Page 209 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

FRONTIER PL A C E : G E N D E R MATTERS

W o rk-a-wam."I77 Other women mentioned that relatives, acquaintances,
or they themselves had married f u ll-blood or mixed-blood men. 17 8
Such terms as f u ll-blood and half-blood originated with whites, who
established racial and ethnic categories partly to help them administer
Indian policies, notably land allotments. 179 In a racist society such racial
definitions were necessary to keep those of color in their proper places
and behaving in ways that whites f o und appropriate. I 8 0 Full-blood
Indians at least had an unstained background, but mixed-bloods were
anathema to many whites and to some Indians. Thus, although some
mixed-heritage people admitted their status, others became wary, and
even ashamed, of categorizing themselves. One woman remembered that
negative fe elings caused her f a ther, a "one-half Cherokee," to refuse to
prove a land claim because he would not expose his shame at being "part
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Indian," even to obtain a homestead. 1 1
Despite the stigma regarding men with partial Indian "blood,"
Oklahoma women chose a variety ofIndian men as mates. One woman
explained that her husband was "a quarter-blood Choctaw Indian" who
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f a rmed near the Little W a shita River. 1 2 Another woman said that she
married a Cherokee who was a teacher trained at T a hlequah's male
seminary. Another, however, chose as her husband "a fu ll blood
Chickasaw," an interpreter fo r the governor of the Chickasaw nation.
She married him initially under state law in 1892, and again under Indian
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law in 1 8 97. 1 3
The government recognized these marriages by allowing wives of
native men to draw allotments and payments made to "full-blood"
Indians. Y e t what Americans came to call miscegenation, or mixing of
races, was not widely accepted in the e st. In Oklahoma, there was oppo­
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sition fr om individuals, especially men. One woman spoke of her f a ther's
objections to his daughters marrying Native Americans. In a curious
f
twist of a te, after his sudden death, neighboring Indians were so kind to
these women that one recalled, "my sister married a fu ll blood and we
have always been glad that she did." I 8 4
Even though it is unclear whether men or women were more, less,
or equally accepting of marriages between white women and American
Indian men, it is likely that the f e male value system permitted women
to adjust to the idea of intermarriage. Female beliefs allowed women

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