Vol. 7, No.

2 July, 1984

EXPLORATIONS
IN
ETHNIC STUDIES

The Journal of the National

Association for
Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies

PublishE'd by NAIES
Vol. 7, No.2 July, 1984

Table of Contents

The Lone Ranger Lied: Tonto Wasn't Real

by Lee Hadley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

White Like Me: A Problem or Plus

by Ann Irwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Use of the Terms "Negro" and "Black" to Include Persons of

Native American Ancestry in "Anglo" North America
by Jack D. Forbes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
. .

Critiques
John M. Hunnicutt .......................................... 23
Neil Nakadate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Change in American Indian World Views Illustrated by Oral

Narratives and Contemporary Poetry
by Silvester J. Brito ......................................... 27

Critiques
Juanita Palmerhall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
.

Margaret Bedrosian .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
. .

Abstracts from the Twelfth Annual Conference on Ethnic and

Minority Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
.

The Editor Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

.

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Editor's Note: The Feminist Press gave birth to Hadley Irwin with
the publication of The Lilith Summer (1979). She has published
five books since then. Hadley Irwin is the fusion of Lee Hadley
and Annabelle Irwin, but they both declare that "Hadley Irwin
is a better writer than both of us put together-she's really her
own person." Hadley and Irwin decided to look at two aspects
of Hadley Irwin, the writer, and share their insights about how
she attempts to portray a realistic cultural landscape from
their separate identities.
"The Lone Ranger Lied: Tonto Wasn't Real" and "White
Like Me: A Problem Or a Plus" were presented at the Twelfth
Annual NAIES Conference in Kansas City. Hadley's discussion
centers on We Are Mesquakie, We Are One(1980), a story about
Hidden Doe and her people returning to their ancestral home­
land, and Irwin's focus is I Be Somebody (1984), which
examines why Rap Davis and his people had to leave Oklahoma
for Alberta in search of freedom. The presentations by Hadley
and Irwin are published here for reasons congruent with the
purpose of the journal.

The Lone Ranger Lied: Tonto Wasn't Real

Lee Hadley

Momma, Where Do Books Come From?

Whenever Hadley Irwin speaks to school children or to adults, for

that matter, someone always asks, "Did the things in the book really
happen to you? Are the characters in your books real people?" Writing
is full of bits and pieces of the past, but what goes on paper is an
amalgam of thousands of things, consciously and unconsciously
remembered-experiences, overheard conversations, stories, imag­
ined events. For a child, at least this writer as a child, all things had
equal validity; all were equally true, even though she finally learned
that growing up was a mixture of reality and myth.

Explorations in Ethnic Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (July, 1984)

"From Out of the Bygone Days of Yesteryear ..."

Reality was five years in a one-room country school house (1940-

1 945) in the middle of Iowa cornfields, and a Quaker community that
had been settled by everyone's great-grandparents. Reality was going
barefoot and wearing overalls except for Sunday when both Sunday
School and Church had to be endured.
The myths were many. The best books in school were two volumes,
illustrated in color, of Greek and Roman mythology. The words were
difficult, but the stories were exciting, and they seemed perfectly
reasonable to a third grader. Zeus romping on and off Mount
Olympus, turning himself into swans and golden showers of rain was
just as possible and a lot more exciting than the Old Testament God,
who just made plain, ordinary rules and floated old Noah away on the
ark. Of course, those were neat stories too and obviously factual. Why
else would a grandmother teach a kid to read them and remember
them? And since everything in the Bible (King James version, of
course) was true, it seemed perfectly all right to like David better than
Jesus, who was always pictured as sitting around with a soppy
expression.
Some other things were true, too. Black Beauty was a thoughtful
horse; Lassie really did come home; My Friend Flicka had a foal
named Thunderhead. But more real than the Greek myths, "more real
than Job getting boils, certainly more real than a long-discarded
Santa Claus were THE THUNDERING HOOF BEATS OF THE
GREAT HORSE, SILVER.
Yes, the Lone Ranger rode again with his faithful Indian
companion, Tonto, whose horse's name was Scout. Who can ever
forget a first love? The sound of the voice, the words used - so full of
truth. Of course, I could not see him, but, curled up by the radio at 6:30,
Monday through Friday, I knew exactly what he looked like. Tonto, I
mean. There were a few problems. All the bad guys, and most of the
good guys, called him "Red Skin," and that did tend to create a bit of
doubt in my mind since the only person I'd ever seen with truly red
skin was Swede Barnett, a classmate who was almost albino and
couldn't stay in the sun very long. Actually, as lovely as his voice was,
Tonto had little to say except, "H iiieee, Kimo Sabe," "Ugh," and "Him
heap bad medicine."
On the other hand, Tonto, even though he did not go around
shooting guns out of villian's hands with a single silver bullet, did
keep the Lone Ranger in business. In fact, it was Tonto who found the
Texas Ranger and nursed him back to health and turned him into the

2
Lone Ranger. He also must have found the silver mine where all those
bullets came from, and he probably captured the Great Horse Silver. I
have a nagging notion that he did the cooking and the cleaning and
the laundry and would have done windows. It took years to discover
his basic flaw:
THE LONE RANGER LIED, BUT SO DID TONTO.
And he didn't do me any favor. There weren't any Native Americans
back then, not in my world, anyway. There were only the "injuns" in
Zane Grey books, forever "skulking" around Zanesville, ready to
carry off helpless white women and children (who were usually so
whimpy I couldn't understand why anyone would want them) or else a
Tonto. It took a long time to figure out that the "noble Indian" was just
as false a picture as the "dirty redskin," and maybe just as prevalent.
Here is a description I just unearthed from my 94-year-old-mother's
library. The book had been a gift to her mother. The Heart of the
Desert. Originally Kut-le of the Desert by Honore Willsie, 1912:
Despite his breadth of shoulder, the young Indian looked slender, though it was
evident that only panther strength could produce such panther grace . . . Rhoda
was surprised at the beauty of his face, with its large, long· lashed Mohave eyes
that were set well apart and set deeply as are the eyes of those whose ancestors
have lived much in the open glare of the sun; with the straight thin·nostriled
nose; with the stern, cleanly modeled mouth and square chin below . . . (p. 3).
Two Indian women: Their swarthy features were well cut but both were dirty and
ill kept. The younger, heavier squaw had a kindly face, with good eyes, but her
hair was matted with clay and her fingers showed traces of recent tortilla
making. The older woman was lean and wiry, with a strange gleam of
maliciousness and ferocity in her eyes. H er forehead was elaborately tattooed
with symbols and her toothless old j aws were covered with blue tribal lines (p. 58).

Which is a more demeaning picture? It's a toss up.

Goodbye Kemo Sabe
When Hadley Irwin began thinking about We Are Mesquakie, We
Are One, based on an event in Mesquakie history, it was apparent that
Tonto and the Lone Ranger had to die. Myth had to be replaced by
reality and the bare bones of history-dates, treaties, places, events­
were too shallow. But where to find at least a facsimile of the truth?
The single most valuable source was "An Autobiography of a Fox
Woman." It supplied some basic information about attitudes, beliefs,
cultural patterns, and language-things that any Mesquakie child
familiar with her own past would know, but which were discoveries
for Hadley Irwin, though it is painful to admit, include:
• Fox Indians in the Iowa history books were really Mesquakie.
• Mesquakies did not live in teepees.

3
• A written Mesquakie language exists. It does not translate directly
into standard American English; the rhythm is different.
• Names of individuals depended on the particular clan to which the

person belonged.
• The Mesquakies and the Sioux were not exactly best friends.

• On the Kansas reservation, disease and alcoholism were real

threats.
• The proud and stubborn refusal to become acculturated and

homogenized was a force in Mesquakie life.

The writer glimpsed a world that was different, but a world that held
logic and beauty when it was viewed as it is for what it is.
Hi Ho Hadley Irwin . • . Away

Then came the not inconsiderable problem oftaking history, taking

what had been learned, and creating a story that could be enjoyed by
young adult readers. Few historians really enjoy the facts of history. A
psychologist friend said, after reading the first draft of the Mesquakie
manuscript, "But Hidden Doe is only eight years old and she's so
serious. Don't she and her friends ever have any just plain fun? "
"Your names for your characters are accurate - too accurate," a
colleague commented. "These two names belong to people at the
settlement. "
Editors at Feminist Press were worried."Can't you make the female
characters more assertive? "
And there was the problem of simply reversing stereotypes and
suddenly realizing that every white person in the book was evil,
greedy, and manipulative. No people are always anything.
Hadley Irwin listened and returned to the typewriter and finally the
book was finished and on the market. And then came MORE
THUNDERING HOOF BEATS.
Reviews of the book arrived. One review by Paulette Fairbanks
Molin and Diane M. Burns made it clear that MESQUAKIE was a
fraudulent failure:
The characters speak the usual stereotypic, stilted, broken-English dialogue ....
The names given characters ...seem to come straight from Hollywood.They bear
no resemblance to beautiful Mesquakie names. The entire story is a fictionalized
version of the author's own interpretation of events. Although the Mesquakies
are portrayed as struggling to maintain their culture, their actions will not
inspire readers to act against injustice by working in cooperation with others.'

Fortunately for the writer's frail ego, a few days later she received a
plaque that said: "Jane Addams Peace Association and Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom Honor Award to Lee

4
Hadley and Annabelle Irwin for WE ARE MESQUAKIE, WE ARE
ONE for its effective contribution to peace, social justice, and world
community."
It is very confusing to be the writer of a cross-cultural book. Is the
negative review correct or should she believe Joyce Flynn in
SOJOURNER, September of 1982?
The non· Indian reader is given the sense of Hidden Doe's whole world, different
but internally coherent, and its role in shaping actions . . . provides for young
readers a paradigm of the delicacy and democratic sentiment that could form the
basis for a friendship with a "different" person - whether the difference is one of
race, gender, age, or culture.

It is the risk one takes when she attempts to write from a heritage
other than her own. Is there such a thing as a criss-cross cultural
review? Was the writing worth the effort? Hadley Irwin would prefer
to believe the criticism of Adeline Wanatee, a Mesquakie, who said,
"There is one thing terribly wrong with your book. It is too short. You
stop in the 1800's. Couldn't you bring it up to the present?" Come to
think of it, that is a wonderful idea.
THE LONE RANGER RIDES NO MORE
AND TONTO DOES NOT DO WINDOWS.

Note
'Paulette Fairbanks Molin and Diane M. Bums. "Review of We Are Mesquakie, We Are
One." Interracial Books for Children Bulletin. Vol. 12, Nos. 7 & 8 ( 1 98 1 ) 22.

White Like Me: A Problem or a Plus

Ann Irwin

In a tiny Iowa rural community, stuck like a mud dauber's nest on

the banks of the Little Sioux River, a WASP was born and brought up
thinking everyone in the world was just like her. As she went on to be
educated, she was told she was the product of a culturally deprived
childhood. Everyone was not like her. Didn't she know people were
different? Didn't she know there were minorities in the world?

Explorations in Ethnic Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (July, 1984) 5

 After years of teaching in grade schools, secondary schools, and
college, decades of trying to write for young adults, and seemingly
eons of living, the WASP circled back to thinking she was right in the
first place. Other people were not different. Everyone was like her,
and if the world did not believe, she would try to make it believe
through the fantasy of fiction. During her deprived childhood, when
she was caught in the middle of fisticuffs with an unruly brother, her
mother patiently took her aside and said, "Put yourself in his place.
Feel how he feels. " It was a lesson in living she never forgot.
She would not confuse the issue with logic. She would BE. In her
heart and head, where color, sex, age, creed, and culture could not
intrude, she could be a 14·year old facing her parents' divorce,
although the WASP had never experienced divorce, and she was
certainly light years away from being a 14-year old. She could be the
tall, thin new girl in a strange school who learned to love horses and to
see boys as friends, not necessarily as boy friends. The WASP was
never tall nor thin, and she hated horses, but she was sure it was not
how her outside looked; it was how her inside saw.
The WASP author discovered that writing helped her make sense of
a crazy world. Where was the problem? Of course, in the early 1960s
she was careful to hide her sex so that boy readers would not be turned
off, and even in the 1970s it was smart not to have her picture on the
jacket of a young adult book thereby hiding her age, color, creed,
nationality, or anything else that might creep in from her culturally
deprived childhood. She learned other things, too. The voice of her
character must ring true as to historical setting, cultural environment,
and educational experience, yet the dialogue must be so that a young
reader would not be hindered by the overt dialect and usage. The
WASP worked to catch the rhythm of the speech rather than the
actual pronunciation or idiosyncrasies, a technique as delicate to
perceive as the correct intonation of a major third in a tonic chord. To'
filter human speech onto the printed page became a fascinating
preoccupation: to catch the musical lilt of a Welsh coal miner, the
clipped, harsh fragments of a Midwest farmer, the rich living cadence
of a Native American. She knew all this must be' done with the finesse
of a card shark, manipulating sentence order, sentence length, comma
placement, word inversions, and all the other interesting tools that
language offers.
Although writing created questions, the WASP felt she knew the
answers. Could a 100-odd-year old WASP author think like a 14-year
old? The book sold. Could a WASP author think like a Native
American? That book won a prize. Could a WASP author think black?

6
Dare she try? Could she be a black Anson J. Davis riding a train
through Iowa to find a home in Athabasca, Canada, where he could
live in dignity and grow up to be somebody?
In the murky groves of academia, the unanswerable can always be
answered through research. In the library stacks, she unearthed what
looked like an answer: Task Force on Racism and Bias in the
Teaching of English: A Criteria to Evaluate Young Adult Fiction.!
The WASP had criteria. English teachers thrive on criteria.
1. Is the book written so that a black perspective has been taken into
consideration?
2. What is the dimension of blackness in the book? [How does one
measure?]
3. Do the black characters look like human beings?
4. Will the young reader know that she is looking at a black person or
do the characters emerge gray in appearance to resemble Caucasians
in black face?
5. Does the clothing or behavior seem to perpetuate the stereotypes
about blacks being primitive or submissive?
6. Is the black character portrayed as a unique individual or as a
representative of a group?
7. How are the black characters shown in relationship to white
characters?
The WASP was stung into instant writer's block! She was still the
Iowa farm girl, sitting on the banks of the Little Sioux knowing that
everyone in the world was supposed to be like her. She re-researched
her research and read the criteria again from a different viewpoint, as
her mother had taught her.
1. Is the book written so that a WASP perspective has been taken
into consideration?
2. What is the dimension of WASPness in the book?
3. Do the WASP characters look like human beings?
4. Will the young reader know that she is looking at a WASP person
or do the characters emerge gray in appearance to resemble blacks in
whiteface?
5. Does the clothing or behavior seem to perpetuate the stereotypes
about WASPS being primitive and submissive?
6. Is the WASP character portrayed as a unique individual or as a
representative of all White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants?
7. How are the WASP characters shown in relation to black
characters?
If the WASP author had to guard against stereotypes and hidden

7
implications, how could she if the implications in the criteria
overwhelmed her? There was only one thing to do: sit down at the
typewriter and start writing I Be Somebody about a black Rap Davis.
During the writing, the WASP kept her eye steadfastly on her
audience: the young adult reader. Back in the 1960s, Margaret Early
set forth three phases that readers go through in responding to the
printed page.2 She called the first stage "unconscious enjoyment."
Children read first for pure enjoyment. They neither question nor
demand. They gulp down books for the pure fun of being someone else
within the pages of the book. They become the characters; they rush
through the plot; they shiver with the suspense. On the next level,
readers not only continue to read for pleasure, but they become a bit
more sophisticated and begin to ask questions: Why did the character
act that way? What made her feel that way? They realize that a good
story is really a cause-and-effect essay made specific, and they
consciously pick up on implications. Readers reach the fullest level of
appreciation when they can enjoy the entire literary art
form: character development, use of language, manipulation of
literary techniques, and such-the English major, if you will. Most of
the young adults for whom the WASP writes are in the first stage and
growing toward the second stage. They read because they are
intrigued by the plot, because they can escape with pleasure to another
world created by the author. They know it is fiction - something they
do not always comprehend when they view television. The major
problem with this audience is that implications, advertently or
inadvertently included by the author, are taken in almost by osmosis
and sub-consciously affect beliefs and attitudes. The moral and
intellectual responsibilities an author for young adults must shoulder
are staggering. Inadequacies glared from the printed page, but the
WASP remembered facing 600 sixth graders in a Dayton, Ohio,
assembly, and their enthusiasm bolstered her further efforts. A writer
writes first for her audience.
What did the WASP really know about the experience of being black
in 1910? She knew bits and pieces of other people's experiences. Rosa,
raised in the segregated section of Selma, Albama, told how she, as a
child, went to every Shirley Temple movie and never once thought of
identifying with the little black girl who was made to appear stupid
against Shirley's supposed precocity. Of course she didn't, but it
wasn't because of color. It was because of the "role model" offered.

Lesson 1: A book about the black exodus to Canada must be

peopled with characters of dignity, pride, and humanness.
Charles said, "We never said 'pretend.' We said, 'make like.'"

