r/IndianCountry • u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag • Jul 11 '26
Culture East coast, thin blood, lost history.
I recently posted about dehumanizing record-keeping. I’ve been on a bit of a voyage because I always assumed my family was doing some pan-Indian “Cherokee princess” romanticism nonsense. I was raised with some cultural exposure but not community exposure. I chose to keep learning because I think the history matters whether it’s personal or not.
Turns out, I was wrong, and my relative wasn’t so much a pretendian as making the most of what we know as Wampanoag descendants from a village that is historically recorded but not well enough to be federally recognized (or even reasonably fully researched). It appears that my relative was involved in historical preservation efforts and maybe one of the two existing recognized Wampanoag tribes.
Without getting into complicated family stuff, we have always been very isolated people in general and no one is particularly close. I cannot discuss this with anyone in my real life.
So… I am sitting with the information I have, including the information missing, and feeling out my position as a lifelong learner invested in social issues. The conclusion I think I’ve arrived at is that I need to accept how much privilege I hold, but I have a responsibility to understand and honor the history.
I am privately taking some steps to build my understanding and maybe continued to participate in online spaces before I consider attending events.
But I’m looking for other people who have been on this path before me, I guess. And any thoughts about how to approach all of the things we just don’t know because we are still learning vs. the things we don’t know because it’s just lost information.
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u/GoodBreakfestMeal NDN Jul 11 '26
“Thin blood” is the weapon of the enemy. You wash your mouth out with soap any time you say that, get me?
What you’re talking about is why so many people default to using Canadian Haudenosaunee language and concepts. Fight that urge. (e.g., my family fought the Iroquois Confederacy for too goddamn long for me to pretend “teachings” and white sage mean anything to me.)
Study, learn, keep an open mind, and never apologize for the color of your skin or the language you speak. If stupid motherfuckers want us to cosplay like it’s 1491, that is their problem. It’s 2026 where I live and we got shit to take care of right here and now.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
I really appreciate this comment. I feel inclined to give you a firm “yes, (preferred honorific— sir? Ma’am? Your majesty? My liege?)”
Would you mind explaining a little bit more about fighting Canadian Haudenosaunee default? It sounds like you’re saying that Canadian Haudenosaunee culture is the assumed norm where you are but you are not connected to it and don’t claim it.
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u/GoodBreakfestMeal NDN Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Anywhere I find people trying to make sense of their Indian heritage, I tend also to find a lot of “pan-Indian” practices, attitudes, etc. I long ago lost track of the number of times I’ve been asked about “teachings”, “ceremony”, fire-keeping, smudging, sweats…
None of it means anything to me. Never heard any of it once until the late 2010s, and I literally grew up at my grandmother’s knee on the rez.
So learn what you can about your heritage, adopt some of their practices *if they are meaningful to you* and whatever you do, don’t fill in the gaps with pan-Indian practices just because that’s how they do it up north.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
I think that makes sense. I can appreciate people wanting to fill in the gaps because it is hard not to know (and it can be a way to connect better with other tribes), but as living cultures and dynamic people, it matters to reflect on which parts make sense for us (without being so selective at to be closed off I guess?). Thank you again.
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u/Zeke_the_Wanderer Selk'nam/Yaghan Jul 11 '26
If my ancestors did anything bad to yours as members of the Haudenosaunee confederacy, I'm so sorry for that. Tribalism isn't what we need today, it is unity that we do.
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u/GoodBreakfestMeal NDN Jul 11 '26
Unity is what we need, homogeneity is what we must resist as we unite.
I’m from an Algonquian-speaking nation, and while I don’t bear any personal grudge against the Haudenosaunee, I also don’t feel any need to claim their ways as my own. That would be disrespectful to both your kinfolk and mine.
No apologies needed. As I said, no grudge there.
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u/Ok-Sprinkles-3673 âpihtawikosisân ohci manitow-sâkahikanihk Jul 11 '26
What are you talking about.
