| Mixed Blood Indians On the southern frontier in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, European men--including traders, soldiers, and government agents--sometimes married Native women. Children of these unions were known by whites as "half-breeds." The Indian societies into which they were born, however, had no corresponding concepts of race or "blood." Moreover, counter to European customs and laws, Native lineage was traced through the mother only. No familial status or rights stemmed from the father. THEDA PERDUE is a professor of history at the University of Kentucky. She is the author or editor of eight books, including The Cherokee and Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 1540-1866. |