indirect process
through which the infiltration of European blood came about in early
times, going back into pre-Columbian times to the Viking influence. Be
that as it may, there is today an accepted concept that a full-blood has
no known white or other alien blood in the family line. This goes back,
of course, only as far as government records for a particular tribe may
exist. However, it is common knowledge that government enrollment
records with respect to the degree of Indian blood are often incorrect.
It is not uncommon to have two full brothers listed under widely
different degrees of Indian blood. This matter of racial purity is not
of real importance, and reference to it here is only by way of
indicating that the degree of Indian blood as an important criterion is
neither a clearly determinable thing nor a sound basis for classifying
the Indians of most tribes.
The mixed-blood and full-blood Indians enjoy relatively equal status
before the law and under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. An exception to
this is that mixed bloods less than one-fourth degree Indian are not
entitled to (a) civil service preference, (b) government loans for
economic or educational purposes, or (c) educational facilities,
including enrollment at federal Indian schools and tuition in public
schools. In some cases tribal authorities have legislated to exclude
from rights and benefits those members of less than one-fourth degree
Indian blood. This applies most commonly to tribal office holding and
the assignment of tribal land. In the main, however, on Indian
reservations mixed bloods, no matter how dilute the Indian blood, are
regarded and treated as Indians by the tribes and by the Indian
agencies. This is particularly so when such mixed-blood members are
integrants of the Indian community and so long as such members do not
constitute a faction against the conservative full-blood element.
It is commonly known that among tribes having a strong longhair
(full-blood) element, there frequently develop tensions and strife on a
factional basis of conservatives versus progressives, moderns versus
old-timers, educated versus illiterates, so-called pagans versus
Christians, and so on. But these are manifestations of the basic blood
dichotomy. These manifestations are all that remain of an ancient Indian
grudge against the white man and the government for the various
depredations that began in colonial times. The writer has time and again
observed a recalcitrant tribal member sway an Indian audience simply by
a fiery denunciation of white men or the government. A pro-agency label
is not an enviable distinction on some reservations.
In all the foregoing reference to mixed bloods, the degree of Indian
blood as a mathematical consideration is not important; rather, the
Indian appearance is the important factor. The biological Indian must be
the basis on which Indians are reclassified culturally and legally.
Physical anthropology has made some attempt to measure the physical
traits of Indians. Generally speaking, however, it seems tenable that
persons who have less than a half degree of Indian blood are fairly
indistinguishable in the general American population. Certainly the
generalization could be made that a person of three-fourths Indian blood
will have a distinct Indian skin color while the person of one-fourth
Indian blood will have a white appearance. This matter of skin color
becomes the crux of it.
There is little doubt that the Indian racial group is undergoing rapid
amalgamation with the white. In the process it is already observable
that mixed bloods are beginning to push aside the full-bloods and near
full-bloods. This has become possible because of the better conditioning
had by those of less Indian blood. As a group they have easier
adjustments to make in a white society. It cannot be denied that
dark-skinned people in the United States are subjected to vicious
prejudice.
In this atmosphere of prejudice and aversion, it cannot be expected
that the full-blood will develop the same mentality and personality as
the mixed blood. If the mixed blood is the more aggressive element of
the Indian population, leadership in Indian affairs will fall to this
least Indian element. For example, in a group of sixty-seven Indians who
met in recent intertribal convention, only thirty-three had a
conspicuously Indian appearance.
In the field of Indian Service employment, Indians have advanced
rapidly. One may reasonably expect that Indians will enter other fields
as successfully—but the mixed bloods will always form the vanguard. It
is pertinent here to examine Indian employment in the Office of Indian
Affairs. On January 1, 1944, the total number of employees at the
central office was 308. Of these, 108 (35 percent) were Indians,
distributed as follows with regard to degree of Indian blood and salary:
Degree of Indian Blood Number Average Salary Highest Paid
Full-blood 10 $1,845 $2,300
Half blood 18 $1,907 3,200
One-fourth degree Indian 36 $$2,077 $3,800
The point of making these comparisons is to emphasize the prominent role
being taken by those who possess lesser degrees of Indian blood. It is
in this connection that a very important further observation can be
made: the element having the least Indian blood is fast estranging
itself from the real Indian cause.
One may scarcely attribute to such a mixed-blood element anything other
than the best of motives, but while they individually have great pride
in being identified as Indian, they have lost the common touch of
Indianism. This is most evident in two respects: First, they lack zeal
in championing the Indian cause. One may venture to say that the general
run of white employees are animated by more intense ideals of Indian
welfare than these employees of Indian blood. Second, they have shown
considerable indifference to joining hands among themselves and with
reservation Indians in organized programs for the amelioration of Indian
life.
