But why Cherokee? That just summarizes the program. I just don’t understand why it’s specifically Cherokee. You’d think the trope would just be “Native Princess” and they’d just name whatever tribe was nearby where their forebears grew up. So like you would think people who’s family lived in Arizona for a few generations would claim to be descended from a “Hopi Princess” or a “Navajo Princess.” But it’s almost always Cherokee.
Recent demographic data reveals the extent to which Americans believe they’re part Cherokee. In 2000, the federal census reported that 729,533 Americans self-identified as Cherokee. By 2010, that number increased, with the Census Bureau reporting that 819,105 Americans claimed at least one Cherokee ancestor. Census data also indicates that the vast majority of people self-identifying as Cherokee—almost 70 percent of respondents—claim they are mixed-race Cherokees.
To put that in perspective, this website claims the estimated total population of Cherokee in the 19th century was 36,000. Either there was a lot of fucking after the Trail of Tears or a lot of people are wrong.
I just… why is it almost always Cherokee? You’d think North America was 99% Cherokee before Europeans came.
Yep
Goodbye, Cherokee Princess: Extractive Settler Genealogy and the Transmission of a Toxic Trope | Harvard University Native American Program - https://hunap.harvard.edu/event/goodbye-cherokee-princess-extractive-settler-genealogy-and-transmission-toxic-trope
But why Cherokee? That just summarizes the program. I just don’t understand why it’s specifically Cherokee. You’d think the trope would just be “Native Princess” and they’d just name whatever tribe was nearby where their forebears grew up. So like you would think people who’s family lived in Arizona for a few generations would claim to be descended from a “Hopi Princess” or a “Navajo Princess.” But it’s almost always Cherokee.
Edit: This article goes into it- https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/10/cherokee-blood-why-do-so-many-americans-believe-they-have-cherokee-ancestry.html
Edit 2: From that article:
To put that in perspective, this website claims the estimated total population of Cherokee in the 19th century was 36,000. Either there was a lot of fucking after the Trail of Tears or a lot of people are wrong.
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e9913eb717dc4e68aebe7a7c7d3f42c3
Right, it was Slate that article was on. I remembered it as Salon. No wonder I didn’t find it.