Did you know there was a time when you could pay to be Indian? I’m not sure about the reliability of this information but it has become a common meme about pretend Indians (“pretendians”). “It may be fashionable to play Indian now, but it was also trendy 125 years ago when people paid $5 apiece…
Tag: Ethnicity
Not all descendants are White.
Not all descendants are White.
American Identity
The Radical Genealogist has an interesting article about American ethnic identity. Anyone who has traveled to Europe knows that Europeans are puzzled when Americans claim to be English or Scottish or French or whatever. A friend who had this experience told me that her hosts asked, “Why do Americans always claim to be something else?…
Scotch-Irish
I use the term Scotch-Irish, which requires some explanation, judging from the nearly hysterical emails I receive from time to time. Many people erroneously believe that the term means something along the lines of “mixed Scottish and Irish.” Not so. The Scotch-Irish were Scots who lived in Ireland. The term is similar to other ethnic…