Quoting from an Indian on this point, “This group, with distinctly real
potentialities for service to the Indian people, frequently possess
limitations brought on by the Indian Service influence that limit and
retard them. Rather than being in the vanguard of movements or efforts
to bring about Indian solidarity so necessary to further the Indian
cause, the group, either through complacency or subterfuge, sometimes
operates like so many saboteurs through lending their support only
reluctantly if not negatively. Solidarity is not achieved by hesitant
and reluctant leadership.”
Any solution to this problem of mixed-blood participation in tribal
affairs must take into consideration that it would be an unjust and
unnecessary measure to arbitrarily reduce the numbers of tribal members
in the United States. It would be a serious loss to the Indian cause if
a half-blood or one-fourth blood exclusion rule should be adopted. On
the contrary, it is a distinct advantage to the Indian minority that
every one who has any legitimate claim to tribal membership should be
continued in the status of Indian for certain political and cultural
purposes. The mixed bloods do have an important contribution to make.
But it is also important that only a distinct part of any tribal
membership should be entitled to rights and benefits under the programs
of the tribes or the Indian Service. It would be reasonable to adopt a
one-half blood standard or preferably a standard based on
distinguishable Indian physical traits. Certain few exceptions where
blond Indians are as much culturally Indian as the full-bloods could be
handled as a special class.
The main thought advanced here is that there is an urgent need now
existing to face the problem of classifying our Indian population and in
doing so to provide that the Indian tribes themselves will have the
guiding hand in the formulation of corrective measures. This might well
become a major project under the auspices of the recently formed
National Congress of American Indians, with the participation of various
other organizations including the National Indian Institute and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Archie Phinney
muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v018/18.2phinney.html
This article is an edited version of a manuscript archived by NARA,
Pacific Coast Branch, Seattle, Washington. The manuscript was written in
1943. Archie Phinney was a field agent for the Reorganization Division
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was developing the preliminary
organization to begin the National Congress of American Indians at the
same time.
A most interesting racial phenomenon has been in process for more than
a century among the Indian tribes of the United States with regard to
white blood mixture and its effect on the social and political relations
of tribes people. This process of white mixture is culminating in rather
clear-cut divisions or classes among Indians on the basis of skin color,
which is one of the most important aspects of Indian blood quantum. The
proposition of “what is an Indian?” has become a problem increasingly
perplexing to the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the attitudes of the
tribes and the interests of the government converge on the questionable
status of Indians who possess small degrees of Indian blood. Both the
Indian Bureau and the Indian tribes have reached the point where a
practical redefinition and reclassification of Indians is imperative.
In such a redefinition of Indians it is most important that the Indian
tribes themselves take a stand on the question of their tribal
memberships. Some tribes have already done this but not in a
far-reaching enough manner. Sound criteria are still lacking for the
determination of “what is an Indian” for numerous purposes.
This article is an attempt to explore some of the features and factors
that need to be considered in any solution of the problem of dealing
with the large group of mixed bloods who are becoming more and more
prominent in Indian affairs. Obviously, this is a proposition of many
dimensions, and it would be an advantage to have several different
viewpoints presented in order to arrive at a comprehensive set of
criteria. Certain considerations will be presented here.
Many years ago the writer discussed with Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, physical
anthropologist of the Smithsonian Institution, the matter of the racial
purity of the North American Indian tribes. One of his comments was of
special interest: “There is probably not a full-blood Indian in this
continent today.” And he went on to point out the indirect process
through which the infiltration of European blood came about in early
times, going back into pre-Columbian times to the Viking influence. Be
that as it may, there is today an accepted concept that a full-blood has
no known white or other alien blood in the family line. This goes back,
of course, only as far as government records for a particular tribe may
exist. However, it is common knowledge that government enrollment
records with respect to the degree of Indian blood are often incorrect.
It is not uncommon to have two full brothers listed under widely
different degrees of Indian blood. This matter of racial purity is not
of real importance, and reference to it here is only by way of
indicating that the degree of Indian blood as an important criterion is
neither a clearly determinable thing nor a sound basis for classifying
the Indians of most tribes.
The mixed-blood and full-blood Indians enjoy relatively equal status
before the law and under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. An exception to
this is that mixed bloods less than one-fourth degree Indian are not
entitled to (a) civil service preference, (b) government loans for
economic or educational purposes, or (c) educational facilities,
including enrollment at federal Indian schools and tuition in public
schools. In some cases tribal authorities have legislated to exclude
from rights and benefits those members of less than one-fourth degree
Indian blood. This applies most commonly to tribal office holding and
the assignment of tribal land. In the main, however, on Indian
reservations mixed bloods, no matter how dilute the Indian blood, are
regarded and treated as Indians by the tribes and by the Indian
agencies. This is particularly so when such mixed-blood members are
integrants of the Indian community and so long as such members do not
constitute a faction against the conservative full-blood element.
