February 5, 2008
by Steve Hammons

When our great-grandparents or more distant ancestors first arrived in America, they were usually from one particular region and ethnic group.

But as Americans met and had children, the merging of various ethnicities increased.

From the early days of English, French and Spanish incursions into North America, this mixing began. Some of the earliest male explorers, trappers and adventurers found Native American Indian women available and attractive.

Their children and grandchildren were some of the first mixed-ethnicity Americans, although intermingling of various Indian tribes before Europeans arrived was already common.

In later decades and centuries, people from all over the world came to North America and what eventually became the United States, Canada, Mexico and other nations in the region.

In looking at these ethnic combinations today, we know that as new generations came along, married and had children, many American families became more and more complex in terms of genetic background, DNA, cultural awareness and ethnicity.

People sometimes have mixed feelings about their genetic background in this regard. They may self-identify as "white," "black" or "brown." But if we look a little deeper, we can explore more interesting factors.

MELTING POT OR MIXED NUTS?

Americans are proud of their many ethnic heritages and backgrounds. Some try to keep the cultural identity as strong as possible, some let it fade away a bit to become more "American."

It is challenging to keep track of all the ethnicities and the blending of them in modern American families.

Americans might have the backgrounds of Swedish or Scottish, Polish or Panamanian, French or Filipino, Chinese or Cherokee, Italian or Irish, German or Guatemalan, Danish or Dutch, African or Austrian, Belgian or Brazilian or any combination of the above, and more.

With each generation, there has been more intermarriage among us. Many Americans might have over a half-dozen different ethnicities in their family trees. And unless people in the family are diligent about keeping track, or do research about this, there may be many unknowns about our genetic backgrounds.

And, as people tend to do, we sometimes want to be better than the other guy. Americans of different ethnic groups might look down on or put down others. We see this in street gangs and elite country clubs.

We might tend to identify with one or more elements of our ethnicity more than others. Someone might be mostly Swedish, for example, but great-grampa was half-Italian. Another family might say, "We're Scottish," not remembering that great-great grandma was a quarter Cherokee.

And, of course, many ethnicities are themselves products of such mixing. Filipinos are a mixture of Spanish and the native people of those islands. Mexicans and Central and South Americans are also mixtures of Spanish and Native American Indians, with African and other European backgrounds sometimes in the mix.

What we consider English or Scottish might also deserve another look. Romans occupied what is now the UK for quite a long time, so we can safely say that Italian DNA is in the "English" population. Vikings also raided and eventually settled in what is now the UK. So, Americans with English ancestors might also have Scandinavian DNA within them.

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Some families know very well that they are of mixed ethnicity and they think this is interesting. Sometimes we have troubling feelings about this. African-Americans who have early American slaveholders within their genetic background certainly must feel some anger and resentment about it.

The old "one drop rule" declared that if a person had even one drop of African blood in them, they were considered "black." Similar cultural and legal definitions were applied to Americans who were part Native American Indian and part-European.

Today, many Americans self-identify as African-American or black, when actually they may have significant European and Native American Indian genetic backgrounds.

Consider Barack Obama: He is not black enough for some African-Americans and not white enough for other Americans.

Part of his boyhood was spent in Hawaii where ethnic mixing among Asian-Americans, Pacific islanders and Native Hawaiians is not unusual, and many people have various shades of brown skin. He might have blended in well with the kids over there. "Hey, Barack, you are mighty skinny for a Samoan," they could have said.

Obama tends to self-identify as black, but we know his mother was white. What is her ethnic background? English? Irish? Dutch? Any Native American DNA back in the gene pool somewhere?

Obama supporter Oprah Winfrey reportedly does have some Native American Indian way back in the family tree. Choctaw maybe?

If so, she is one of the millions of Americans who have Native American Indian DNA within them.

SPIRIT RISING

Nowadays, many genetic testing labs are available for Americans who want to pay a couple of hundred dollars, send away for a kit, swab the inside of their cheek and mail it in for a genetic evaluation of general ethnic background.

Other Americans search genealogy records for clues and histories of their ancestors and understanding of their cultural roots.

An interesting case study of the American population today is looking at those with some measure of Native American Indian background. There are many full-bloods, three-quarter, half and every kind of combinations you can think of. Many people are mixtures of different tribes.

As noted, there are also millions of Americans who generally consider themselves white, black, Hispanic or mixed-ethnicity who also have some measure of Native American Indian DNA inside of them.

What does it mean or how much does it matter if you are half-Navajo or if great, great, great grandma was a quarter Cherokee, for example? What does that mean to you? How you look? How you think? How you feel about things? Which ethnic group box you check on a form?

I have explored these topics in some previous articles which might be of interest for readers:

- "Bumped by Oprah: 'Little Tree' Still a Worthy Read" (PopulistAmerica.com, Nov. 14, 2007)