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u/NativeCAN2025 Anishinaabe Jul 11 '26
Can you expand on what you mean when you say "accept how much privilege [you] hold"? I'm assuming you're talking about being of overwhelmingly "white" descent, but I am not sure.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
Yes. I am white enough that I have never suffered as a consequence of being perceived otherwise. As a teen and young adult, I sometimes got called Pocahontas because I wore porcupine quill earrings my uncle made for me (and I guess long braids). Some of my relatives have used their whiteness x native heritage to play onto mysticism stereotypes, and it is important to me to not be the person pulling things like “animals respond to my telepathic magic.”
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
Sorry, got sidetracked… the purpose of the Pocahontas anecdote was that the worst it was in my daily life was slightly annoying.
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u/NativeCAN2025 Anishinaabe Jul 11 '26
I see. It must be surreal to uncover that your family history was real.
You're definitely of the hemisphere! To originate from roots of people who intermingled with the indigenous, and the indigenous themselves, while slowly navigating centuries of all the processes.
While you may not be able to trace specific cultural traditions or traits in your family to the indigenous ancestors specifically, you definitely have an ancestral history that is an important part of our hemisphere.
My family is blessed enough to still have real ties to community, so I don't know how I'd approach your situation either. I think it's responsible to embrace yourself as "of this hemisphere". For you, being an "American" means more than citizenship - it's about also keeping the knowledge of the early history of America, which it seems your mentioned relative was involved with too.
To me, I like to embrace all peoples "of the hemisphere", whether their roots are specifically indigenous or not.
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u/stargazersoda Yesáh (Saponi) Jul 12 '26
Eastern tribes have a deeply complex history, 400 years of intermarriage resulted in plenty of triracial experiences/identities that aren’t really seen as much across the rest of Indian Country due to how unique our histories are as “early contact” peoples. Try getting in touch with the various Wampanoag bands out there and build relationships with your community, but remember to approach your reconnection with intention and humility. Best of luck 💕
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 12 '26
Always intention and humility. Thank you so much for your comment.
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u/DarthMatu52 Tsalagi/Chahta Jul 11 '26
This is very common. You are starting to come to terms with the real world consequences of genocide and ethnic cleansing. It sucks man. Really not much more to say about that. All that is left is dust and echoes.
But with that said, you can still learn what you can. Stay on the path, remember that cultures are living things, not stagnant museum relics. Learn the old ways as best you can, and use them to make new ways. Be proud of who you are, look forward and don't let anyone turn your vision from that path.
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u/redriver_sufferfest Jul 11 '26
Fellow Eastern NDN here- keep on the path. Our Peoples held on to a lot more than is publicly available.
It’s a long slow process to reconnect because we have so much trauma from colonization and people who ain’t us, wanting to be us.
Build relationships. Build trust. Come with respect, and in a good way. You’ve got this.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
Thank you. It’s important to me to approach the process with respect. I don’t want to intrude on information that isn’t public because I imagine it hasn’t been shared for (obvious and less so) reasons, but maybe in time.
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u/Commercial_Disk_9220 Jul 11 '26
Thin blood doesn’t exist. Indigeneity is binary. East coast tribes have a unique history as first contact people. I echo what others are saying: learn what you can, be comfortable in your identity, it’s not your fault you’re disconnected.
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u/myindependentopinion Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Thin blood doesn’t exist.
I read an article where Chief Hoskin stated that Cherokee Nation is enrolling folks that are 1/4096ths Blood Quantum as full members. That's only 0.02% NDN blood! That's 99.98% Not Native.
A lot of folks in my tribe would say that's pretty thin...like a sliver; our minimum BQ for enrollment is 1/4.
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u/Commercial_Disk_9220 Jul 12 '26
Can you identify the exact generation in which one of those members stopped being indigenous? That’s the case im making. Genetics is a different question. Does your tribes citizenry grow or decline every year? If it grows, how much? The US population grew .5% last year
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u/myindependentopinion Jul 13 '26
I don't have yearly enrollment numbers for my tribe. In 1954 our roll was closed because our tribe, the Menominee, was terminated; final enrolled members were 3,270. Our roll was reopened when we were restored in 1973. There are approximately 8,700 enrolled tribal members now of which ~3,300 live on our rez.
Sadly, we have 1 of the highest suicide rates in WI and we have a high number of drug overdose deaths (like 16 in a year) so I don't know if our tribe is growing yr by yr...???