8
 Lesson 2: Idiomatic expressions enrich language.
"You can't ignore the lynchings that were taking place all over the
South in 1910 just because it didn't happen in Clearview, Okla­
homa," said Russell.
Lesson 3: Don't mold history the way you wished it had been.
"I never heard grace before dinner said that way. In our family,"
Augustine warned.
Lesson 4: Don't substitute Welsh Presbyterian for Southern
Baptist.
Gina handed back the manuscript. "I don't like the 'ain't' in their
speeches, but I guess it would have been true then."
Lesson 5: People did say ain't, but not because they were black.

In the process of writing and rewriting the book, the WASP's

learning took off in two directions. She began to see beauty in
blackness, but more important, maybe for the first time, she really
SA W blackness. There was a difference-a lovely one. The second
learning affected the book. The story had to show three things at the
same time: the universality of all human experience, the quality of
black experience at a special time and place, and the particularity of
ten-year old Rap's experience and perception.
The book was done. On to the publisher! "You are taking a risk," the
WASP's editor warned from the very beginning. So carefully did the
WASP kill off stereotypes, struggle for proper names, filter language
that in the first draft she discovered she had sacrificed suspense,
pacing, plot and all the rest that captures the young reader. A total
rewrite! Problems mounted. The publisher had to study the market.
The dollar dictates the publishing world, too. Would a black face on a
book jacket help or hinder sales? The WASP's picture would not
appear on the jacket, but would the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant
name turn off readers and send critics into ecstacies of bad reviews?
The reviews would be either good or bad; there would be no in­
between. The WASP was afraid now. Maybe she was wrong to attempt
the book. She thought she had discovered something that she believed
and that she wanted to offer to young readers. She could imagine the
reviews. "You name a character Aunt Spicy? Stereotype!" But Spicy
was the WASP's own great aunt, a strict "slow Quaker." "Must they
eat chicken for Sunday dinner?" The WASP grew up on chicken for
Sunday dinner. It was cheap and available on that Iowa farm; in fact,
she was in college before she knew there was any other meat served on
Sunday.

9
 At this point, the poor WASP author felt like Gertrude Stein: she
had the answers, but what was the question? And she was not too sure
whether that was a fictional or truthful recounting of Stein's last
words, but sometimes truth and fiction sound the same. Perhaps the
right kind of fiction could change beliefs and attitudes, something
governments and churches and schools seem unable to do.
Then, just as the book was going to press, the WASP was routed from
her nest when her State Superintendent of Public Instruction assured
a television audience that Iowa ranked high in education because
"HERE IN IOWA WE'RE PRETTY HARD-CORE MIDDLE-CLASS,
WHITE, PROTESTANT AND WESTERN EUROPEAN." Unfortun­
ately, that bit of fiction can all too readily be mistaken for the truth
by young unquestioning minds. The WASP could only say, "What's
the use?" Maybe that was the question from the beginning. In H adley
Irwin's book, I Be Somebody, ten-year old Rap Davis does not have
the answer either, but he does have the question as he and his Aunt
Spicy ride the train for Athabasca, "I know everybody ain't alike,
Aunt Spicy, but how come being different makes a difference?"

Notes
J Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English: A Criteria to Evaluate
Young Adult Fiction. Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1983).
'Margaret E arly. "Stages of Growth in Literary Appreciation." -English Journal. Vol. 49,
No. 2 (March, 1 960) 163· 1 66.

10
 The Use of the Terms "Negro" and "Black"
to Include Persons of Native American Ancestry
in "Anglo" North America
Jack D. Forbes

In 1854 the California State Supreme Court sought to bar all non­
Caucasians from equal citizenship and civil rights. The court stated:
The word "Black" may include all Negroes, but the term "N egro" does not include
all Black persons . . . . We are of the opinion that the words "White," "Negro,"
"Mulatto" and "Black person," whenever they occur in our constitution . . . must
be taken in their generic sense . . . that the words "Bl ack person," in the 1 4th
section must be taken as contra distinguished from White, and necessarily
includes all races other than the C aucasian. !

As convoluted as the quote may be, it tends to express a strong

tendency in the history of the United States, toward creating two
broad classes of people: white and non-white, citizen and non-citizen
(or semi-citizen).
The tendency to create a two-caste society often clashed with the
reality of a territory which included many different types of people, of
all colors and different degrees of intermixture of European, American,
African, and Asian. Native American people, whether of unmixed
ancestry or mixed with other stocks, were at times affected by the
tendency to create a purely white-black social system, especially when
living away from a reservation or the ancestral homeland.2
In the British slave colonies of North America along the Atlantic
coast, many persons of American ancestry were at times classified as
blacks, negroes, mulattoes, or people of color, and these terms were, of
course, used for people of African ancestry. The manner in which
Americans and part-Americans were sometimes classified as "mulat­
toes" and "people of color" from New England to South Carolina and
in the Spanish Empire are explored elsewhere. 3 The purpose here is to
illustrate how the term "negro" has also been applied to people of
American descent.

Explorations in Ethnic Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (July, 1984)

 The possibility that Native Americans were quite commonly called
"negroes" is very much supported by Portuguese usage. During the
colonial period Brazilian Indians were repeatedly referred to as
negroes or as "negros da terra" ("Negroes of the land"). A great many
examples from the sixteenth- and later centuries are cited by Georg
Friederici in his analysis of Portuguese sources. These do not have to
be repeated here, but suffice to say that it was so common that finally
in 1755 a royal decree had to be issued as follows:
Among the regrettable practices . . . which have resulted in the disparagement of
the Indians, one prime abuse is the unj ustifiable and scandalous practice of
calling them negroes. Perhaps by so doing the intent was no other than to induce
in them the belief that by their origins they had been destined to be the slaves of
whites, as is generally conceded to bethe case of blacks from the coast of Africa . . .
The directors will not permit henceforth that anybody may refer to an I ndian as a
negro, nor that they themselves may use this epithet among themselves, as is
currently the case.

This Portuguese usage is extremely significant, not only because

American or part-American slaves could be referred to as "negroes" in
early shipment records but also because it very much affects one's
analysis of population statistics in colonial Brazil (where, in fact, the
categories of "negro" and "mulatto" must have often included
domesticated or enslaved Indians and mixed-bloods).
Insofar as the term "negro" became synonymous with slave or
a servile status, it lost any specific color reference and became a
general term of abuse (darker people preferring to be called preto as a
result). It is highly likely that the Spaniards also referred to slaves
generally as negros in the Caribbean and that the Dutch took over the
same general practice, since negro and neger were not Dutch words
and had no immediate equivalent except swart, donker and bruin. A
Dutch-French-Spanish dictionary of 1639 has the following entry for
Spanish "negro": noir, sombre, obscur, offusque, brun (French),
swart, doncker, bruin (Dutch). Thus, Spanish "negro" could be
translated as "dark" or "brown" as well as "black" (swart). Un­
doubtedly this usage facilitated making reference to all slaves as
"negroes" or "negers" in the Dutch language. Moreover, it is signifi­
cant that a Spaniard residing in Antwerp in the early seventeenth­
century (the preparer of the dictionary) saw "negro" as being trans­
lated in a number of ways in both French and Dutch.4
By the latter-half of the sixteenth century the English were referring
to the people of Africa as Ethiopians, Blackamoors, Negroes, and
Moors, somewhat interchangeably. "Negro" gradually came to be the
dominant term, especially after exhaustive contact with the Spanish

12
and the Portuguese.5 What is not clear is the extent to which the term
"negro" was consciously translated as "black." The automatic associ­
ation of "negro" with "black" color cannot be assumed since may
"Black" Africans are actually of medium or dark brown color.
In any case, another association gradually arose, and that was
between "negro" and "slave." Early legislation commonly referred to
"negro and other slaves" or to "negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves."
Over the years "negro" and "black" both became synonymous with
enslavement.
In 1702 an observer wrote that the wealth of Virginia consisted of
"slaves or negroes." By 1806 Virginia judges ruled that a person who
was of a white appearance was to be presumed free but "in the case of a
person visibly appearing to be of the slave race, it is incumbent upon
him to make out his freedom." In 1819 South Carolina judges stated
flatly; "The word 'negroes' has a fixed meaning (slaves)."6
What the English meant by the term "negro" when they first began
to use it is not clear. Certainly, it was not then synonymous with slave
as a great many persons so classified were free, both in England and
in Virginia. Did it mean an African, a "black" person, or any dark­
skinned individual? Today the term is not widely· employed in Britain,
although the word "black" is used to refer to people of various skin
colors from all of South Asia, the Middle East, the West Indies, and
Africa. Most Native Americans, if living in Britain today, would be
regarded as being "black," especially if their ancestry were not known.
"Negro" was also used in a general way in the North American
colonies. Some examples illustrate the use of "negro" and "black" as
applied to people of American ancestry.
An example from the West Indies is especially illuminating. In 1764
William Young was sent to St. Vincent as a part of the British
occupation of that island. Living on St. Vincent were about 3,000
"Black Charaibs, or free negroes," about one hundred "Red Charaibs
or Indians," and some 4,000 French and their slaves, according to
Young. The British found it difficult to control the Caribs and wars
were fought with them in 1771-1772 and again during 1795-1796.
During the latter crisis Young wrote an extremely anti-Carib tract
designed to prove that the Caribs should be removed from St. Vincent;
they were eventually defeated and some 5,000 were shipped to an
island near the coast of Honduras.
Young was anxious to prove that the so-called "Black" Caribs were
not true aborigines but were in fact "Negro colonists, Free Negroes, or

13
Negro usurpers." This was important to him because he wanted to
show they had no bonafide land-rights or aboriginal title.

For our purposes, the interesting point admitted by Young is that

the so-called"Blacks" or"Negroes" were occasionally of"tawney and
mixed complexion" because of American ancestry and that their
customs, personal names, and language were those of the native
Caribs. Still further, Young admitted that they had repeatedly
intermarried with American women. He consistently refers to them as
"Negroes," nonetheless.
Young also relayed a great deal of hearsay information about how
the "Black" Caribs had originated, which is without foundation for
analysis here. The important point is this: that a people thoroughly
American in identity, culture, and language were called "black" and
"negro" solely because of beIng mixed with African ancestry.? This
tendency continues, incidentally, among white scholars who, even
today, refuse to accept the Caribs' avowed feelings of "Indianness"
and continue to call them "Black."8
In 1 6 1 9 some twenty "negroes" were brought to Virginia. At least
eleven have names of Spanish or probably Spanish character. Later
they were joined by "negroes" and "mulattoes" with names such as
Antonio (several) and John Pedro. These Spanish-derived servants
could well have been of part-American ancestry; however, no evidence
is available except that they were largely secured from captured
Spanish vessels. 9
In 1 676 one Gowin, "an Indian servant," acquired his freedom in
Virginia. Two decades earlier Mihill Gowen, called "a negro," also
acquired his freedom. It would appear that the"negro" was probably
father to the "Indian" in this case.10
In 1 670 the population of the Virginia colony was said to be 40,000
including 2,000 "black slaves." Evidence indicates that there could
not have been that many Africans there and also that there were a
great many American slaves or servants. Thus the total of "blacks"
must have included a good many Americans.ll
In 1698 three fugitive "negroes" were reported in North Carolina, of
whom one was an American.12 Similarly, a list of"Negroes" imported
into Virginia, 1 71 0-1718, by sea includes at least sixty-nine"Indians,"
mostly from the Carolinas. Likewise, lists of "Negroes" brought into
New York from 1 715 to 1 736 include many slaves of probable (or
stated) American ancestry from Campeche, Jamaica, Honduras, the
Carolinas, and Virginia.13

14
 In the 1715-1717 period the Vestry Book of King Williams Parish,
Virginia, records one year "Robin an Indian" and two years later,
"Robin a negro. " 14 In a similar manner a 1691 list of "negro" slaves in
York County, Virginia, includes "Kate Indian" while a 1728 list of
"N egroes" at the "home house" of a Virginia planter inclues "Indian
Robin" (Robin, incidentally, is a common name for slaves of Ameri­
can ancestry). In 1748 there was an advertisement in New York for a
"Negro man servant called Robbin, almost of the complexion of an
Indian . . . talks good English, can read and write, and plays on the
fiddle."1s In 1723 Virginia adopted a law depriving free "negroes,
mulattoes, and Indians" of certain basic civil rights. The act was
disallowed by British officials but in 1735 Lt. Governor Gooch
defended it by asserting that he wanted to make "a perpetual brand
upon free negroes and mulattoes by excluding them from that great
privilege of a Freeman. " He wanted to make the "free negroes sensible
that a distinction ought to be made between their offspring and the
descendants of an Englishman, with whom they never were to be
accounted equal."16 Since the act applied to Native Americans and
half-Americans ("mulattoes"), Gooch's language would seem to in­
cludethem under the general category of "free negroes and mulattoes."

A welcome clarification of terminology was provided in 1719 by the

government of South Carolina when it decided: " . . . and for preventing
all doubts and scruples that may arise what ought to be [taxed] on
mustees, mulattoes, etc., all such slaves as are not entirely Indian
shall be accounted as negroe."17 The significance of this act is that all
later enumerations of "negro" and "Indian" slaves in South Carolina
have to be analyzed with the thought in mind that many "negroes"
were probably one-half or other fractions of American ancestry.

New Jersey was also an area where Americans and Africans

intermixed with considerable frequency. In 1 734 an advertisement
appeared for the recovery of"Wan (Juan?). He is halflndian and half
negro; ...he plays the fiddle and speaks good English and his country
Indian." Wan was not specifically called a "negro," but a 1 747
advertisement reads:
Runaway on the 20th of September last, from Cohansie a very lusty negro fellow
named Sampson, aged about 53 years, and had some Indian blood in him ... he
had with him a boy about 12 or 13 years of age named Sam, was born of an Indian
woman, and looks like an Indian, only his hair ... they both talk Indian very well,
and it is likely they have dressed themselves in th � Indian dress and gone to
Carolina.

15
Similarly in a 1778 advertisement we read:
Was stolen from her mother, a negro girl, about 9 or 10 years of age, named
Dianah, her mother's name is C ash, was married to an Indian n amed Lewis
Wollis, near six feet high, about 35 years of age. They have a male child with
them, between 3 and 4 years of age. Any person who takes up the said negroes and
Indian . . . shall have the above reward. "

From these examples we can see that people of mixed American­

African ancestry could be called "negroes" in New Jersey. Cyrus
Bustill, a Philadelphia baker ("black") born in 1732 at Burlington,
New Jersey, married a Delaware Indian woman. His son became a
Quaker and an anti-slavery leader and was known as a "negro. "19
In Canada in 1747 four "Negroes" and a "Panis" (American slave)
escaped from Montreal. A French writer referred to them simply as
"negroes. "20 In 1759 one Saunders, a runaway slave, was described in
South Carolina as a "Negro man . . . of the mustee breed. " Mustee
meant either European-American or European-American-African.21
In 1775 authorities in South Carolina were ordered to apprehend
"John Swan, a reported free negro or mestizo man. "22
In the 1780s certain white Virginians began to agitate for the
termination of the Gingaskin Indian Reservation in Northampton
County. The reserve was described as an "asylum for free negroes"
and it was alleged that the Americans " . . . have at length become
nearly extinct, there being at this time not more than 3 or 4 genuine
Indian at most . . . the place is a harbour and convenient asylum for an
idle set of free negroes. " In 1812 it was argued that
the place is now inhabited by as many black men as Indians . . . the Indian
women have many of them married black men, and a majority probably, of the
inhabitants are blacks or have black·blood in them . . . the real Indians [are few].

The reserve was divided (allotted) in 1813 and by 1832 whites had
acquired most of it. In 1828 the Gingaskin descendants were described
as respectable "Negro landowners. "23
This episode reminds one of Young's attack upon the Caribs of St.
Vincent in 1795 and also of more recent attempts to allot and acquire
Indian lands. A similar attack took place upon the Pamunkey­
Mattaponi in 1843 (which failed) and against the Nottoway from 1830
to 1878 (which succeeded). By the 1840s at least two Nottoways were
registered as "free negroes. " The heirs of one family were described in
1878 as "all being negroes and very poor. "24

Aside from Virginia, where persons descended from female

Americans imported after a certain date could obtain their freedom,
all slaves of American ancestry remained slaves throughout the entire

16
duration of slavery unless they were emancipated or ran away. At the
end of the eighteenth-century "Bob, a carpenter fellow, of a yellowish
complexion, mustee, has bushy hair . . . " ran away. He was said to
speak "more proper than Negroes in general."25
Other persons of American ancestry who were free also were called
"black" or "negro." Paul Cuffe, the noted half-American, half-African
merchant was called, at various times, an Indian, "a blackman," and
"this free and enlightened African"; he signed petitions with "Indian
men" and "all free Negroes and mulattoes."26 Other examples of a
similar nature abound-one author writes that " . . . the Sampsons and
Gallees, property owners and school teachers, though predominantly
of Indian blood were leaders among the free Negroes of Petersburg,
Virginia, in 1860,27
Virginia tax-rolls and census records from the 1780s to 1850 have
numerous examples of people of Indian tribal identity being classified
as "free people of color" or as "mulattoes," in fact, the practice was
almost universal; some were also classified as F.N. (free negro) or as
"B" (black) in various records. In certain counties (such as South­
ampton) in 1830, and in parts of Delaware, virtually all free non­
whites were categorized as "F.N." although enumerated under the
"free people of color" column. These lists included people of the
Nanticoke and other tribal groups.28
Under certain conditions persons of African descent could be legally
classified as members of an Indian tribe or as Indians. In a treaty with
the Creek Nation the commissioner of Indian Affairs noted in 1832:
... an Indian, whether offull or half blood, who has a female slave living with him
as his wife, is the head of a family and entitled to a reservation [of land] also ...
free blacks who have been admitted as members of the Creek Nation, and are
regarded as such by the tribe, if they have families are entitled to reservations of
land.

