Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South

Mercer University Lamar Memorial Lectures

by Theda Perdue, Theda Purdue

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.

Genres: History, Native Americans, Nonfiction, Native American History, Native American, American History

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2003

Reviews

[Theshiney · Rating 4 out of 5]

in 100 pages i have learned more about southern native american culture (read: cherokee, creek, chickasaw, choctaw, and seminole) than in books specifically about those tribe's culture. it is not only a concise, confident exposition of race and race relations but also provides a social history and awareness that evokes understanding rather than delineates a thesis.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a number of reasons this book is a stellar example of what one would like to see in a scholarly approach to history. First, Perdue based it on an extensive review of primary and secondary sources. The 23 pages of end notes in a 101 page narrative text confirms what a wide base of information she relied on.

Second, the author carefully organized her presentation of the material into 3 in depth chapters. The first covered the perspectives of Native Americans living in what became the southeastern United States on intermarriage with EuroAmerican colonists and settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries. The second presented how their biracial offspring adapted to and influenced the Native American communities they were living in over the course of the late 18th and early 19th century. And the third discussed how the American point of view on these individuals evolved from one of hopeful tolerance, if not acceptance, to one of skeptical criticism as efforts to displace and dispossess the Native Americans gathered momentum in the 1820’s and on. In presenting this information she provided very thorough descriptions of the cultural, social, political, and economic dynamics of both the Native Americans and the EuroAmericans which underlaid these processes.

Third, Perdue did some things which enhanced my engagement with MBI. It was written in a direct, readable prose. Her use of quotations to elaborate on points she made was timely. There is one map and a handful of photos or reproductions of paintings which made it easy to visualize some of the many people she wrote about. In fact, if anything, so many individuals were noted that it became challenging to assimilate what she was trying to impart. IMHO, sometimes this aspect of the book became an example of ‘too much of a good thing.’

I have one other modest criticism: the last few pages covered how race was later used by the American government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to further dispossess the Indians living in what became Oklahoma. In contrast to the preceding pages in the book this was done rather superficially. Either Perdue should have devoted another chapter to this topic or not included it at all.

Overall, MBI is well worth reading for anyone who wants to get a solid introduction to this topic. Ties that Bind by Miles is another very well done study of an Afro American Cherokee family. Other related books which I rated less highly than this one are Black Indians by Katz and Race and the Cherokee Nation by Yarbrough.

[Alexander Labinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you would expect, Perdue delivers once again in this book that's eye-opening in the sense that it shows how we still think in racist categories when talking about "full bloods" and "mixed bloods" although the identy politics of Indian Americans in the Early South were far more nuanced than that. In three chapters modelled on the lectures she gave, the full scope of who was considered a tribe member and who was not and how politics were shaped but not defined by identity is described and painfully annotated. Although this could be a leaden book for all the details provided, it also manages to be highly accessible while still being an earnest work of scholarship. This nuanced work should be a must-read for everybody in times when identity politics have gone wild as it clearly shows that lineage is not destiny. Highly recommended, 4 out of 5 stars.