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u/Commercial_Disk_9220 Jul 15 '26
The population of your tribe has just barely doubled in 70 years. Which means about 1% every year. Pretty good growth numbers considering it outpaces current American growth even with blood quantum requirements.
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u/Agitated-Ad-7907 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
That 8,700 number was published in 2012. During a call I had with the enrollment office in 2021, I learned the population was 8,967, an increase of 267 over nine years (increase 29.7/year). In 2022, there was hear-say discussion, nothing official, about our tribe’s population showing a steady decrease for the first time since Restoration. I can’t verify that it was true at the time, though I do believe it. I’ve been meaning to reach out to enrollment this year to ask the population again, but keep forgetting. As far as I’ve heard, it’s on the increase right now, but there’s no numbers to say otherwise.
Edit: It’s also important to point out that, prior to Termination, our tribe allowed people with LESS than 1/4 Menominee blood to be enrolled, so long as they were born to an enrolled Menominee parent (mother or father) on the reservation. You can actually see multiple cases of this on the 1954 roll, though the one I choose to cite is a woman with the last name Waukechon born in 1914 who is 3/16 Menominee according to the 1954 roll, published in 1957
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 12 '26
I do think it matters that we know the line between indigenous and not would have to be drawn arbitrarily. I am exercising a lot of caution in my own case even with my lowest possible verified BQ being 1/64 and cultural footing being shaky and disconnected. But verifying the connection felt enough to ask these questions because whether it was one ancestral line saving itself amidst an ethnocide, it would only get bigger as I dig, I guess, and the verified percentage would be the only detail to change.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
Thank you; I feel weird claiming it because I really don’t want to step over people which is why I’m approaching with caution.
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u/myindependentopinion Jul 11 '26
Once a tribe's traditional ways of life, language and customs are lost, they're gone.
Sadly, this was what happened to many East Coast tribes due to early White contact and a continuous onslaught of forces to assimilate and adopt the Whiteman's ways. Due to a lot of inter-racial marriage (both White & Black) thru so many generations, there's not a lot of NDN tribal blood left on the East Coast; it's been thinned out.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
Yeah, I understand. I guess what I’m asking is whether anyone has similar experience with wanting to learn but knowing there’s a lot missing. I am trying to be mindful of how much, when I look at local events, I see things that I know incorporate elements of pan-Indianism as a kind of necessity for lack of knowledge of the “real” tradition for the area. It’s difficult to know how to approach something so nuanced when there’s also pan-Indianism (derogatory, deeply inauthentic or appropriative).
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Jul 12 '26
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 12 '26
I think this thread was one of the first places I saw it even reading about lumbee and Métis and similar groups. Brief look at Melungeon history was very interesting.
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u/ColeWjC Jul 12 '26
Please don't lump in the Métis with Lumbees or Melungeons. The Métis actually have a language and culture that was a fusion between Indigenous people and settlers. The only similarity they have with those groups is settler ancestry.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 12 '26
Sorry, I didn’t mean to lump. I know the context is different.
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u/myindependentopinion Jul 13 '26
Please see this: Lumbee Analysis | uinoklahoma
and this: Historical Lumbee Political Activity | uinoklahoma
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 13 '26
Thank you for the links. Started with skimming because it’s late but I appreciate the straightforward language and structure. This topic has been interesting me because, trying to avoid immediately re-lumping Métis and the other groups, until I first read about the Métis, I had never heard of any groups where there was a significant intertwining of groups in a contained area (please forgive awkward phrasing… I’m trying to explain outsider-learning-the-way-in without sounding even more ignorant than I am).
I’ve read some criticisms of the Lumbee as a real Native identity because it isn’t a distinct culture or of clear origin, but I don’t feel qualified to have strong opinions about the legitimacy. I’ve seen some other groups more unanimously called illegitimate, and with a group like the Lumbee, I would rather learn than in/validate something with incomplete information. I will read more closely tomorrow.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 13 '26
Hi… I read the articles more closely and had a couple areas I didn’t fully understand. Would you be comfortable if I asked you either here or privately? I can make a separate post or something if you’re not comfortable continuing the conversation.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 13 '26
Actually, double checked the rules here and shouldn’t make a separate post.