In the 1860s all persons of African ancestry who had been slaves were
granted, by treaty, citizenship in the "five civilized tribes" of Indian
Territory. The general trend, however, was to enroll the more visibly
part-African persons as "Freedmen" citizens and to restrict their
tribal status. When lands were allotted in the 1880s to the early 1900s
most such persons were not allowed to assert American ancestry and
were, therefore, denied future rights as "Indians."29
During the Seminole wars a new term seems to have been coined,
that of "Indian-Negroes." One source, General Wiley Thompson,
asserted in 1835 that "they are descended from the Seminoles, and are
connected by consanguinity." Other writers referred to them as the

17
"hostile negroes and mulattoes in the Seminole nation" or simply,
"Indian negroes. "30 Few white writers seem to have continued the use
of "Indian· negro." However, in the Euchee language mixed people of
that type were referred to as "Goshpi-tchala" or "Red-Black People."31
In North Carolina many people of Lumbee Indian identity were
categorized, at times, as "negroes. " In 1837 Charles Oxendine of
Robeson County was punished as "a free negro. " In 1842 one of the
Braveboy family was called a "negro" while in 1857 a Chavers was
charged as "a free person of color" with carrying a shotgun. He was
not convicted because the act specified "free negroes" and he was
charged as a "free colored. " The court stated that "Free persons of
color may be . . . persons colored by Indian blood . . . the indictment
cannot be sustained. "32
In a similar situation, some white men took away guns from the
Pamunkey people in Virginia in 1857. The governor had them
returned but stated: "if any become one fourth mixed with the negro
race then they may be treated as free negroes or mulattoes" (Virginia
at this time defined a "mulatto" as one-fourth or more African).33
In Louisiana in 1856 the "Black Code" was said to refer to offenses
involving "slaves, Indians, and free persons of color. "34 Many narra­
tives of ex-slaves, recorded in the 1830s, reveal Indian ancestry. One
such person, called an Indian, was Uncle Moble Hopsan of Virginia.
He says: "et come time tuh marry" and he married a black woman.
"Dat mak me black, ah' 'spose. "35 In 1871 a white writer of Maryland
observed:
In [Dorchester] county at Indian Creek, some of the last Indians ofthe peninsula
struck their wigwams towards the close of the last century, and there are now no
full-blooded aborigines on the E astern Shore, although many of the free-born
negroes show Indian traces.'·

Quite commonly, however, some of the "free-born negroes" of the

Eastern Shore continued to identify and survive as Native People. The
whites often tried to deny their Indianness, as in 1856 when a marker
was erected to commemorate a woman who had testified that the
Nanticoke people of Delaware had African ancestry. The Indians
were referred to on the marker as "arrogant negroes that assumed to
be what they were not. "37
During the eighteenth-century most persons of mixed race, especially
if free, were classified as "mulattoes, mustees, or persons of color." The
term "negro" was perhaps less likely to be used for such people, except
as noted in the examples above. This usage continued in some states­
such as the Carolinas and Virginia-well into the nineteenth-century.

18
For example, the jurists of South Carolina noted in 1852: "It is not
according to the use of language in this region to speak of one
altogether black as a person of color. The phrase is almost exclusively
applied to one of mixed blood and color."38 A change took place in such
states as Indiana (1817), Kentucky (1852), and elsewhere (1850s - early
1900s) as the term "negro" came to encompass most persons of part­
African descent.39
This change may not have affected people of solely African and
American descent, especially if the African ancestry predominated.
Since many (but not all) Native Americans were "brown" or dark­
colored without African ancestry, their descendants when mixed only
with African blood would very likely be seen as "negroes" by most
Europeans (especially in North America where special terms for such
persons-such as Zambo, Grifo, Lobo, Cafuso, Cabra, and Cabore
never became current).40
The United States census also tended to expand the use of the terms
"black" or "negro." In 1890 "black" was to be used for all persons
having three-fourths or more "black blood." In 1910 "black" was
supposed to be applied only to "full-blooded negroes" while the matter
of who was an Indian was left to the enumerator. The term "mulatto"
was to be used for "all other persons having some proportion or
perceptible trace of Negro blood." It is certain that large numbers of
Americans or part-Americans were classified as negro or mulatto
under these rules. For example, of the Mattaponi only one person was
counted as "Indian" by the census out of a reservation population of at
least forty persons. Similarly, the Poosepatuck of Long Island had
only one person counted as "Indian," doubtless because the rest were
enumerated as negroes or mulattoes.
The 1910 census counted "2,255 negroes" who were part-Indian and
were enrolled members of tribes. Another group of 1,793 tribal
members were of mixed European, African and American ancestry.
Thus only slightly more than 3,000 persons who were part-African
were counted with the Indian population as compared with the
hundreds of thousands who were doubtless counted as "negro" or
"mulatto" because of living away from a federally-recognized
reservation area.
In 1930 a person of mixed Indian and Negro blood ". . . shall be
returned as a Negro unless the Indian blood predominates and the
status as an Indian is generally accepted in the community." By 1940
all African-American hybrids were to be counted as "negroes" unless
the Indian ancestry "very definitely predominates and he is Unt-

19
versally accepted . . . as an Indian. "4 1
Even "pure-blood" Indians could be counted as "blacks" as in
Nevada in 1880 when the census enumerator categorized ninety
members of the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe in that manner. In the
state of Delaware more recent decades found that "if a person said he
was an Indian, he was recorded as either black or white depending
upon his appearance. " The 1980 census was so arranged that any
American-African mixed-blood who checked both "black " and
"Indian" boxes was counted solely as "black. "
In summary, it seems clear that many persons of Native American
ancestry, in whole or part, have been at times classified as "negroes"
or "blacks. " This is a matter of considerable significance for the
scholar seeking to understand the actual ethnic or racial identity of
non-white persons in the North American British colonies and in the
United States over the centuries.
Earlier studies have shown the significance of the terms "mulatto,
mustee, sambo (zambo), and colored," as indicating persons of
American (or possible part-American) ancestry.43 Collectively, these
studies served to show the probability of a much greater degree of
intermixture between Africans and Native Americans than has
hitherto been widely acknowledged.
But, of course, it might be argued that this is"old hat," especially to
people in the Afroamerican community who have long been aware of
extensive Indian ancestry and who have, at least since the Civil War,
self-consciously utilized the terms"negro" or "black " (and, of course,
"colored") to encompass people of mixed Native American and
African descent. Individuals such as Ann Plato, Paul Cuffe, Crispus
Attucks, Hiram Revels, and many others have long been referred to as
"negroes" in spite of having perhaps at least as much Native
American as African ancestry-and even when living in Indian
communities, as was the case with Attucks and Cuffe.
From the scholarly perspective, the "logic" of white racism (which
has tended to classify people in very arbitrary ways) is neither the
logic of genetics nor of bonafide ethnicity. The mixture of African and
American does not make a person"black" or "negro" anymore than it
makes one automatically "Indian. " Ethnic scholars must aver that it
is both pernicious and dangerous to read into the evidence, and to
affirm for earlier times, the pronouncements of a dominant social
caste. Their myths, their prejudices, and their systems of classification
and nomenclature must all be subjected to critical and empirical
reevaluation.

20
 Notes

'The People v. Hall, October 1 , 1 854 in Robert Heizer and Alan J. Almquist, eds. The Other
Californians. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971) 232-233.

21 use the term " American" to refer to the native American race during the colonial period
to avoid confusion with other people called "Indians." Likewise, whites will be called
"Europeans" and black Africans will be "Africans."

3See Jack D . Forbes. "The Evolution of the Term Mulatto: A C hapter in B lack-Native
American Relations." Journal of Ethnic Studies. Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1 982) 45-66.
"Mulattoes and People of Color in Anglo North America: Implications for Black-Indian
Relations." Unpublished Mss. and "Mustees, H alf-Breeds and Zambos in Anglo-North
America." The American Indian Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 1 ( 1 983) 57-83.

'Georg Friederici. Amerikanistisches Wortenbuch. ( Hamburg: De Gruyter, 1947) 446-447;

" Directorio que se deve observar nas Povoacaens dos I ndios do Para , M aranhao" as cited
by A.J.R. Russell-Wood. The Black Man in Slavery and Freedom in Colonial Brazil.
(London: MacMillan, 1982) 42-43; and Juan Francisco Rodrigues (reputed author). Den
Grooten Dictionaris en Schat van Drij Talen. (Antwerp: Trognesius, 1639) " negro."

5Almon W. Lauber. Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the
United States. (N ew York: AMS Press, Inc., 1 9 1 3 ) 3 1 1 ; John S. Bassett, ed. The Writings of
Colonial William Byrd. (New York: Doubleday, 1 90 1 ) 8-9; John Codman Hurd, ed. The Law
of Freedom and Bondage in the United States. Vol. 2 (N ew York: Negro Universities Press,
1 968) 95; The Oxford English Dictionary. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1 933) "Negro."
6 Eliz abeth Donnan. Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade. Vol. 4
(Washington, D C : Carnegie, 1 932) 68; J ames Hugo Johnston. Race Relations in Virginia
and Miscegenation in the South 1 776-1 860. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
1 970) 1 9 4 ; Exparte Leland is cited in Helen T. C atterall. Judicial Cases Concerning
America and the Negro. Vol. 2 (Washington, DC: Carnegie, 1929) 3 1 1 .
'William Young. A n Account of the Black Charaibs. (London: C ass, 1 9 7 1 ) 98, 13-14, 18, 23,
27, 30, 42.

"See, for example, N ancy L. Solien. " West Indian C h aracteristics of the Black C arib. "
Peoples and Cultures o f the Caribbean. Michael M . Horowitz, ed. (New York: National
History Press, 1 9 7 1 ) 1 33ff; see also: D avid Lowenthal. West Indian Societies. (London:
Oxford University Press, 1 972) 1 78-1 86.

·Helen T. C atterall. Judicial Cases Concerning American and the Negro. Vol. 1
(Washington, DC: Carnegie, 1 929) 55-56, 60.

,oIbid., 58, 78.

"John Codman H urd, ed. The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States. Vol. 1
(New York: Negro Universities Press, 1 968) 233m; C atterall, Vol. 1, 63; Wesley Frank
Craven. White, Red and Black: The Seventeenth Century Virginian. (Charlottesville:
University of Virginia Press, 1971) 98.
1 2Mattie Emma E dwards Parker, ed. North Carolina Higher Court Records, 1 69 7- 1 701.
(Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1 9 7 1 ) 528.

"Elizabeth Donnan. Documents Illustrative of the History of I he Slave Trade. Vol. 3

(Washington, DC: Carnegie, 1932) 463, 466, 470, 477, 499-500; Vol. 4, 1 75-179.
1 4Vestry Book of King William P arish. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol.
XII (New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1 968; originally published by Virginia
Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, 1 905) 23, 26.

' 5J . Leitch Wright. The Only L and They Knew: The Tragic Story of the Indians of the Old
South. (New York: Free Press, 1 98 1 ) 252; "Eighteenth-Century Slave Advertisements . "
Journal o f Negro History. Vol. 1 , No. 2 (April, 1 9 1 5) 176.

21
1 6 Wilbert E. Moore. "Slave Law and the Social Structure." Journal of Negro History. Vol.
26, No. 2 (April, 1941) 182- 1 83.
1 7Peter H . Wood. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina. (New York: Knopf,
1 9 74) 99m.
1 8J ames Hugo Johnston. Race Relations in Virginia and Miscegenation in the South
1 776- 1 860. (Amherst: University of M assachusetts Press, 1970) 275m, 276.

1 9Anna Bustill Smith. "The Bustill Family. " Journal of Negro History. Vol. 10, No. 4
(October, 1 925) 638-644.

2°A. Judd Northrup. Slavery in New York: Historical Sketch. (New York State Library
Bulletin, History #4, 1 900) 306.
2 1 J . Leitch Wright. The Only L and They Knew: The Tragic Story of the Indians of the Old
South. (New York: Free Press, 1981) 256. See also: Jack D. Forbes. "Mustees, H alf-Breeds
and Z ambos in Anglo North America: Aspects of Black-Indian Relations." The American
Indian Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 1 ( 1 983) 57-83.
22William A. Craigie and J ames R. H ulbert. A Dictionary of American English. Vol. 3
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1 940) 1512.

23J ohnston,280; H elen C . Roundtree_ "The Indians of Virginia: A Third Race in a Biracial
State. " Mss. in Virginia State Library Indian File, 1 976.
24Roundtree, 8, 10.

25"Eighteenth-Century Slave Advertisements. " Journal of Negro History. Vol. 1 , No. 2

(April, 1 9 1 5) 1 72.

2 6 H . N . Sherwood. "Paul Cuffe." Journal of Negro History. Vol. 8, No. 2 (April, 1 923) 153,
163, 164, 165, 1 72.

27 Luther P_ Jackson. "Free Negroes of Petersburg, Virginia." Journal of Negro History.

Vol. 12, No. 3 (July, 1 927) 368, 380-38 l .

2 8 See discussions of such records in Jack D_ Forbes. "Mulattoes and People of Color in
Anglo North America: Implications for Black-Indian Relations."Unpublished Mss.

29Johnston, 285.

30Kenneth W. Porter. "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes in the Seminole War, 1835- 1 842_"
Journal of Negro History. Vol. 28, No. 4 (October, 1 943) 397; Johnston, 230_
3 1 Gunter Wagner. Yuchi Tales. (New York: G . E . Stechert and Co., 1931) 352-353.

02C atterall, Vol. 2, 79, 209, 38l .

33Helen C _ Roundtree. "The Indians o f Virginia: A Third Race i n a Biracial State_ " Mss. in
Virginia State Library Indian File, 1 976, 13_

34John C odman H urd, ed. The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States. Vol. 2
(New York: Negro Universities Press, 1 968) 165.

35J. Leitch Wright. The Only L and They Knew: The Tragic Story of the Indians of the Old
South. (New York: Free Press, 1981) 259.
3 6 George Chamberlain. "African and American. " Science. Vol. 17 (February, 1891) 87_

37C_A_ Weslager_ Delaware's Forgotten Folk. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania

Press, 1 943) 38.

38Catterall, Vol. 2, 43l.

39Catterall, Vol. 1 , 2 3 1 , Vol. 11, 1 32, 1 76; H urd, Vol. 1 1 , 17-19, 1 28; E dward Byron Reuther.
Race Mixture_ (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1931) 96-97.

22
'OJ ack D. Forbes. "Mustees, H alf-Breeds and Zambos in Anglo North America: Aspects of
Black-Indian Relations." The A merican Indian Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 1 ( 1983) 57-83; See
also, William B artram. Trav els Through No rth and So uth Carolina, Georgia, East and
West Florida. (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1973) 481-488.

" Negro Populations in the United Sta tes, 1 790- 1 9 1 5. (Washington, DC: Bureau of the
Census, 1 9 1 7) 207; Felix Cohen. Ha ndbook of Federal Indian Law. (Washington, DC:
Government Printing Office, 1942) 2, 2m; Arthur C . Parker. "The Status and Progress of
Indians as Shown by the Thirteenth Census. " T h e Quarterly Jo urnal o f the Society of
A merican Indians. Vol. 3, No. 3 (July-September, 1 9 1 5) 188-1 90; J ames Mooney. "The
Powhatan Confederacy: Past and Present. " The A m erican A nthropologist. New Series.
Vol. 9, No. 1 (January-March, 1 907) 1 48.

"Elmer Rusco. Good Time Co ming? Black Ne vadans in the 1 9 t h Century. (Westport:
Greenwood Press, 1 975) 2 1 7 2
- 1 9 ; Weslager, 1 8 .

'3Jack D. Forbes. " Mustees, Half-Breeds a n d Zambos i n Anglo-North America." The

A merican Indian Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 1 ( 1 983) 57-83 .