It is commonly known that among tribes having a strong longhair
(full-blood) element, there frequently develop tensions and strife on a
factional basis of conservatives versus progressives, moderns versus
old-timers, educated versus illiterates, so-called pagans versus
Christians, and so on. But these are manifestations of the basic blood
dichotomy. These manifestations are all that remain of an ancient Indian
grudge against the white man and the government for the various
depredations that began in colonial times. The writer has time and again
observed a recalcitrant tribal member sway an Indian audience simply by
a fiery denunciation of white men or the government. A pro-agency label
is not an enviable distinction on some reservations.
In all the foregoing reference to mixed bloods, the degree of Indian
blood as a mathematical consideration is not important; rather, the
Indian appearance is the important factor. The biological Indian must be
the basis on which Indians are reclassified culturally and legally.
Physical anthropology has made some attempt to measure the physical
traits of Indians. Generally speaking, however, it seems tenable that
persons who have less than a half degree of Indian blood are fairly
indistinguishable in the general American population. Certainly the
generalization could be made that a person of three-fourths Indian blood
will have a distinct Indian skin color while the person of one-fourth
Indian blood will have a white appearance. This matter of skin color
becomes the crux of it.
There is little doubt that the Indian racial group is undergoing rapid
amalgamation with the white. In the process it is already observable
that mixed bloods are beginning to push aside the full-bloods and near
full-bloods. This has become possible because of the better conditioning
had by those of less Indian blood. As a group they have easier
adjustments to make in a white society. It cannot be denied that
dark-skinned people in the United States are subjected to vicious
prejudice.
In this atmosphere of prejudice and aversion, it cannot be expected
that the full-blood will develop the same mentality and personality as
the mixed blood. If the mixed blood is the more aggressive element of
the Indian population, leadership in Indian affairs will fall to this
least Indian element. For example, in a group of sixty-seven Indians who
met in recent intertribal convention, only thirty-three had a
conspicuously Indian appearance.
In the field of Indian Service employment, Indians have advanced
rapidly. One may reasonably expect that Indians will enter other fields
as successfully—but the mixed bloods will always form the vanguard. It
is pertinent here to examine Indian employment in the Office of Indian
Affairs. On January 1, 1944, the total number of employees at the
central office was 308. Of these, 108 (35 percent) were Indians,
distributed as follows with regard to degree of Indian blood and salary:
Degree of Indian Blood Number Average Salary Highest Paid
Full-blood 10 $1,845 $2,300
Half blood 18 $1,907 3,200
One-fourth degree Indian 36 $$2,077 $3,800
The point of making these comparisons is to emphasize the prominent role
being taken by those who possess lesser degrees of Indian blood. It is
in this connection that a very important further observation can be
made: the element having the least Indian blood is fast estranging
itself from the real Indian cause.
One may scarcely attribute to such a mixed-blood element anything other
than the best of motives, but while they individually have great pride
in being identified as Indian, they have lost the common touch of
Indianism. This is most evident in two respects: First, they lack zeal
in championing the Indian cause. One may venture to say that the general
run of white employees are animated by more intense ideals of Indian
welfare than these employees of Indian blood. Second, they have shown
considerable indifference to joining hands among themselves and with
reservation Indians in organized programs for the amelioration of Indian
life.
Quoting from an Indian on this point, “This group, with distinctly real
potentialities for service to the Indian people, frequently possess
limitations brought on by the Indian Service influence that limit and
retard them. Rather than being in the vanguard of movements or efforts
to bring about Indian solidarity so necessary to further the Indian
cause, the group, either through complacency or subterfuge, sometimes
operates like so many saboteurs through lending their support only
reluctantly if not negatively. Solidarity is not achieved by hesitant
and reluctant leadership.”
Any solution to this problem of mixed-blood participation in tribal
affairs must take into consideration that it would be an unjust and
unnecessary measure to arbitrarily reduce the numbers of tribal members
in the United States. It would be a serious loss to the Indian cause if
a half-blood or one-fourth blood exclusion rule should be adopted. On
the contrary, it is a distinct advantage to the Indian minority that
every one who has any legitimate claim to tribal membership should be
continued in the status of Indian for certain political and cultural
purposes. The mixed bloods do have an important contribution to make.
But it is also important that only a distinct part of any tribal
membership should be entitled to rights and benefits under the programs
of the tribes or the Indian Service. It would be reasonable to adopt a
one-half blood standard or preferably a standard based on
distinguishable Indian physical traits. Certain few exceptions where
blond Indians are as much culturally Indian as the full-bloods could be
handled as a special class.
The main thought advanced here is that there is an urgent need now
existing to face the problem of classifying our Indian population and in
doing so to provide that the Indian tribes themselves will have the
guiding hand in the formulation of corrective measures. This might well
become a major project under the auspices of the recently formed
National Congress of American Indians, with the participation of various
other organizations including the National Indian Institute and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.