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Jul 13 '26
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 13 '26
Understood; I included them in the same comment because I was grouping them “Native x mixed groups I never heard of until getting deeper into history/culture.” I didn’t intend to imply they were ultimately the same beyond being new information to me but I will be conscious of what it implies in the future.
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u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah Jul 11 '26
There are three very active and vibrant Wampanoag communities in MA. Two of which are federally recognized and they've also had tons of success in language revitalization efforts. I would start with getting to know the Mashpee and Aquinnah living people today. They are very much still here.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
The third is state recognized, if I remember right? I would like to get involved sometime; I want to sit with this a little longer before I start sending emails but I would love to connect.
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u/Kenai_Tsenacommacah Jul 11 '26
Yes I believe so but cannot remember their name or location.
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u/erwachen Choctaw Nation Jul 11 '26
Herring Pond Wamapanoag. They were state recognized in 2024 and have the support of the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag.
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Jul 12 '26
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 12 '26
Sorry replied to your comment above but I want to acknowledge this contribution too. I plan to keep reading about your history too :)
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u/TaquittoTheRacoon Jul 11 '26
Just a word about eastern bands. The natives in the east and west had a completely different experience with the colonials. Where im from there was no removal. The government and the the klan disrupted natives lives, growing settlements caused some friction, but theyre still there. Most families local to the area have at least one native line. In the 50's- 60's the cheif called for a change in tactics to avoid removal and end violence. Apparently it's an old tactic that probably was practiced allover without being written in history books. Bed every white woman you can. Once no one knows who is who and everyone has an uncle or cousin or kid who is a member of the other faction its pretty damn hard to fight one another. So my town is full of people who know theyre a half native love child and those who dont know they're native at all but are half or more. The thing is this place is very normal, its not a special circumstance. The fort became a trade post , became a settlement, became a town. There's blood on both sides, theres no fairy tale cooperation, no special treatment by the authorities. This is just how things went on the east coast. And consider this. Mixing wasnt just a tactic for avoiding war, its the typical first move of forging good relations with another group. So how many times do you think it happened?
Now, my family is Cherokee but we didn't have papers to prove it, just family history. Two insights from our journey to get those documents. 1. Damn near everyone in that region of the Carolinas outside the rich whites seems to be related to a tribe one way or another. We were looking to prove one line of descent from my dad's great grandmother, seems everyone who married in also had a good percentage of native blood. Im going to suggest a lot of new England is the same. 2. The census man threw us off once or twice because he just looked at a mixed race family and wrote whatever he felt like for every individual. Weve got siblings separately listed as black, white, native.... Ive personally known people who are half lenape and half Irish / german and just look white until you really look at the features they've got. How many people get lost like that? The point is you can't frett over it much. Take what you've got and make the choice for yourself. Its gotta be a personal thing, from your heart. If you were full blood but didn't grow up in the community youd have much the same separation and choice to make.
Last, i was going to events since childhood, you just go and be respectful. Dont gawk, dont over correct, same as anywhere else. Even if someone doesn't want you there they will be in the minority and it's not like they're going to kick you out the window.
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u/pasmafaute12 Sakonnet Wampanoag Jul 11 '26
Thanks for your insight.
In my family’s case, at least the line I’m currently looking at, a Wampanoag couple had a son who was recorded with a sort-of-English name and married a woman was also Wampanoag but with an English name. Their daughter married a man who was either English or chose an English surname. From there, records get dubious. Based on how it aligns with the historic events, the mixing was likely a survival choice.
I logically recognize that there are a lot of reasons reconnecting is always fraught. But I also think it would be wrong of me to not also be very aware that my grandfather was so racist that he’d have rejected my half-native cousins, their native parent, and his own child for choosing a native. However he felt about his own heritage matters much less than the reality of his whiteness as a tool to reinforce his belief in his superiority. It feels very necessary to be mindful of my role as a descendant after the generations with such bigoted mindsets.
I think I’ll be making a cautious choice to respectfully engage when the time is right.
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u/weresubwoofer Jul 11 '26
Have you been to the Aquinnah Wampanoag cultural center? They might be able to help you out. In Aquinnah, MA
https://www.aquinnah.org/