Critique
The article is well written and researched_ The author has searched
the literature pertaining to blacks and Indians and found that there
are many cases of confused and deliberate distortions. These distor­
tions had and have a profound impact on the way we behave.
Many examples of the use of overgeneralization are given. The
reasons for this behavior are complex and varied. As an example we
find the white Virginians agitating for the termination of the
Gingaskin Indian Reservation in Northampton County. Forbes cites
the reason for this agitation as the area was an "asylum for free
negroes " and the presence of Indians was small if any. The date for
this event is given as 1780.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries immigrants coming into
the United States were often confused by the many languages that
were spoken at the port of entry into this "new" land. The Spanish, for
example, used Negro to refer to a black man and Negra to refer to a
black woman. Mulatto had many meanings. Among these were mule
(mulatto) or a person of mixed ancestry) part black and part white.
To associate word usage with racism is quite proper, but it is not
always so. There is no inflexible relationship between a stereotype
and behavior.
Indian children of high school age at a funeral of an Indian
attended by a black man used the words Nigger, Gigolo, and so forth,

23
to describe him. To say they were racists is to miss the point. Indian
young people are not abstractionists. They are more naturalists. To
the Indian children, these stereotypes were expressions of how they
felt more than expressions attached to the black man. The man
married an Indian woman and is now living on or near an Indian
reservation.
The use of stereotypes is a bad habit of many western people. But
what is a concept? When are we guilty of an over-generalization?
When is a generalization warranted? (See Gordon Allport's book, The
Nature of Prejudice.) Language is not a science. It is a subject of the
humanities.
To go beyond the stereotypical language and study the behavior of
people would be a most interesting pursuit. For example, the
Menominee of Wisconsin are alleged to have been a way station on the
Underground Railway prior to the Civil W ar. The Menominee are
noted for their tolerance. Some of the members of that underground
system were so impressed that they did not go on to Canada but
remained to become Menominee. I was sitting in the Blue Gold Room
of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a friend who was
Ojibwa (Chippewa). Making conversation, I said of a woman walking
by, "What a beautiful and striking" person that black was. My Ojibwa
friend acknowledged with a nod of her head. A short time later, the
woman retraced her steps with a small Indian child who said, "Why
do I have to come now, Mommie? " I looked at my friend and she was
laughing at me. "She is a Menominee," I was told. There should be folk­
lore that would verify this mixture still among the older Menominee.
Forbes suggests another tribe for this type of an extended study. It
would be among the Lumbee. The study of the so called "Black
Indians" of Mississippi would be still another fascinating study. A
former student said that his mother was Indian and his father was
black. They lived in Laurel, Mississippi. These examples are testimony
to the fact that biology does not conform to our racial stereotypes.
Forbes seems to suggest that our behavior conforms to the stereo­
types we use. Could the reverse also be true? That our behavior shapes
our stereotypes. It is sort of a chicken and egg dilemma. To draw an
illustration from kinship terms used by the cultural anthropologist, in
Hawaiian kinship patterns we distinguish generational differences
with the term father-mother and son-daughter. The Navajo do not.
They distinguish verbally between the sex of their uncles and aunts on
mother's side and a term for aunt on father's side. The terms for an
aunt on mother's side and a term for aunt on father's side suggest that

24
the behavior came first and the name came later. We need to study
both the manner in which behavior infl uences language and the effect
language has on behavior.
The article is extremely interesting and thought provoking. I
welcome the chance to read about the ways in which our language
influences our thoughts and actions. I hope Forbes will continue
working on the dilemma that language presents to us.

-John M. Hunnicutt
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Critique
In investigating the use of "Negro" and "black" to include persons
of Native American ancestry, Jack D. Forbes brings together a large
number of wide-ranging references on an elusive topic. The prelimi­
nary nature of Forbes's study and the inevitably problematic status of
the data make his work thus far more valuable in suggestive than
definitive terms. For example, while the conclusions regarding prac­
tices in King Williams Parish, Virginia, in the early 18th century seem
generally acceptable, a heavy dependence on given names such as
Robin as clues to classification should probably be avoided (Robin is
the diminutive of the common name Robert, and can be either
masculine or feminine), but there is little question about the rather
cavalier and arbitrary willingness of the power elite to impose names
on their "inferiors," names that reflect a complex mixture of assump­
tions, prejudices, and needs. This is simply to say that the critical
reevaluation that Forbes calls for in closing is less difficult to engage
in than the equally valuable empirical reevaluation.
Of particular interest in the Forbes study are the motives or reasons
for the blurring of racial and ethnic distinctions that come about
when Native Americans are classified variously as Negroes, blacks,
mulattos, or slaves. The confusion can, of course, be a matter of
ignorance, although this would finally seem to be the least interesting
cause. The confusion can grow out of carelessness, as seems to have
been the case in 17th century Virginia. Similarly, laziness and a
penchant for the convenient solution can result in a blurring of vital
distinctions, as in the use of the "Black Code" in 1850s Louisiana.
Most crucially, however, the blurring of racial and ethnic distinctions
can be quite conscious and insidious in intent-part of a systematic
effort to deprive a specific group of civil rights, most especially

25
property rights and the right to own land, as in the case of the Caribs
of St. Vincent in the 18th century. In short, the irresponsible handling
of racial and ethnic classification-whether haphazard or calculated­
becomes a tool of the repressive forces of the "dominant caste. "
Scholars familiar with the development of various "alien land
laws"-such as those designed to keep the Japanese out of California­
can corroborate the close connections that have developed between
racial categorizing and racist policies. Forbes's article makes the
various motives for the systematic subjugation of Native Americans
clear, and particularly the implications of conscious manipulation of
categories that define groups.
A number of other observations emerge from the article, some of
specific interest and others of general interest to ethnic scholars. (1)
The case of the Gingaskin Indians in Northampton County, Virginia,
underscores not only the vigor with which white America pursued the
takeover of Native American lands, but that even where the original
owners had not been destroyed they could be declared "nearly extinct"
and thus legally negligible-that is, declared to be nonexistent
nonpersons. (2) We need to examine and reexamine the practices and
habits of mind of colonialism, both in the past and in the present. It is
clear from Forbes's article that the definition and classification of
ethnic minorities, so often taken for granted or left to chance or the
uninformed, is both a product and a tool of any major movement of
social, political, and economic significance, and that colonialism is a
primary modern instance. (3) We must continue to take heed of the
tangled fates of America's ethnic peoples. That a Native American
could be classified as a "Free Negro" or black, or that a person of
African origin could be classified a Greek may, of course, strike us as
ludicrous. But we should see that the fact of such manipulation
nevertheless asks an analysis of the overlapping and interlocking
lives of such widely disparate groups as the black, the Japanese, the
Hispanic, and the Native American. (4) We must continue to scrutinize
the nature and function of such "benign" phenomena as the census, if
only because, as Forbes points out, the government has in the past
been guilty of acknowledging only those Native Americans willing to
remain interned on reservations.
Jack Forbes has written a suggestive article concerned with
taxonomy, nomenclature, and semantics as they relate to the social,
political, and economic disposition of Native Americans. The impli­
cations of his work should be pursued.
-Neil Nakadate
Iowa State University

26
 Change in American Indian World Views
Illustrated by
Oral Narratives and Contemporary Poetry
Silvester J. Brito

Unlike other ethnic groups, American Indians had little to celebrate

during the bicentennial year in 1976. Other ethnic groups, with the
exception of blacks and Mexican Americans, came to America to find
a better way of life.! In contrast, few American Indians have left this
country in search of a better life elsewhere. Hence, being an oppressed
minority in a society governed by Western thought and values,
Indians can only lament the loss of their rights to live and govern their
lives according to particular religious, cultural, and social values, for
they have been forced to change world views and way of life under
both the overt and covert pressures of Euroamerican society.
There are various means through which one can illustrate this
change. An outstanding example may be seen through a comparison
of past oral narratives, that is, songs, chants, and prayers, with the
contemporary poetry of American Indians.2 This article examines the
transition from native oral narratives to current Western-style poetry,
which clearly expresses the forced change in the lives of a conquered
people. This change involves the beliefs, practices, religion, hlnguage,
essentially the entire way of life and world view of a people whose
culture and society was at one time strong and stable. Such changes in
the culture of the native people resulted in changes in the older form of
oral narratives and led to the creation of poetry in the Western
tradition, primarily protest poetry.
Most of what is purported by editors and anthologists to be Indian
poetry is in fact songs, chants or prayers, in essence, oral narratives in
an age old tradition. These forms of oral narratives were not intended
to be poetic nor were they intended to be used in the written form. The
term "poetry" and even the Western concept of poetry was unknown in
past traditional Indian societies.3

Explorations in Ethnic Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (July, 1984) 27

 The term "poetry" denotes the expression of an idea or ideas in a
traditionally structured form.4 The oral tradition as practiced by early
American Indians also employed structured traditional form.5 How­
ever, "poetry" as the term is used in Western literature is the product of
a single poet who employs the form to express individual ideas and
emotions. A poet seeks immortality. Consequently, in Western litera­
ture scholars seek to learn the authorship of unattributed poems,
which results in many people knowing the names of famous poets
even though they could not quote a single poem by them.
Anthologists fail to recognize the difference between the poem as
artifact and the narrative which is at once an expression of com­
munity belief and a sacred offering. The importance of an American
Indian chant is not that so and so reads or even sings it but that the
chant works; it is not a cultural adornment but a functional part of life.
The chant attains its highest power only in the context of life, of
immediate needs or joys, and is therefore stripped of much of its value
and intensity when it is reduced merely to a pattern of words upon a
page. If such a definition is applied to the native oral narratives, the
nature and significance of their meaning becomes misleading.
Whether it has been intentional or unintentional, the fact remains
that anthologists in general have not recognized a totally different
world view as valid and acceptable because of its narrative form, that
is, in comparison to Western literary tradition. Therefore, in an
attempt to equate early American Indian narratives with those of the
Western tradition, old traditional ceremonial and religious orations
have often been mislabeled as poetry. The ramification of this
particular practice is that the older forms of oral narratives have
generally been arranged by Western editors and anthologists in a
condescending manner, i.e. , in a sincere attempt to assign narrative
structural eloquence to these traditional verbal art forms, scholars
have categorized and published them as poems in a Western literary
form.
The problem is further complicated by the way in which the works
appear in translation. Translating poetry is always difficult. Trans­
lating it from the language of one culture into that of an entirely
different culture is even more difficult, for the very syntactical
patterns which convey meaning in English at times violate the spirit
of other cultures. For example, it is highly doubtful that an old Indian
practitioner of the verbal arts would have used such a phrase as,
"Thou didst tell me before."6 This phraseology is representative of
Western syntactical structure.

28
 Indian songs, chants, and prayers have always been functional and
operational. They stand on their own eloquence within their own
context. The oral narratives were created to live as a part of life. These
Indian orations address life and work with it. The people feel these
words, and their lives rely upon them. The words are an expression of
the inward self, the self of being - emanating from the heart and soul,
from the body and flesh. Words are of body and soul. These chants,
prayers, and songs tie the people to other forms of life - spiritual,
animate, and inanimate. Traditional Indians utter chants to all the
heavenly bodies upon rising and retiring, they have songs for deer and
bear hunting, for growing and harvesting corn, as well as those songs
which are uttered while crossing treacherous waters. Such songs are
bonds between humans and the other forms of life. These forms of
Indian oral expression are significant. Eloquent orations such as
these have been appropriately cited by noted anthoropologists such as
Ruth Benedict who says that among the Zuni, "Their prayers also are
formulas, the effectiveness of which comes from their faithful rendi­
tion. "7 Three examples of the old oral narratives provide insight.
Sacred is the act by which my hands are browned,
It is the act by which I offer my prayer.

Sacred is the act by which my hands are blackened,

It is the act by which I offer my prayer.

Sacred is the act by which my face is blackened,

It is the act by which I offer my prayer.

Sacred is the light of day that falls upon my face,

The day on which my prayers are finished.'

This is an example of a song which has great significance in the

Indians' cognitive view but has been entered into a book carrying the
subtitle, Poetry of the American Indians. 9
The following e x am p le of a n old traditional North American
narrative is recognized as being what it is by current editors who are
sensitive to the significance of the oral narratives in traditional Inuit
(Eskimo) life.
We reach out our hands
to help you up;
We are without food,
we are without game.
From the hollow by the entrance
you shall open,
you shall bore your way up.
We are without food,
and we lay ourselves down
holding out hands
to help you up . ' O
29
The significance of this ritual narrative is that it graphically depicts
the importance of its use as part of the Inuit belief system, i.e., it is a
traditionally institutionalized verbal vehicle used to call upon the
spirits of the undersea world to help them secure the food to maintain
their lives.
The following narrative existed in the 19th century and is still being
used by the Navajo people.
It was the wind that gave them life. It was the wind that comes out of our mouths
now that gives us life. When this ceases to blow we die. In the skin at the tips of
our fingers we see the trail ofthe wind; it shows us where the wind blew when our
ancestors were created. I I

The important function of this chant is that it is a verbal formula

uttered by Navajos when acknowledging and perpetuating their
beliefs in the powers of their creation Gods: First Man and First
Woman.
In the early forms of Indian oral narrative it is evident that even
though the Indians' lives were harsh, for them the old ways were good;
they worked. These narrative forms expressed the Indians' relation­
ship to their natural environment. The first traditional narrative cited
depicts the Indians' spiritual life through the relationship to a bear.
The second traditional narrative describes the Inuit quest for food.
And the third traditional narrative relates the peoples' relationship to
their god and creation. As Indians became more and more exposed to
Western thinking, many of their old ways were lost or replaced by
aspects of the Western belief system, mainly the Judeo-Christian
religion, with its white Protestant ethics.
Two prime factors underlie the social protest poetry produced by
Indian poets: first, the pressure which Western society has exerted
upon Indians to lose their identities in the American melting pot; and
second, failure to allow Indians the right of self determination.12 Thus,
the contemporary practice among young Indian poets is to create
native soul-type poetry which represents the depth of their anguish; it
is also a form of social protest. The contemporary Indian poets' quest
for native cultural recognition, as well as social protest which is
addressed to the members of Euroamerican society, is evident in the
following three poems.
Once when we lived there
They came and told us to be gone
And to get away
So we left
We left and came to here
They didn't think that we could make it

30
 We showed them that we could
Once again they came and asked . . .
"What are you doing on my land?"
They thought that they could make us go
But once again we made it
We showed them what we could do
We showed them who we are
But,
N ow we got to show them
HOW WE ARE . 1 3

This poem clearly states the position of the American Indian within
the oppressive forces of the Anglo American society. It calls the
reader's attention to the Indian's ability to physically cope with white
oppression, i.e., removal from the land and adjustment to a rented
place in the landlord's city. The poem also depicts educated Indians
who will take a political stand to defend their rights as human beings.
The following, "Can I Say," is an example of protest poetry:
And it's hard to see the mountains
When you're sitting in the subway
It's hard I said to feel the wind
When you're waiting in some welfare office
but I'm not a case, I'm not a number
I can do quill work
Mister, I can ride with no
saddle and hey, listen,
my brother with his own carved
arrows can stalk a deer
Why? are you checking boxes
when I am trying to talk no
I do not have outside income
but there is a tall
cottonwood I know and sometimes
I go to see the leaves and this
morning I heard a meadowlark
when is the end . . . to die is not the end
when is the end . . . to die is not the end
he said, I made my ears like a fox stand
to hear and I never even go in
a bank so I got no account
There is an old man I heard
saying, "making moccasins . . . "
no he does not give me money, he
s aid to the people
" make moccasins for your children, it
is time to go"
and I guess we are .going
on the plains south where you are always facing
we are going because the old man is many winters wise. I want someday to bring
when the sun makes white sparks on
the creek like dancing fires, I

31
 want to bring some kinnikinnik to him
he remembers the red willow smoke and a
buckskin bag and why do your eyes
say I tell lies?
I never been insane, I
never been in j ail, I do not drink, I am not
an addict. I have no car, I do
not have syphilis or cavities, I did
have TB, I did drop out, and I
did get fired, I did not commit mail fraud, I
did not overthrow the government (lately)
with your pencil flying, mister,
can I say there is a good red road
and a sacred hoop of our people
which was broken but I would like
to help mend so the old man would
be happy. My brother
brought fresh meat to him
but the old man says there is not
much time before he will feed the wolves
I want him to know that the rivers run free-I do not have
a pen to sign here-the forests grow
tall, the plains-I was just in my mind
thinking mister during this investigation-
of the plains where the dirt is living
and wild horses disappear behind a hill,
I wanted to see the old man at dawn stand
on the living plains with his horse near, see him raise his arms to the sun, hear
him say
"Thank you father"
. . . again . l 4

In this modern narrative the poet relates her socio-psychological

situation in a state of severe culture change. She addresses those
significant aspects of Indian life which are comprehensible to her
native cognitive thinking but incomprehensible when viewed within
the realm of the white life style, a system indifferent to personal self.
The author also points out her state of confusion when she is asked to
relate to Euroamerican values, concepts which are not relevant to her
traditional world view.

