>The comments on Jamake Highwater certainly are intriguing, and I too will wait
>to find out the next installment. A recent posting mentioned that he was
>apparently billed as a Cherokee before he discovered his Blackfoot connection.
Highwater was never "billed" as either a Cherokee or a Blackfeet because he
is both. He has been quite consistent in stating that his mother was mostly
Blackfeet and partly French Canadian, while his father was of mixed Eastern
Cherokee and white heritage. However, his Cherokee heritage is quite sketchy
because his father was a drifter and didn't know or talk much about family
(I can relate to this perfectly well. My own father's background is equally
sketchy). Highwater has always been frank about that. On the other hand, his
mother knew quite a lot about her Blackfeet heritage and customs, which she
attempted to pass on to Highwater when he was a very young child. He has
also written about this consistently. So no, he did not "discover" the
Blackfeet connection at some later date. If anyone emphasized his Cherokee
heritage over the Blackfeet, it was not Highwater himself.
As you mentioned though, Margaret, it's not uncommon for people of mixed
heritage to claim or disclaim one side of the family because it's politically
advantageous to do so. Someone of mixed black and Indian blood might easily
apply for college as Indian, because the college has an Indian quota to fill,
then suddenly declare that they are black when they get out of college and
want to join a black-oriented business association. Happens all the time.
Wreaks havoc with the census bureau, though!
= Lee =
Lee A. Flier
lee@cavern.vortex.com