Who Belongs?: Race, Resources, and Tribal Citizenship in the Native South - Paperback
by Mikaëla M. Adams (Author)
Who can lay claim to a legally-recognized Indian identity? Who decides whether or not an individual qualifies? The right to determine tribal citizenship is fundamental to tribal sovereignty, but deciding who belongs has a complicated history, especially in the South.
Indians who remained in the South following removal became a marginalized and anomalous people in an emerging biracial world. Despite the economic hardships and assimilationist pressures they faced, they insisted on their political identity as citizens of tribal nations and rejected Euro-American efforts to reduce them to another racial minority, especially in the face of Jim Crow segregation. Drawing upon their cultural traditions, kinship patterns, and evolving needs to protect their land, resources, and identity from outsiders, southern Indians constructed tribally-specific citizenship criteria, in part by manipulating racial categories - like blood quantum - that were not traditional elements of indigenous cultures. Mikaëla M. Adams investigates how six southern tribes-the Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia, the Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and
Mikaëla M. Adams is an associate professor of history at the University of Mississippi.
At the heart of every product lies a unique story, driven by our passion for quality and innovation. Each item enhances your everyday life and sparks joy.