The last contemporary narrative, in Western Blues form, clearly

depicts this Indian's ability, as a modern poet, to work within a
western narrative form. Here, she laments the Indians' subjugated
position, an oppressed minority within the ranks of a condescending
Euroamerican society.
INDIAN in the dirty street
of the dirty part
of this dirty town
INDIAN

32
there he stands on the corner
expandable, unadjusted
with a police record
not belonging
going no place very fast
frayed blue jeans
maybe on welfare
wants to cut out
go home where there's nothing
but at least-it's his own nothing

he likes the sky,

oh, yes, he still likes the sky
and the wind in his hair . . .
likes to borrow from his sister
let his cousin wear his one good shirt
and maybe he won't ask it back
unproductive
non-competitive
. . . his cousin gets a coat
and he feels great because his cousin
now has a good coat

never heard of Protestant ethics

and if he has he still likes his own better
. . . his great-grandfather
coming straight from the stone age
never had a watch
never knew about hell
until some missionary told him
when they fed the converted savages
the bean-slop
and the fatback
and the love of Jesus

three thousand years of technology

somebody else's brain productions:
a white face on the wall to pray to
don't listen to Momma and Pappa!
try HARD to be like us
and God'lI love you
in spite of the fact
that you were born red-skinned
don't talk the way Momma and Pappa talk
at home-they don't know any better
you do-we taught you
m ake love only in the one position
that won't make Jesus mad at you
and don't suck peyote
don't suck anything
like your school
go to the prom
be grateful
speak ENGLISH

33
 love Jesus
HATE YOUR OWN GUTS!!!

use birth control

don't be promiscuous
don't have babies unless you're married
don't let your inferiority
get the better of you
and tempt you to drink . . .
it's hard, we know
but if you pray
God will help you
to overcome your innate defects
. . . your way of fun's the wrong way
cut your hair if you're a man . . .
now that we told you about sin, don't sin!
be a farmer
make this ground yield
full of rocks and all
save!
don't squander
don't wear the old War Charm
wear the Scapular Medal
let your cousin buy his own shirt
thou shalt not kill
but thou shalt be drafted
because you're a citizen
don't worry
we'll tell you
when to kill and whom
be colorful
be culturally enriching
to our school children
. . . be anything but yourself . . . 1 5

These three modern poems stand in sharp contrast to the three

traditional narratives. First the chants are ritual expressions of
beliefs held in common by an entire tribe. To this extent they are
similar to such ritualized expressions of Western faith as the Book of
Common Prayer or the Lord's Prayer, the recital of which is testimony
to a shared faith and experience. The traditional expressions are also
impersonal. Even in the "Black Bear Song" with its use of the first
person it is the ritual which is being celebrated, "Sacred is the act by
which my hands are browned," and the speaker, the "I," is sub­
ordinated to the ritual which affects the speaker chiefly as a member
of the tribe. The tone of each traditional work is stylized and oracular
although the content is an expression of tribal feeling and experience.
Such expression was once an integral part of tribal life, at once the
recognition and supplication of the spirit or spirits which linked

34
people with the natural world in which they lived. The works express
feeling more than ideas.
By contrast, the modern poetry is an expression of the Indians'
reaction toward white Euroamerican culture and the socio-psycho­
logical pressures which it exerts upon them. The poems are self
conscious . They are cast in the mold of contemporary white culture,
deliberately employing a form created by the white cultures to
comment ironically upon the outcast status that it has casually
decreed for Indians. However, the poems clearly illustrate that the
impersonal supplications of nature have been superseded by poetry
which reflects bitterly upon the Indians' place in the social rather
than natural environment. Despite the underlying assumption of an
experience shared by most Indian people, the tone is personal. The
writer expresses personal outrage and resentment. This is poetry
which leads not to reconciliation to one's condition in the natural
world but to protest and rebellion against th� socio-economic and
political structure of the United States.
The older orations addressed themselves to nature, Indian cosmol­
ogy and religion, whereas contemporary poetry has little relevance to
those aspects of life. Rather than responding positively to life, its
demands and goodness, as the traditional prayers, chants, and songs
did, contemporary American Indian poetry is one expression of the
American Indian's increasing defense of land, culture, and values.
American Indians had no positive reason to celebrate the bicentennial
year. Ironically, however, the nation's bicentennial aroused Indian
awareness of the injustice they suffered. That new awareness has
found expression in a new poetry of protest cast in the Anglo-Saxon
idiom. Protest poetry, protest demonstrations, and protest litigation,
some of it arising from the violation of treaties as old as the United
States of America, have all been the Indian response to the bi­
centennial.
Even though the bicentennial year did not provide Indians with the
same motives for a time of jubilant celebration in the same manner
that others celebrated that historic occasion, it provoked Indians to
express the nature of the inequities imposed upon them by the
imperialistic pressures of Western society . 1 6 They have thus sought to
denounce such inequities by adopting Western forms.
In sum, the modern poems depart from the traditional narratives.
Change is reflected between these two forms of the Indians' verbal
arts. The modern narratives, poems, are structured to meet the
Western poetic form, a recognized literary genre. These modern poems,

35
in contrast to the traditional narratives, address different needs in a
different time. They are protest poems. The old Indian traditional
narratives do not protest; they deal with life in a natural environment.
Furthermore, not only is it evident, as illustrated in the comparative
analysis of traditional narratives and modern poetry, that American
Indian's world views have changed, but it is clear that the new poetic
forms from contemporary American Indian poets are symbolic of the
Western world's effects upon the acculturation process of American
Indians. The works of modern American Indian poets are symbolic
evidence that they do not want to assimilate into white American
society, but rather seek to continue, at least in spirit, many of the old
beliefs and practices, within the socio-political structure of a
multicultural society.

Notes
I B l a c k s (Afroamericans) were brought here forcibly and t h e Mexican Americans, with

s pecific reference to the Southwestern region of this country, were part of the land now
belonging to the United States.

2Several major works ha ve been done on the changing world ofthe American Indian: In
1 9 6 1 , Edward H. Spicer edited a series of essays, Perspectives in American Indian Culture
Change, which prep resent changes in the Indians' way of life, from earliest contacts with
Europeans to the present. Roger L. Nichols and George R. Adams, in 197 1 , edited a book of
readings, The A merican Indian: Past and Present, which provides us with little· known or
misunderstood aspects of the Indian experience in America. Deward E . Walker, Jr., in
1 9 72, put together a reader, The Emergent Na tive A m ericans, which deals with culture
contact. Also, in 1972, Howard M. Bahr, Bruce A. Chadwick, and Robert C. Day, edited an
anthology, Na tive A mericans Today: Sociological Perspectives, which relates v arious
sociological perspectives in current American society. Merwyn S. Garbarino, in 1976,
wrote a book, Na tive A merican Heritage, which focuses on American Indian ethnology
from prehistory to the contemporary scene. And in 1 973, Thomas E . Sanders and Walter
W. Peek, put together an anthology, Literature of the A merican Indian, which provides the
reader with a general overview of the American Indians' spiritual life through literature.
These texts, however, do not focus on specific changes in American Indian life as viewed
in n arratives of oral tradition.

:ITh'! author is currently working on an in·depth study dealing with the substitution of
E ngli sh words and concepts for n ative words and concepts, which from a cognitive point
of view would stand on their own. See: Stephen A. Tyler, ed. Cognitive Anth ropology.
(New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1969).

4 Alan Dundes. The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales. (Ann Arbor:
University Microfilms, 1962) 195.

5James B. Hall and Barry Ulanov, eds. Modern Culture and the Arts. (New York:
McGraw·Hill Book Co., 1967) 288·295.

"Gloria Levita, Frank Vivelo, and Jacqueline J. Vivelo, eds. American Indian Prose and
Poetry: We Wait In The Darkness. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1974) 148.

'Ruth Benedict. Pa tterns of Culture. (New York: Mentor Books, 1953) 56.

36
 SA. Grove Day. The Sky Clears: Poetry of the A merican Indians. (Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 1 964) 108. "The Osage rituals include a group of ' Black Bear' songs
which relate to the myth about how the soil of the earth was given to the people by the
black bear as a sign of vigil when they appealed to the divine power for aid in overcoming
their enemies. "This act of the bear in disclosing the sacred soil is a sacred and mysterious
act; therefore, he who is to open the earth in order to take from it with his hands the soil to
be used in this vigil must simulate in detail the actions of the bear. ' The soil is used to
blacken the face for the later rites." A. Grove Day, 108.

9Ibid.

i ODennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock, eds. Teachings From The American Earth:
Indian Religion and Philosophy (New York: Liveright, 1 975) 15. "In the darkened [Inuit]
house one hears only sighing and groaning from the dead who lived generations earlier.
This sighing and puffing sounds as if the spirits were down under water, in the sea, as
marine animals, and in between all the noises one hears the blowing and splashing of
creatures coming up to breathe . . . [the above song] must be constantly repeated; it is only
to be sung by the oldest member of the tribe . . . "
l IJohn Bierhorst, ed. In The Trail of the Wind: American Indian Poems and Ritual
Orations. (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1 9 7 1 ) 19. This narrative was translated
from the N avaj o by Washington Matthews. 1 78- 1 79.

1 2Stan Steiner. The New Indians. (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1 968) 1 7 .
1 3D. Taylor. Project NO W (Fairbanks: Students of Project N O W , 1 975) 2 .

I ' Dolly Bird. " C a n I Say." Ak wesasne Notes. Vol. 4, No. 3 (Late Spring, 1972) 48.

I'Corey M cQueen. " Original American Blues." (from her book, A merican Indian Blues)
A kwesanse Notes. Vol. 4, No. 4 (Summer, 1 972) 48.
I ·Stan Steiner. The New Indians. (New York: Dell Publishing C o., 1 968) 1 4.

Critique
The author of "Change in American Indian World Views . . ." is not
only a teacher and student of poetry, but is also a poet who writes
about his heritage. It is appropriate that he chose to compare
traditional songs and the contemporary pleas of American Indians. A
poet can be and is described as "one who is especially gifted in the
perception and expression of the beautiful or lyrical." Poetry is the art
or work of a poet. If we follow these views of poet and poetry, then we
would have to place both of the categories of whi ch the author is
speaking in the clear realm of poetry.
My husband and I were standing on the desert in the Southwest
admiring the mountain range in the distance. Making an arch with
his hand, he said that his people used to run from one end of the arch to
the other and within those mountains they would be given songs to
bring back to the people (Chiricahua Apache). There was then and is

37
now no doubt in my mind that if we would go into those mountains
today, and if all things were right, we would be given songs. I do not
need to know how, by whom or what; I would know and recognize the
phenomenon when it happened. Songs of western mountains remind
me of a statement made by Gary Smith in his book, Winds inger, and
how, when he was a ranger in the Flaming Gorge area and in the
canyon lands of Utah, he became a friend of LaSalle Pocatello,
grandson of Chief Pocatello. LaSalle gave Gary Smith some of his
songs and told him that he had caught them. Some of them he had
caught at Devil's Tower. Gary remembered when he had climbed to
the top and heard the wind swirling through them producing sweet
sounds he had been too "busy" with official business to really hear
anything. A few years later while sitting in front of the fireplace in an
old ramshackle lodge on the shore of Spirit Lake, Gary caught a
melody. He said, "The mood was mellow and a little mysterious. The
only light in the place came from the fire. Suddenly, in just the way
LaSalle explained it, I caught a melody. " He played it on his guitar
and the words started to flow. A friend grabbed a pencil and paper and
in a matter of minutes there was a complete song.
Brito speaks of the complications in translations. He is so right.
Note the losses that come with the added lines in the translation of
"Chant to the Fire·fly. "l
C hant to the Fire-fly (Chippewa Original)

Wau wau tay see!

Wau wau tay see!
E mow e shin
Tahe bwau e baun-e wee!
Be eghayn-be eghayn-ewee!
Wau wau tay see!
Wau wau tay see!
Was sa koon ain je gun.
Was sa koon ain je gun.
Literal Trans lation

Flitting-white-fire-insect!
waving-white-fire-bug!
give me light before I go to bed!
give me light before I go to sleep.
Come, little dancing white-fire-bug!
Come, little flitting white-fire-beast!
Light me with your bright white-flame·instrument­
your little candle.
38
 Literary Translation

Fire-fly, fire-fly! Bright little thing,

Light me to bed, and my song I will sing.
Give me your light, as you fly o'er my head,
That I may merrily go to my bed.
Give me your light o'er the grass as you creep,
That I may joyfully go to my sleep.
Come, little fire-fly, come, little beast-
Come! and I'll make you tomorrow a feast.
Come, little candle that flies as I sing,
Bright little fairy-bug-night's little king;
Come, and I'll dance as you guide me along,
Come, and I'll pay you, my bug, with a song.
More Literal Literary Translation
Flitting white-fire insects!
Wandering small-fire beasts!
Wave little stars about my bed!
Weave little stars into my sleep!
Come, little dancing white-fire-bug,
Come, little flitting white-fire beast!
Light me with your white-flame magic,
Your little star-torch.

Brito begins his conclusion by stating, "The older orations addressed

themselves to nature, Indian cosmology and religion, whereas the
current poetry has little relevance to those vital aspects of life. " He
does an excellent job of educating us on the differences and similarities
of the oral narratives and contemporary poetry of the American
Indian. Indian people are still seeking songs, and some of what we
seek will show up in our contemporary songs and writings.
-Juanita Palmerhall
Mescalero, NM

Note
'Thomas E. Sanders and Walter W. Peek. Literature of the A merican Indian. ( Beverly
Hills: Glencoe Press, 1973) 105.

39
 Critique

Brito's article draws a necessary contrast between the purpose and

function of American Indian chants, and the American Indian's
descent into modern poetry. The latter is an idiom that can only voice
anger and frustration: it symbolizes a spirit imprisoned, forced to
protest through a borrowed medium because it seems to be the only
one that the western mind can understand.
I was struck by several ironies in this essay. First, the chants cited
by Brito remind us of the absolute confidence, pride, and reverence
American Indians felt toward their world. They breathe the sacred air
and see their skin darkened by the sacred sun. Coherence and fullness
of vision, values associated with a mature spirituality, mark each
chant, both structurally and thematically. Yet, as Brito stresses, the
significance ofthese chants lies not merely in what they communicate
but in their efficacy as tools of social magic. Indeed, their "unspeak­
able significance" is similar to that of the Vedic prayers of Hinduism,
the spiritual home of Asian Indians; in Vedic ritual, the priest through
skillful intonation and rendition could alter the very forces of nature
herself, bringing humanity into greater harmony with the cosmic
order, rta. Undoubtedly, the powers of American Indian orators derive
from the same psychological sources as that of the Vedic priest and
suggest the deep communion of both with divine energies.
Given this heritage of self-mastery and insight into the natural
order, the ensuing history of American Indians projects almost
unbearable irony, as the poems cited indicate. Contemporary American
Indians are torn by the struggle to tell the rest of America "How We
Are," to proclaim that they bear the blood of seers and shamans, and
by the contempt any contract with the smug yet driven white culture
elicits. The last poem, "Original American Blues," encapsulates this
irony as Indians are instructed to "be colorful/be culturally enriching/
to our school children/ . . . be anything but yourself . . . . " The
trivialization of the profound, the secularization of the sacred, the
sentimentalizing of the complex-these are the trite responses to
diversity we have learned to expect from American institutions. As
though one can "be colorful" on command without the blessing of the
sacred sun; as though one can "be culturally enriching" without
having access to evolving traditions shaped by the growth of indi­
viduals within a group.
Perhaps the deepest irony embedded in Brito's article is that at a
time when American Indians need access to the powers of their

40
ancient chants, access that would facilitate their own integration and
help heal the fragmentation of the larger culture, they are blocked. At
the same time, since the chants are not vehicles of social protest in an
ordered and beneficent universe, American Indians seem to be left no
choice but to use forms alien to their traditions to express social and
psychological conditions alien to their heritage. But as Leslie Marmon
Silko's novel, Ceremony (1977), movingly illustrates, the magic of
these ancient traditions lives on. And if the personal outrage of the
poet or the despair of the outcast Indian can lead to a renewed
sensitivity toward the old myths, whereby they reassume their
harmonizing function, the exile from the past can be seen arche­
typically, as the result of an unsettling but vitalizing wind: "It was the
wind that gave them life. When this ceases to blow we die. In the skin
at the tips of our fingers we see the trail of the wind; it shows us where
the wind blew when our ancestors were created. "
-Margaret Bedrosian
University of California, Davis

41
Abstracts from the Twelfth Annual Conference on
Ethnic and Minority Studies
"Ethnicity: 1 984 and Beyond"
In an attempt to record a sense of the formal sessions of the 1984
Conference, we asked the Chairs to assemble abstracts and discussant
comments for their sessions. Although we are pleased with a response
greater than in 1983, we are aiming for one hundred percent in 1985.

S E SSION I: COMMUNITY AND PEOPLE

C h air: Tony C ortese, Colorado State University

Linda M . C . Abbott, California School of Professional Psychology, Fresno.

Planned Social Change: The Case of the Fresno Organizing Proj ect
Models for intentional social change are examined within perspectives offered by
contemporary theory. Community organizations with fundamentally political objec·
tives are presented as examples of the alliance base focus and of the strategy focus. Of
the latter, an Alinsky·style organization, The Fresno Organizing Project is reviewed
as a case example, with attention to its history, objectives , and progress toward
declared goals. The Project is evaluated, both with respect to its fit with the model and
with regard to its impact on the target area.

