Blood will tell : Native Americans and assimilation policy Cover Image

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Blood will tell : Native Americans and assimilation policy / Katherine Ellinghaus.

Summary:

"Blood Will Tell reveals the underlying centrality of "blood" that shaped official ideas about who was eligible to be defined as Indian by the General Allotment Act in the United States. Katherine Ellinghaus traces the idea of blood quantum and how the concept came to dominate Native identity and national status between 1887 and 1934 and how related exclusionary policies functioned to dispossess Native people of their land. The U.S. government's unspoken assumption at the time was that Natives of mixed descent were undeserving of tribal status and benefits, notwithstanding that Native Americans of mixed descent played crucial roles in the national implementation of allotment policy. Ellinghaus explores on-the-ground case studies of Anishinaabeg, Arapahos, Cherokees, Eastern Cherokees, Cheyennes, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Lakotas, Lumbees, Ojibwes, Seminoles, and Virginia tribes. Documented in these cases, the history of blood quantum as a policy reveals assimilation's implications and legacy. The role of blood quantum is integral to understanding how Native Americans came to be one of the most disadvantaged groups in the United States, and it remains a significant part of present-day debates about Indian identity and tribal membership. Blood Will Tell is an important and timely contribution to current political and scholarly debates."-- Provided by publisher.

"A study of the role blood quantum played in the assimilation period between 1887 and 1934 in the United States"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 0803225431
ISBN: 9781496201584
ISBN: 1496201582
ISBN: 9780803225435
ISBN: 0803225431
ISBN: 9781496201584
ISBN: 1496201582
Physical Description: xxx, 199 pages : facsimiles ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Lincoln : The University of Nebraska Press, and the American Philosophical Society, 2017.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-180) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	The discourse of blood in the assimilation period -- Fraud : the allotment of the Anishinaabeg -- Chaos : the Dawes Commission and the Five Tribes -- Practically white : the federal policy of competency -- The same old deal : the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act -- Colored : the Indian nations of Virginia and the 1924 Racial Integrity Act -- Writing blood into the assimilation period.