How is an Indian
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Full Blood, Mixed Blood, Generic, and Ersatz: The Problem of Indian Identity
By William T. Hagan
 Who is an Indian? This has been a problem since the birth of this nation (United States of course)
 The Department of Education spent $90,000 to try to establish a useful definition on the term Indian
 It was left to the courts to grapple (sich herumschlagen) with the problem of Indian identity (they never formulated a simple definition)
 They found two considerations most significant in determining Indian identity: 1. the individual must have some Indian blood, 2. those Indians with whom he/she claimed affiliation must accept him/her as a fellow tribes-man
 In the second half of the 19th century the relative affluence (Reichtum) of some tribes attracted numerous enterprising non-Indians
 Many white men (non-Indians) were living among the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles), some of these whites married Indian women and applied for tribal membership → many other just wanted to enjoy economical benefits
 A common problem for all tribes was the question of rights to be accorded white men who married Indian women and the offspring of such unions
 In 1888 a bill prohibited a white man married to an Indian from his wife's tribe any privileges as a result of that marriage
 By the end of the 19th century the principle had been established that the tribes were the final authority in determining their membership (this was reaffirmed in 1978)
 The society of American Indians(since 1911) provided for three categories of membership, with the first two limited to those of Indian blood
 A person needed to be only one-sixteenth Indian, if not on a tribal roll (Namensliste), and even a smaller blood quantum if the applicant was on a tribal roll
 The Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act of 1934:
1. All persons of Indian descent who were members of a recognized tribe under federal jurisdiction
2. All persons who were descendants of such members who on June1, 1934, were residing within the present boundaries of an Indian reservation
3. All other persons of one-half or more Indian blood
 The act also encouraged tribes to compile membership rolls and define membership criteria
 In the 1960s and 1970s being an Indian became more and more popular (from portrayals in TV commercials and popular writing)
 This led to the appearance of more ersatz Indians
 Other incentives (Anreize) for discovering Indian ancestry included.
 The well-publicized, multi million-dollar judgements being awarded tribes in land claim cases
 The rapid increase in federal assistance programs available to Indians
→ Eligibility (Berechtigung) for these federal programs varied from agency to agency
 There were also nearly a hundred groups seeking federal recognition as tribes in the last 25 years
 The Policy Review Commission proposed that the government aid tribes financially in the expensive task of researching their history in order to meet government criteria
 Indian identity remains a serious question for several constituencies (Whlerschaft)
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