Mic D enfeld and Coke Gross, Iowa State University. " People-pertising"
with Four Arizona Tribes
In 1 980, a Presidential Commission visited several tribal communities in Arizona
and discovered j uveniles being housed in adult j ails-a clear violation of Federal law.
The Commission established alternatives to j ail placement within each community.
The University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana's Community Research Center (CRC)
administered the OJJDP funds and provided technical assistance for developing the
JRI at four sites in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Corrections.
This paper describes the projects from the view of a technical advisor hired by CRC
and a volunteer trainer. It describes the use of "people-pertising" rather than
" expertising" in their work with the tribal communities and the reciprocal rewards of
this perspective as it was experienced during their on-site visits.
Discussant: R. Dennis Stewart, Farmtrek, S acramento, CA
Father Keith Kenny, who died shortly before this conference, was a Catholic priest
who worked from a Sacramento, California, pulpit. He was a civic leader and
confidant of C aesar Chavez, but more than anything else he was an exemplary
community organizer. A member of one of the western world's oldest " establishment"
institutions he was, nonetheless, a champion, leader, and servant of all the people in
his community. His definition of "the people" included those who would contribute to

42 Explorations in Ethnic Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (July, 1984)

 the spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being of " the community." He acted
in a community that comprised not j ust his own, mainly poor and ethnically non-white
parish, but all of S acramento, extended often to other parts of California and the
Southwest, and occasionally encompassed the nation. His voice was heard and his
work known in Hispanic America and Europe. Like the results of each ofthe endeavors
summarized in the papers that follow, Father Kenny left numerous " agents in place"
to continue "the people's" work. These fortunate individuals, some of whom are now
within "the establishment," work toward the twin goals of liberty and empowerment
for themselves and for those without either. Father Kenny's special achievement was
to convince those with both that there was enough for all.
* * * * *

The papers demonstrate the topical richness that is illustrative of the discipline of
ethnic studies. By using the framework of theoretical community organization (see
. Abbott's paper for an excellent summary), three very different situations involving
change in and around ethnic and minority-group peoples become accessible. Lest the
reader be alarmed, all the papers contain phenomena that do not lend themselves to
one, or even any, analytical tool.
' ' 'People-pertising' With Four Arizona Tribes" is essentially a report on a specific
project that went far beyond the granting agency's limited objective. The objective was
more than adequately satisfied and in the process people began to take charge of their
own destiny; the paper contains touching testimonials by organizers and a beautiful
story of a mythic change agent that spells out the essence of community organization.
"Planned S ocial C hange: The C ase of the Fresno Organizing Project" is a
comprehensive piece that could easily be used as part of a grant .proposal to a
progressive funding agency. It describes a perfectly designed and executed community
organization ready to "take-off' and radically change the substance and structure of
tens of thousands of lives in a regional metropolitan center.
"The LCO (Lac Courte Orielle Reservation, Wisconsin) Schools", not presented at
the Conference, is a case study of a local collection of people who responded to an
emergency and became a community.
In keeping with the theme of the conference, each paper considered the status of
concern and each gives a guarded, yet hopeful scenario or specific plans for the future.
As ifin concert, each paper describes or defines its meaning ofthe session's two topics,
" community" and " people. "
Although each paper differs in style, each situat,ion described differs in its origins
and the relationships ofthe authors to the endeavor differ, they have much in common.
Each:
• " community" ends locally and with a closely analogous situation elsewhere;
• describes "the people" in an inimical relationship with those outside the group,
i.e., "flatlanders, " "white world," or "the establishment";
• relates a technical service component run by experts ( change agents or
organizers);
• describes the process in which the organizers respond in a democratically­
oriented atmosphere to the agenda of " the people " in "the community" no
matter if the agents are hired, self-appointed, or self-made;
• deals with a specific geographical area;
• describes how the endeavor broadens to include more than one technical
component even if designed and funded to service only ·)ne narrow objective;
• describes a number of unforeseen effects emanating from the original design or
from expert responsiveness to the redefinition of mission;
• relates success in terms of an agency, "the people, " and "the community " ;
• gives recommendations for future action; and
• documents positive change for individuals, in the social milieu or of the political
atmosphere within the target population.
O nly the Fresno project appears to be having an effect on the enveloping majority
population_ There, some of the target population has only a class difference from the

43
 majority. Ethnic and cultural differences between the client population and the
maj ority population prevent bridge-building between the two in the other projects and
will make further problem resolution difficult in the Fresno case.
I n "The LCO Schools" story an additional effect on the political system is seen.
There, government agencies compete with each other to provide funds to the
community, but only for the purpose of fulfilling each agency's own institutional
objectives. A clear case of all benefitting. However, in the case of the four Arizona
tribes, fulfilling the very narrow objective of the funder has not led to continued
support. Multiple objectives may assure continued support.
One obvious avenue of further research are follow-up reports on each of these
communities and peoples. An unco n ventional but valuable arena would be additional
notes on the subsequent activities of the organizers in their professional lives.
A more general question that does not often find expression outside newspaper
stories is, Who describes the failures oflike projects from an ethnic studies perspective?
Also, are there failures in establishment terms that are really successes in terms of
"the people"? Are "the people" better off in some instances by rebuffing assistance?
Finally, without the ethnic studies forum provided by the Conference, it is highly
unlikely that these complementary studies would ever have been made accessible in
one place. We are all the richer for them.

SESSION II: COMMUNITY AND INSTITUTIONS

Chair: Lynn Hamlin, University of Cincinnati

Reva H. Bell, Texas Christian University. An Agenda for Getting "There from
Here"
The purpose of the paper is to present a plan of action beginning with the past of each
area to be discussed as it affects the future of minorities in America. The areas under
consideration are the community and its basic social institutions: family, school along
with political participation, and the accompanying economic benefits . Historical
background, present status, and recommendations for the future delineated.
H andouts distributed to participants.

Theresa M cC ormick, E mporia State University, KS. No One Model American

F a m i l y : A N e c e s s ary U n derstanding for E ffective M u lticultural
E ducation in Public Schools
A reexamination ofthe American family, its diverse forms and changing nature and
the implications of these phenomena for multi-cultural education is the focus of this
paper. Characteristics of ethnically and culturally diverse children and their families
are explored. Understanding diverse family models should enable teachers to provide
education that is more responsive to the needs of all students. While a multicultural
view of society, education, and families has not fully taken root, the concept has
provided educators with a framework in which to advocate program change that is not
based on a deficit model of children and their families.

W alter A. S e d e l o w , J r . , U n i v ersity of K a n s a s . B e i n g Preci s e - and

Scientific?-About Ethnicity
Ethnicity, behaviorally and communications-theoretically/information-theoretically
viewed, can be understood as a learned code-or, more precisely, as a set of learned
codes (e.g., dialectal speech habits; patterns of dress; music; as with, say, styles of
polkas; and so forth), among which higher order mappings sometimes are built. If one
takes a formalist view of code-formalist in the computer sciences sense, as in Formal
Language Theory-in which if research is thoroughly scientific it is realizable (in
principle at least) in fully algorithmic form and implementable in a computer-based
information system, in that case there is no doubt that the study of ethnic behavior as
codes is a thoroughly scientific enterprise.

44
Foster Brown and Robert Warshawsky, Southern Illinois University, C arbon­
dale. Ethnic-sensitive Counseling
Wynetta Devore and Elfride Schlesinger's ( 1 9 8 1 ) model of ethnic-sensitive practice
was utilized to research the history, ethnic reality, and health belief systems of Asian
Americans. With this as a background, communication theory was used to analyze the
practice of counseling with the intent of systematically adapting intervening pro­
cedures in such a manner as to make effective use of the knowledge about class and
ethnic related behaviors so as to more effectively serve the health needs of Asian
Americans.

Discussant: David M. Gradwohl, Iowa State University

The papers are appropriate to the interdisciplinary matrix of NArES. The partici­
pants offered perspectives from a variety of disciplines: elementary education, art and
multicultural education, sociology and computer science, and social work. For the
purposes of efficiency in this summary discussion, the presentations can also be
compared and contrasted according to their (a) principal focus-applied or theoretical,
(b) institutional aspect, (c) group dealt with, and (d) emphasis on diachronic/historical
or synchronic/ contemporary factors.
Bell's approach is essentially applied; takes up the family, schools, and political
system as institutions; focuses on blacks; and is diachronic in weaving historical
factors into present realities ("here") and suggesting paths to desired goals in the
future ("there"). McCormick's focus is also applied and deals with the family and
public schools as institutions; her subjects are multiethnic and her emphasis is
synchronic but draws upon historical traditions in utilizing art as a medium to convey
value systems of families from various cultural heritages.
Sedelow holds up a theoretical framework and, by way of statistics and taxonomic
modeling, looks at the n ature of ethnicity per se as expressed in linguistic phenomena;
langu age, of course, is a diachronic/traditional mode of cultural transmission but it is
also a code for present "realities." Brown and Warshawsky, in an instructive and
inviting " Huntley· Brinkley style," deal with their project which is specifically applied
to recent Asian American immigrants in the area of medical and health care
institutions. Drawing upon the theory of their own disciplines and upon the traditional
religious and family values of their Asian American clients, Brown and Warshawsky
are in a position to help individuals see themselves at the interface of two cultural
systems and, in a context of rapid changes in lifestyles, look for courses of action which
will accomodate their traditional values in the new roles expected of or thrust upon
them in the United States.
A topic of mutual concern to Bell and McCormick is that our schools too often look at
children of various ethnic and minority groups as "different. " Teachers with their
often-unilineal and mono cultural lesson plans are frequently frustrated that their
charges, coming from various religious and linguistic backgrounds and out of
alternative family styles, do not react in a single and " efficient" manner. Too often
these children are viewed as having deficiencies rather than as the carriers of
knowledge (might one even say proficiencies?) of their own cultural heritages.
Some years ago, in studying the formal educational system at the Pine Ridge Sioux
Reservation in South Dakota, Rosalie and Murray Wax also observed this phenomenon
which they called the " vacuum ideology. " Obviously no humans operate in a vacuum,
and it serves neither the family, the community, or other institutions to operate in any
way on the basis of that mythical perception vis-a-vis people who are "different."
These definitions and possible courses of action, of course, must first be understood by
individuals and by groups of individuals within the on-going social system. They are
inner and often emotional matters; but perhaps, as suggested by Sedelow, this process
can be facilitated by the computer analysis of the linguistic labels codifying those
self-perceptions. Papers in this session, then, stimulated some thoughts on defining
ethnicity, looking at concepts of self and o ther, and getting on with the business of
attaining our goal of a multicultural and multiethnic society in the United States.

45
SE SSION III: PROSPECTS

C h air: M arilyn Meisenheimer, University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse

Norman L. Friedman, California State University, Los Angeles. The Future

of Ethnic Cultural Pluralism in America: Two School-based Models
and Scenarios
Currently, most minority groups in America seem to want to maintain some amount
of "cultural pluralism," while also being extensively culturally and socially integrated
into the mainstream. Cultural pluralism is popular as a philosophy and practice. Will
it continue into the future, and if so, in what forms?
This paper suggests two major current school-based maintenance models of ethnic
cultural pluralism, and analyzes their relative strengths and weaknesses. The first,
here called the " public-secular-ethnic" model, is illustrated by the case of Chicanos
and their publicly supported bilingual/bicultural secular educational programs. The
second, here called the "priveat-religio-ethnic" model, is illustrated by the case of
American Jews and their privately sponsored after school, Sunday School, and all-day
school programs of religio-ethnic instruction. The two prototypical models, and their
possible future scenarios, are compared and discussed.

David Muga, Seattle. The Future of Ethnicity: 1984 and Beyond

U sing response to systemic crisis as a common starting point for both G. Orwell's
1984 social relations and the present reality of the ethnic experience in the U . S . , a
limited exploration is made of the relation of State policies and private interests to the
stigmatization of ethnicity. The areas explored include racism, immigration/migration
patterns, and the process of proletarianization. The principle argument is that general
systemic crisis locates certain groups of people in relation to State policies and private
interests in a way which stigmatizes dramatically what it is to experience ethnically.
These locations are seen to be decisive for future strategies for social change.

Discussant: Zdenka Gredel-Manuel, Niagra University

There is no easy solution to problems created in American society by ethnic diversity
and cultural pluralism, nor can one envision a simplistic glimpse into the future of
ethnicity in 1 984 and beyond. Presenters Friedman and Muga have attempted to
present us with some prospects which may develop.
Friedman addresses himself to two school based models and scenarios, the Jews and
the Chicanos. He presents some sociological insights into the development as he calls
the " private-religio-ethnic" model of Jews and the "public-secular-ethnic" model of
Chicanos. The futuristic assumptions of Professor Friedman are that the Chicano
model may take to some extent the route of the Jewish model.
Muga's paper utilizes the "ethnic conflict theory" to explain what is in store for the
future of ethnicity. He assumes that competition and conflict increase among ethnic
groups in the process of societal modernization, thus creating the conditions for ethnic
struggle and exploitation rather than assimilation. From this perspective all history is
a process of struggle, oppression, and more struggle.
Muga attempts to translate orthodox Marxism into ethnic conflict theory and
maintains that ethnic groups, specifically blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians,
will struggle for wealth, power and privilege in modern American society.
Muga seems to believe that the root of all evil is capitalism. Eliminate capitalism
and you would eliminate racism, prej udice, and all the evils of deprivation and
discrimination. I would like to raise the following issues:
1. racism existed before the rise of capitalism, and
2. it exists today in non-capitalist societies, such as in the USSR and China.
Therefore, I suggest that the elimination of capitalism would not solve the problems.
The question we need to focus on is powerlessness. A good understanding of
" powerlessness" gives us an opportunity to develop power among ourselves to get
what is j ustly ours.

46
SESSION IV: MEDIA OR E D UCATION

Chair and Respondent: Meredith Reinhart, C alifornia State University,

Sacramento

Vagn K. H ansen and C . J . White, Delta State University, MS. Television

News and Third World Immigrants in the U.S.
Analysis o f television network news broadcasts, January 1981 - December 1 983,
reveals considerable disparity in both the quality of coverage related to Third World
immigrants in the United States and the content of the coverage. There was a decline
in each of the three years in the amount of coverage, with CBS consistently devoting
more attention to the changing ethnic composition of American society than the other
networks. Virtually all coverage of immigration has been focused on Southeast Asians
and Latin Americans. With the exception of a few segments devoted to the successes of
high school or college valedictorians, coverage has generally emphasized the negative
aspects of immigration. The cumulative effect of such reporting may be to develop the
idea that immigration is a serious social problem. The concept of American society as
multicultural has been virtually ignored.

Jacqueline Zbracki, Ames, Iowa. An Alternative ESL Program

An Alternative ESL (English as as Second Language) Program illustrates how
infants and preschool age children from Indochina learn English by using a total
language learning concept. What was once a babysitting service for Indochinese
adults (displaced persons) who are taking ESL classes is transformed into an active,
dynamic learning center for children.
A requirement of this E SL training program is that parents teach their native
language and culture to their children at home, creating both a positive cultural
language environment and reinforcing bilingualism.

Response:
Media is a powerful communicator. The media which confronts us when we turn on
television news and the media we view in the classroom are separate faces of the same
creature. In whatever form media confronts us, they have the potential to challenge
viewers to think or lull us into accepting whatever image is presented on the screen.
The two presentations show that even beyond practicing awareness in our daily lives,
we must require a critical response from throughout the academy.
Hansen and White's "Television News and Third World Immigrants in the United
States" alerts us to the danger of passively accepting the news as the truth. Hansen
and White's collection of news footage concerned with immigration clearly demon­
strates the power of television news images. Distortions are rampant in the footage.
Third World immigrants, when covered, were presented as problems. Mexicans were
viewed as illegal immigrants ; the real diversity of immigrants was ignored. Chinese,
Korean, Indian, Filipino, Jamaican and Dominican immigrants got little attention
even when they were the numerical majority of immigrants. News also focused on the
failure of immigration policies and the difficulties presented by immigrants with
different cultural backgrounds.
Zbaracki's videotape, An Alternative ESL Program, was presented by Barbara
Hiura and Ernie Pon. The videotape demonstrated a positive use of media. Both An
Alternative ESL Program and the presenters' comments focused on the positive
nature of bilingual education in a multicultural society. The children were not viewed
as problems, and bilingual ability was presented as a positive goal. Zbaracki's tape
can challenge future teachers and others about the worth and practicality of
exemplary E SL programs.

47
SESSION V: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE S

Chair: Helen McLam, Choice Magazine

M argaret A. Laughlin, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Women and

Education: A West Indies Perspective
The under·education of women is of serious concern to many nations as women
remain under represented at all levels of education. Levels of educational achievement
of women is a key indicator of a nation's progress and development. E ducational
opportunities for women in the former British West Indies have been limited by
historical circumstance, cultural expectations, and limited economic support. The
paper provides an overview of educational experiences of West Indian women and
examines changing policy planning decisions related to women's educational oppor·
tunities related to quality, quantity, and content.

P. Rudy Mattai, Lane C ollege, TN. Maj ority Population with Minority
Political Status
The entrance into and continued presence of East Indians in the co-operative
Republic of Guyana present scholars concerned with the study of immigrant groups
with several similarities to other immigrant groups and, pari passu, with even more
significant peculiarities or phenomenological differences. This presentation is not
concerned with the similarities but rather with those differences which exhibit an
interesting departure from theory, particularly that set of theory which relates to the
organization of multicultural or multiethnic societies.
Despite the East Indian's numerical majority in the Guyanese population and
overwhelming numerical strength in the economic sector, they have not been able to
wield comparable political power. Instead, the predominantly African government
has been able to assert some degree of political hegemony in the society at the expense
oflarge-scale discrimination. This presentation discusses the genesis and implications
of that situation.

Daiva K. Stasiulis, C arleton University, Ottawa. Racism and the Canadian

State: The Subway to 1984
The racial hostility and discrimination faced by visible minority groups in Toronto
during the 1 970s led to their mobilization into a multi-pronged movement against
racism. This paper examines the responses by a variety of key institutions within the
Canadian state to grass-roots pressures for reform and the threat of racial conflict. As
the prosperous early seventies developed into the crisis-ridden eighties, a shift
occurred in state response to visible minority group interests from "incorporation " to
"exclusion. " In light of this trend, this paper proposes the need for a reconceptualiza'
tion of the relationship among the liberal democratic state, racism, and excluded
minority groups.

SESSION VII: POLITICAL VIABILITY

Chair: Minnie Thomas Bailey, Grambling State University, LA.

George E stes, Spearfish, SD. The People, the Land, the Law
There is a body of United States law setting American Indians apart from other
Americans. American Indian law is a unique trust relationship between the tribes and
the United States. This trust relationship is based upon negotiated treaties in which
the U.S. agreed to provide various forms of protection and services in exchange for
land. The reservation land base poses special legal questions concerning jurisdiction,
taxes, water, and mineral rights. American Indian people are beginning to take legal
offensive to protect long·ignored treaty rights. Self·government is essential to
restoring self-respect and making American Indians useful citizens after years of

48
 crippling dependence upon the federal government. In the future, tribes will remain
dependent upon the federal trust relationship yet must also emerge as self-governing if
they are to survive beyond the 1 980s.

Eugene Kim, California State University, Sacramento. Korean Americans

in the United States : Problems and Alternatives
This paper identifies and analyzes problems and difficulties Korean Americans in
the U.S. have experienced in the categories as follow:
1. The slow acculturation process ("Adhesive Adaptation")
2. The language deficiency in English ("The Language Shock")
3. Declining occupational ladder (A Downward Syndrome)
4. The splitting of family relationships (Breakdown of Family "Roots")
5. The Korean language maintenance (Unilateral Heritage Theory)
6. Bilingual education (non·functional "Main streaming")
Based on the problems/difficulties identified, this paper further conceives and
proposes possible approaches and remedies to alleviate the problems. The author
emphasizes that the adj ustment of the "life styles" and the manifestations of their
"life changes" will be greatly enhanced by the effort and the commitment of those to
improve their images by the eradication of cultural ambivalence and selfimposed
social rejection.

Bette Novit Evans, Creighton University. Conflicting Models of Minority

Group Membership in American Public Policy
This paper explores two apparently conflicting models which underlie American
policy with respect to minorities. The first model comprehends society as an aggregate
of individuals, whose ethnic characteristics are essentially irrelevant to public policy
choices, and who, as individuals, are bearers of rights and responsibilities. The second
model views society as consisting of groups of an almost corporate nature, and
perceives individual rights and responsibilities as deriving, at least in part, from group
membership. Most of the major policy statements regarding discrimination are
phrased in terms of the first model, but the administrative and j udicial guidelines by
which they are implemented tend to be phrased in terms of the second. In this paper I
survey major policy developments in the areas of school desegregation, voting rights,
and employment discrimination in order to show evolution from the first to the second
models over time, and the continuity of themes across policy areas. I argue that the
apparent contradiction is in fact resolved by viewing the second model as a logical
outgrowth of the first-a necessary and logically consistent method of realizing
individual rights in a world of limited resources and imperfect knowledge.

Sally Yeates Sedelow, University of Kansas. Computational Linguistics

and Ethnic Genres
Ethnic genres, like other genres, are presumably characterizable as genres because
they comprise distinguishing and identifiable patterns. Any student of genres knows
that getting at "the patterns formed in the linguistic encoding of information"
(Sedelow and Sedelow, " A Preface to Computational Stylistics," in Leed, ed. The
Computer and Literary Style, Kent State, 1 966) is a non·trivial task. In fact, the
computer seems the single best hope for managing both the quantities of data and
pattern detection within that data implied by genre study. This paper discusses some
of the current problems and possibilities associated with the application of computa·
tional linguistics to the study of ethnic genres.

Discussant: C. Lok Chua, Moorhead State University, M N .

These four papers have proceeded from several different disciplines-education,
sociology, political science, and linguistics. I shall complicate matters further by
discussing these papers with yet another discipline in the background, my own of
literature. For, as I go along, I shall mention titles and authors ofliterary works which
dramatize or speak to some of the issues raised by these papers and which may
profitably be read as supplements to this discussion.
Professor Evans' paper is solidly central to our section's topic of "Political Viability."
Her closely reasoned and densely documented argument shows us convincingly that
the antidiscriminatory ideals of policy aimed at supporting individual rights must
realistically and cost-effectively find expression in measures that affect the group and

49
the aggregate. She draws her examples from the spheres of education, voting rights,
and employment. She reminds us that the intention to discriminate is not measurable,
but the effect of discrimination is; further, Evans makes clear that an effect is usually
measurable in aggregate terms (i.e., in terms of so many minority children attending
this school rather than that school), and that, therefore, the corrective meallures have
to take the form of aggregate remedies. The unfortunate aspect of aggregate remedies
is that they can be made to look very much like reverse discrimination. How, then, do
we as individuals and as groups deal with this misperception in our school boards, our
precinct caucuses, our hiring committees?
Professor Kim is dealing with the fourth largest Asian minority, and he analyzes the
causes for their problems in assimilation, suggests remedies, and draws analogies
between the Korean American and the Asian American experience.
To summarize his major points, the first problem is slow acculturation or adhesive
adaptation. Its causes are the stigma of racial and national origins, the difficulties of
language, the consequent isolation in insular communities. The remedy is to heighten
ethnic pride and self esteem.
Language itself is a second problem, a "catch 22." Immigrants must immerse
themselves in the majority society, but this immersion is difficult or impossible
without English which is the currency of social exchange and whi ch is best acquired
by immersion itself in the society. Remedy: aggressive language acquisition.
The third problem is the immigrant's slide down the occupational scale in the host
country. The cause is the lack of language skills and the invalidation of former
professional accreditation. Remedy: pre·immigration preparation and continuing
education after arrival in the host country.
The fourth problem concerns family structure. Korean immigrants bring an orderly
Confucian patriarchy into confrontation with an American anarchist cult of youth;
they bring hierarchic masculine authority into confrontation with a fluid American
androgyny. Remedy: the elders must adapt to the new cultural and social milieu,
permit the children to live away from the ancestral home, become more enlightened
towards their children's sexual mores. At the same time, the Korean heritage should be
upkept by a bilingual and bicultural education for the younger generation.
The remedies suggested by Professor Kim, if they can be realized, should make for a
smoother "mainstreaming " of Korean Americans. Kim makes some analogies
between the Korean American and the general Asian American experience. If! may be
indulged, I would like to add a few from my literary point of view. For instance, Maxine
Hong Kingston's autobiographical works Woman Warrior and China Men graphic­
ally illustrate the linguistic disadvantages of Asian emigres and their consequent
downward occupational slide. Maxine's father was a Mandarin and a teacher while
her mother was a shamanistic midwife-physician in China. But when they immigrated
to America, they had to settle for work in a laundry because their professional
qualifications were not recognized and they lacked the requisite language skills.
Similarly, the tensions of a Confucian family in American society are depicted in Lin
Yutang's novel Chinatown Family where the Confucian ethic is challenged by the
second son's American success ethic; fortunately, the challenge is resolved by the
example of the youngest son who becomes an engineer but marries a girl epitomizing
the best of the traditional from China.
Estes tells us about the legal rights of American Indians vis-a-vis the lands their
tribes own. These lands are significantly extensive-larger than New E ngland-and
their natural resources important-54% of the U.S.'s projected needs.
By and large, tribal governments, which are regarded as "dependent nations "
within the borders of the U.S., have jurisdiction over these land areas. These tribal
governments have become increasingly insistent on self determination; and, indeed,
Estes foresees a time when the reservations will become self-governing entities
dependent upon the federal government but not subject to the states. This relationship
will provide Indians with wealth, land, education, and technical assistance which will
in tum enable them to become "self-respecting and useful American citizens. "
This note, on which Estes closes, is in a way optimistic. There are those who would be
more pessimistic. An American Indian novel, N. Scott Momaday's House Made of
Dawn comes to mind. In this novel, Abel, an Indian ofthe Southwest, is first shown to
be a well integrated youth with deep cultural roots in his reservation and his tribal

50
 ways of life. But the white man's society conscripts him to kill in war and a white
woman recruits him to enhance her sexuality while white justice condemns his act of
ritual sacrifice as an act of homicide. Momaday would seem to be very pessimistic that
the Abel's of our times can become "self-respecting and useful American citizens. "
And yet one has only to look at Momaday himself-a Stanford graduate, a Pulitzer
Prize winner, and University of Arizona professor-to see a living example of Estes's
best hopes.
After listening to Sally Sedelow's paper on computational linguistics, I feel a little
like how my daughters must feel when I bring a new cartridge for their Atari, be it a Ms.
Pacman, or a Space Invader, or an Enduro. I can hardly wait to obtain Sedelow's
MAPTEXT and CGAMS programs and let them loose on the terrain of N. Scott
Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mo untain. But perhaps before I do, I should ask what
the object of the game is. Is it a Pacman-like exorcising of ghosts from our ethnic
collective consciousness? Is it to learn how to make a better living space among the
missile silos of a deteriorating environment? Or is it to teach minority youngsters how
to negotiate the dangerous Enduro curves that life will lead them into?
I am also fascinated by the inner workings of Sedelow's software. It promises "a
description of normative language or what is characteristic of the ethnic group," a
description arrived at through the praxis of translation theory and the analytics ofthe
Prague school of linguistics. I am intrigued by what this will do for poems written in
Spanglish, how it will react to the pidgin syntax of Milton Murayama's novella All I
Asking For is My Body, and how it will analyze the punch line of Jeffrey Paul Chan's
"Jack Rabbit" which is a C antonese sentence that culminates a story written in
standard American English.
The common denominator of our papers seems to be the posing of a question from a
distinctively ethnic point of view: how may a minority American, whether immigrant
or native, participate fully and equally in the opportunities and possibilities of
American life, be it in education, in political consequence, or in employment
opportunity? It is a Protean question asked in different accents by different groups,
tribal councils, families, individuals. It is a question with many ramifications, many
possible answers, and one that invites discussion.

SESSION VIII: LITE RATURE AND REALITY

Chair: Silvester J. Brito, University of Wyoming.

Dorothee Von Huene, Pace University. Old World Fathers, Gods, and the
New Land
The immigrant experience can heighten the inevitable tensions between father and
child to the point where they are destructive. The polarization between the culture of
the old world and that of the new can be so great that the immigrant experiences it as a
violent struggle between good and evil which threatens to rupture family relationships
and destroy people physically and spiritually. This struggle is revealed in historical,
psychological, and sociological studies of immigrants and ethnics. Ethnic literary
works, frequently based on personal experience, can provide valuable supplements to
the research of these disciplines.
Four ethnic novels, Christ in Concrete by Pietro Di Donato, He, The Father by Frank
Mlakar, Lion at My Heart by Harry Petrakis, and Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska,
are all written by twentieth-century first- and second-generation Americans of four
different ethnic groups: Italian, Slovenian, Greek, adn Russian Jew. Two of them are
clearly autobiographical. In each novel, one major character, usually the protagonist,
distances himselffrom the values of his or her father in spite of the fact that the father
seems to be an ally or even associate of God. The resulting tensions hobble the
immigrant in his efforts to fit into the new world.

51
Joseph A. Young, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Revising the Myth: The
Homesteader and The Wind from Nowhere.
Oscar Micheaux's approach to literature offers interesting insight into the conser­
vative Afroamerican plan for achieving success in America, flying the banner of Jim
Crowism. His plan includes a kind of socialist agrarianism for blacks: that is, to
succeed, blacks should migrate west and homestead on ten acre plots. Micheaux
intended to communicate these themes through his novels. Micheaux is overly
optimistic about American cultural pluralism and is excessively pessimistic about the
ability of blacks to survive in America without his scheme; this is partly attributable to
his reliance on the crude racial theories which dismiss blacks as inferior and partly
attributable to his addressing whites and conservative blacks when he considered his
audience.

Lee H adley, Iowa State University. The Lone Ranger Lied: Tonto Wasn't
Real
A writer for young adults looks back with amazement at the myths about Native
Americans that were part of childhood. How those myths were dispelled, how the
tentative beginnings of understanding a different culture came about forms the basis
of the paper. Writing a book about the Mesquakie people at a certain point in history
provided a challenge and a dilemma. Difficulties in historical research, use of
language, fear of being insensitive to cultural differences-all of these face a cross­
cultural writer. And then reviews-who to believe: the Native American who read the
book and said, "Yes, this is real," or the reviewers who read the book and said,
" Hollywood stereotypes."

Ann Irwin, Iowa State University. White Like Me: A Problem or Plus for a
Writer
A serious writer for young adults attempting to further human understanding
approaches cross-cultural themes cautiously. Can a white author write honestly about
a black? Can a white author write honestly about a Native American? Can a white
author write honestly about a Japanese American child incarcerated in American
camps during World War II? Does color or culture of an author pose a problem? This
paper explores the problems encountered in determining language, audience, impli­
cations and concludes that perhaps the greatest value of crossing ethnic lines is
realized by the author, who will never be the same after researching and writing a book
such as I Be Somebody (Hadley Irwin-Atheneum- 1984).

SESSION IX: PAST TO FUTURE

C h air: Eugene Kim, California State University, Sacramento.

John P. Roche, Rhode Island College. Social Factors Affecting Cultural,

National, and Religious Ethnicity: A Study of Suburban Italian
Americans
This study, using a previously employed attitudinal ethnicity scale, investigates the
state of ethnicity among a sample of suburban Italian Americans. Unlike many
previous studies, respondents were not simply classified into an ethnic category. This
study measured the degree of attachment to the cultural, national, and religious
aspects of ethnicity. Ethnic scores were analyzed by generation, occupational status,
income, age, sex, suburb, education, ethnic identification, spouse's ethnic identifica­
tion, and paretns' ethnic background. A number of social factors were found to be
significantly related to attitudinal ethnicity.

Robbie Jean Walker, Auburn University, Birmingham. The Politics of

Black American Literary Expression
Black American literary expression is revelatory of the writer's attitudes towards
the dominant political system, and her or his views concerning the proper positioning

52
 of blacks in the American social structure. A tripartite scheme of analysis developed
by the sociologist William A. Gamson and projected along a continuum is utilized for
the purpose of analyzing the political attitudes or political postures of writers who
have attained some prominence during the past seventy years; the major finding of
the study is that the more politically alienated the writer, the more likely is he or she to
find the materials of black social life-the social life of a subordinated and persecuted
minority group-a culturally self-sufficient basis for the exercise ofthe writer's art. In
addition to literary scholarship, insights derived from the fields of political science,
political sociology, the sociology of knowledge, and social anthropology are utilized in
the analysis and in arriving at the conclusions of the study.

Discuss ant: Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Italian American Historical Association

Robbie Jean Walker's essay, "Politics of Black American Literary E xpression," is
distinctive in that it deepens literary analysis by relating it to a political dimension.
Her use of the Gamson scale (confidence, scepticism, alienation) to evaluate the status
and prospects of black America is done with perception and wisdom. What is striking
about Walker's ess ay is her relating black literature to political prospects of black
America. She suggests that the radicaliz ation of the politics of black Americans may
be related to a literature of alienation from white culture; an integral part of
radicalization is related to a reassertion of black identity and the validity of the black
experience.
Very different is John Patrick Roche's sociological study of suburban Italian
Americans, appraising the degree of their ethnicity. Testing the thesis of renewed
ethnicity among Italian Americans, Roche concludes that this ethnic group has
declining levels of ethnic consciousness (except for a small highly educated group).
Since my research is in the area of Italian Americans, may I say that I find Roche's
methodology not entirely adequate (Italian American literature is more revealing than
questionnaires), but that I would tend to agree with his dismal finding. At present
Italian Americans are being feted as an ethnic group that has "made it." We may have
an Italian American woman vice president, and presidential plans are already afoot
for Lee Iacocca. This is Italian American identification with the U.S. mainstream,
with little interest in the radical change that is necessary. And it is accompanied by
only superficial knowledge of the Italian American experience, Italian history, or of
contemporary Italy.
Italy's radical legacy to Italian Americans includes socialist agitation in the 1 890s
prior to emigration to the United States, and two salient contemporary facts. Italy has
the largest Eurocommunist party of the west (an independent party with new left
premises) and Italy has produced what may be the strongest feminist movement ofthe
world.
Italian Americans with some knowledge of their Italian legacy might be a
significant variable in removing the blinders of U.S. domestic and foreign policy. A
deeper meaning of "ethnicity" for Italian Americans may be not whether they like
bocce ball clubs, but whether they know what is going on in contemporary Italy.
Italians refer to an "unedited m arxism" in their work for an equalitarian society that
will cherish differences, not differences of superior-inferior, but differences inherent in
genuinely different perceptions of the world. These genuinely different perceptions
refer to different experiences of different ethnic groups. Italian women also stress their
experiential differences from men, and experiential differences of women among
themselves.
For Sicilian women who are engaged in non-violent resistance to nuclear missiles at
Comiso, Sicily, their work as feminists is a struggle against "one people over another,
one race over another, one sex over another."

53
SESSION X: PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE

Chair: M argaret Laughlin, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.

C arlos Ortega, California State University, Northridge. On Education and

Work in Tomorrow's Mexican Community in Los Angeles
Describing the Mexican Community of Los Angeles, this paper examines current
trends in education and work and the impact of technological change on this
community by the year 2000. Attention is given to needed changes in schools and work
place so the working class ofthe Mexican community and minority and working class
individuals in general might avoid becoming a permanent underclass. Community
members and educators must work together to create a learning environment which
would help to prevent displacement from work and education using Freire's notion of
praxis as a guide.

Deema DeSilva, Wichita State University, KS. The Imperatives for Edu­
cational Reform and Their I mplications for Minority Education
Programs
In order to be increasingly effective in offering equal opportunity for quality
education, we must make a strong commitment to achieving goals, we must create new
avenues to reach minority students and motivate them to achieve excellence in
education. To this end we have to formulate a rigorous program to gain basic study
skills, scientific, literacy and computer skills. Expect students to have self·discipline
and maintain high standards of promptness, punctuality and attendance, for each one
of our students has a right to excel.

Ashton Welch, Creighton University. Ethnicity and American Political

Culture
Ethnicity in American political life is the concern of this paper. It examines impacts
on the American political culture as well as on the political structure which resulted
from efforts to make the political system more accessible to minorities. The examina·
tion is limited to the post·Civil War era. It notes, however, that the very nature of
American society makes linkages between ethnicity and the political culture inescap'
able. It posits that legal decisions and legislative enactments sometimes have results
beyond their democratic intent: they create strains on the federal structure; and their
benefits can be used by all residents as they affect the entire population. It suggests
that statutory and constitutional enactments are subject to varied interpretations and
applications. Such interpretations and applications can be inconsistent with the
intentions of the authors of the law or I?rovisions in question. The paper concludes
minorities are making political advances because of changes in the structure of the
political culture.
Discuss ant: Nancy M. Osborn, Iowa State University
It is refreshing to be allowed to ponder the future and to do so with the optimism that
we, as distinct ethnic beings, can effect positive changes toward that future. The
proposals for culture change regarding ethnic minorities in America put forth in this
session are desirable ones. However, we should caution ourselves from the outset that
certain directed cultural change can be detrimental-such as subj ugation of the
defeated by a conqueror, one realization of the dire Orwellian prediction.
For desirable, healthful cultural evolution, then, there are certain requirements.
First, the proposed changes must be viewed as desirable and necessary by the minority
population involved. Secondly, there is no getting around the fact that time is a
necessary factor for successful culture ch�nge-time for values to become realigned
and time for trust among ethnic groups to become established. As a third point, it
must be noted that culture change is never a " one-way" transmission; members of the
predominant culture, as well as those of the ethnic minority culture, will be affected by
contact and interaction one with the other.
Certainly education emerges as the logical and most efficient vehicle for bringing
about desired changes for minority ethnic groups in the future. However, as pointed
out here, America's educational system has slipped into complacency and mediocrity,
an illness which affects both the predominant and minority cultures in our society. We
see a capitulation to teach to the lev!'l of the " average" student so as to maintain and

54
 stabilize college and high school enrollments. And even we as scholars within the
educational system have "let slip" our basic language communications skills. One
crisis in education cannot be solved quickly: teaching cannot be upgraded until there is
a commensurate increase in pay and respect to teachers. Teachers are not likely to
"stretch" to higher standards without such support, and educators cannot instill in
their students the desire to reach for excellence if they themselves do not subscribe to
that goal.
As preparation for the future, educators must sensitize students of the dominant
culture as to the difficulties experienced by minorities. One method would be to require
that all English speakers study a second language. It is only by stepping out of the
strait j acket of one's own first language that the student can come to grips with what it
is like to be forced to think in another. Language is the mirror of ethnic "being"-it
both reflects and governs the way in which its speakers view the world around them.
Acceptance and the finding of "a place" in American society will come about more
easily for some ethnic minorities than for others. Young Southeast Asians trans­
planted into the California educational system, for example, have been viewed as "a
teacher's dream." This is not so much a result of above-average intelligence as it is a
factor of cultural "pre-conditioning." The values of the students' Asian heritage­
respect for their elders, particularly those in the role of teacher, and a desire to bring
honor to the family by excelling-j ust happen to be congruent with the goals of the
American educational system.
Politics, as well as formal education, will play a role in the future of ethnic minorities
in America. There is a desperate need for persons ofthe various ethnic s'.lbgroups to be
schooled in the ways of the political system. Ethnic and minority peoples do have
political clout, but only if they know that they have it and only if they know how to
direct it. Granted, true cultural evolution cannot be legislated, but the passage of any
social reform legislation signals that a need for change is realized and that change
is possible.

SESSION XI: POLITICS AND EDUCATION

Chair: David Muga, Seattle, WA.

Ernest Pon, Sacramento City Unified School District, CA. The Hmong and
Mien: Beyond ESOL Training Programs
This paper shows how English to Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) classes are
inadequate in preparing the Hmong and Mien in adjusting to an American lifestyle.
The Hmong and Mien are ill-prepared to deal with a technological, twentieth century
society that we as Americans take for granted. The Hmong and Mien face different
problems than other "refugee" groups who have settled in the United States in recent
years. This paper shows how service agencies will better serve their clients (refugees) if
they have more cross-cultural information and are culturally sensitive to their clients.

Frank C avaioli, SUNY, Farmingdale. A Perspective on Electoral Behavior

This paper summarizes the reecent research on the New Political History. It shows
how ethnicity is a major force and a major variable in shaping political behavior.
Ethnocultural factors help determine political attitudes which precede electoral
activity by the citizen. This paper accepts the pluralistic nature of American society,
and it rejects the melting pot concept. Based upon empirical research, this papers
asserts that people tend to vote for candidates of their own ethnic group.

Keith D. Parker, Mississippi State University. Minorities and Higher

Education: The Challenge of the 1 980s
This paper examines (1) what progress, if any, was made during the 1 960s and 1970s
to raise the educational level of minorities, and (2) what is the current status of
minorities in higher education? If Mayhew's ( 1 974) timetable is accurate, educational
institutions are in a period of neglect, and minorities will be neglected most.

55
Discussant: Ann Whitaker, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago
The three papers presented in Session XI reflect common themes and similarities.
For example, the papers, "A Perspective on Electoral Behavior," by Cavaioli;
"Minorities and Higher Education: The Challenge of the 1 980s" by Parker; and "The
Hmong and Mien: Beyond ESOL Training Programs" by Pon focus on ethnicity
(Italians, blacks, Laotians); lack of cultural sensitivity; the importance of ethnic group
behavior; educational problems; cultural differences; geographical differences; institu·
tional racism; the pluralistic nature of society; political powerlessness; assimilation,
acculturation, and accommodation.
Pon discusses the problems encountered by the Hmong and Mien, two small tribal
groups from the mountains of Laos, in adj usting to the American lifestyle. Part of the
difficulty lies in the transition from a rural culture to culture which is highly
technological. The problems include medical care, (Shaman vs. western medical
doctor); cash economy (cash vs. barter); geographical locations in the city; and modern
appliances (stove, refrigerator).
The author suggests that in addition to teaching the Hmong and Mien traditional
E S O L (English to Speakers of Other Languages) classes, other needs need to be
addressed in assisting these two groups to adapt! acculturate to an American lifestyle.
These needs include home management, health care information, and vocational
training. Competency Based Adult Education (CBAE) along with culturally sensitive
organizations are further means by which the Hmong and Mien can be assisted in
adj usting to the American lifestyle.
This paper could have been enhanced by the author giving the reader an his torical
perspective on the Hmong and Mien. The political implications need further explana·
tion. Just to point out that many people from various locations in Southeast Asia were
forced to leave beginning in 1 975 is not sufficient. Why did they leave? What were the
" oppressive conditions"? Did the United State grant refugee status to the Southeast
Asians because of guilt feelings regarding Vietnam? What pressure can be placed
upon the U . S . government to adhere to its promises of money, housing, vocational
training, job search skills, language skills, and Americanization classes?
Secondly, in addition to indicating some of the problems faced by the Hmong and
Mien upon arriving in this country, perhaps a comparison/contrast could have been
discussed regarding the rural aspects in order to highlight the cultural differences.
From the perspective of culture or cultural transition, one could argue for the
institution or initiation of some form of public policy which would mandate that
A mericans become reacculturated in terms of new groups coming into this country. It
should not be assumed that the "new group" has to be the only group that learns to
adapt. The host culture also needs to adapt to the new incoming group.
Cavaioli argues that for various reasons, people tend to vote for candidates of their
own ethnic group and suggests that " group voting" is part of the development of the
New Political History. This may be true, but we do not get a sense of what this New
Political History is nor are we given concrete examples to support the author's position.
To suggest that the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision
revitalized "ethnicity" is erroneous. First of all, various ethnic groups have always,
throughout the development of this country, maintained their ethnic identity-long
before World War I. Second, the 1 954 Supreme Court decision maintained that
"separate but equal" was illegal. Part of the reason for this separateness had to do with
feelings of ethnic superiority.
Third, it is true that various ethnic groups, such as the Irish, Poles, Jews, and
Greeks, became involved in the political arena. What is untrue is that these ethnic
groups did not include "migrating blacks and poor whites" into their political arena.
Blacks have been systematically excluded from participating in the political arena of
the Democratic Party.
Additionally, catalyst may be the wrong word to use in terms of the Black
Revolution. A catalyst is a chemical reaction that causes other properties to change
while remaining unchanged itself. The Black Revolution (a) caused changes from
within and without and (b) had nothing to do with the culture accepting ethnic group
differences. This country was built on ethnic group differences, sociallv and politically.
Questions which can be raised included: What is the difference between ethnic
groups and racial groups? What are the social and political ramifications for ethnic

56
group bloc voting? How will this form of voting increase changes in public policy? H ow
can the American culture institute the melting pot concept? What concrete recom­
mendations can be put forth which include all ethnic groups in the political arena?
What are the implications of ethnicity as a variable in measuring political (group)
behavior?
According to Parker's research on the characteristic phases of the organizational
pattern of social institutions, there are three. Phase one, dynamic growth, found
educational institutions meeting social expectations and expanding. Phase two, was a
period of conflict. Phase three, a period of neglect, found institutions meeting the
reduced expectations, and becoming indifferent, passive, and stagnated.
The author suggests that according to the above phases, educational institutions are
in phase two, a period of neglect. In this phase, social expectations decline because
they outrun capabilities and thus, institutions remain able to only meet reduced
expectations. Therefore, indifference, passivity, and stagnation exists.
Parker maintains that if educational institutions are to meet the future needs of
education, there are several things that must be done. Among them are planning skills
which address changes of decline in resources; phased-scheduling techniques to
preserve programs; curricula designed to meet the career goals of students; balance
allocation of scarce resources; and becoming aware ofthe human condition in relation
to priorities and maintenance of specific moral values.
The review of the literature in this paper focuses on the progress made in the 60's and
70's to raise the educational level of minorities and the current status of minorities in
regard to higher education. In the 60's there were community colleges which served as
class bound tracking institutions mechanisms and four-year colleges and universities
which credentialed students for the job m arket. The 1 970s found many minority
students enrolled in two-year colleges and those minority students who enrolled in
predominantly white colleges/ universities, encountered various difficulties. There
was a decrease in minority student enrollment on the undergraduate, graduate, and
professional level.
The current trend in higher education, according to the author, is toward a planned
shrinkage of educational goods and services. In light of this trend, several components
and recommendations are presented.
There appears to be a slight problem with the phases of the organizational pattern of
social institutions presented by Parker. Clarity of these phases as well as examples
would enhance the paper. For example, in phase one, there is no description of "social
expectations." Phase two mentions conflict. What kind of conflict? How was the
conflict resolved? Phase three needs to indicate examples of capabilities, indifference,
passivity, and st.agnation. Other questions which need to be raised include the genesis
of these phases and whether or not the phases repeat themselves as well as the logical
conclusion of each phase. That is, does each phase HAVE TO FOLLOW or can the
phases skip from one to three? Do these phases occur over time? How much, if any, are
these phases affected by educational policy?
Other comments include the implication of the narrowing of minority-maj ority
differential in college graduation. What does this minority-maj ority differential imply
in terms of other ethnic groups who are attempting to enter and graduate from
institutions of higher education? What should be the role of educational institutions in
affecting policy to reverse the current trends? Should industry/employers adopt a
school policy whereby students obtain on the job training and be considered potential
employees upon graduation?
Other points which can be raised include specific policy for recruitment and
retention and concrete implementation of recommendations of educational policies to
more equitably benefit minorities.

57
SESSION XII: H EALTH AND E DUCATION

C h air: B arbara L. Hiura, S acramento City Unified School District, CA.

Gladys E b ert and Juanita Palmerhall, Iowa State University. An American

Indian Student Association Tutoring Program: I mplications for
Creating Cultural Awareness
The purpose of this research is to study the effects of a tutoring program for Native
American elementary and j unior high school youth on university students. A pretest ·
and posttest control group design was used with the college student tutors. Question·
n aires administered to the American Indian students along with parent/teacher
interviews were used to measure effects on the Native American youth. The study is in
process and preliminary findings demonstrate a very positive effect on the attitudes
toward and knowledge of the American Indians by the university students.

Silvester J. Brito, University of Wyoming. The Role of the Folk Healer in

Western American Literature
This paper examines the role of the Curandero( as) in literature of the S outhwest,
with a special focus on M exican·American and Native American novels, short stories
and poetry by authors ofthese two socio-cultural groups. Within this context it is postulated
that the phenomenon, magical realism, formulates a basis for the role types which are
played by these faith healers, herbal doctors, i.e., C uranderos(as) and medicine men
( medicine women) who are either the main or secondary characters in these three
genre forms of Western American literatures.

Peter Kranz and Jose Vega, Spanish Peaks Mental Health C enter. Hi spanic
Suicide: A Need for More Information
This paper focuses on the increasing problem of Hispanic suicides in the U nited
States. The fact that there is almost no available data on this growing problem was
explored. The difficulty in obtaining the data in Pueblo County (Colorado) was given
as an example. Among other reasons, Hispanic suicide was attributed to acculturation
of other cultural values while retarding their own. The possibility of hopelessness in
relation to suicide and the suicide among Puerto Ricans called "suicidal fit" was also
explored. The attitudes of the Mexican·American community remain traditional
toward suicide, and suicide was not recognized as an increasing problem, although
data pointed otherwise. Suicide continued to be perceived as cowardly and against the
teachings of the Catholic Church. More research needs to be done to this area, and
there is a great need for the systematic collection of data.

Discussant: Stewart Rodnon , Rider College.

Last year at this conference I was the discussant on a panel at which three papers
were given: their topics were continued discrimination against women in sports, an
electric utility encroachment on Native·American religious sites, and alcoholism
among Native Americans in Alaska. I, a mere American Literature professor, was
then asked for a synthesizing statement. It was a task that might have killed a normal
man. However, evidently I did a satisfactory job for my summary appeared verbatim
in our j ournal, and Charles Irby, to my embarrassment, praised it publicly the other
night. That might have moved me towards being guilty of hubris, but then I checked
this year's group of papers-and they had raised the hurdles higher, giving me
Hispanic suicides, the interplay between high school American Indians and WASP
college tutors, and folk healing in Mexican·American literature.
Fearful of stumbling in my attempts to clear each hurdle, I thought that I simply
would suggest that the faith·healer, or sorcerer, could solve all of these problems.
However, this kind of facetious evasion won't wash in a high·powered group like this.
So realizing that I feel like an academic utility infielder, let me offer some brief
comments on each paper and a concluding generalization.
C oncerning the tutoring of American Indians by WASP college students, I found
this a pleasantly optimistic paper. C learly, bringing together two differing groups is
bound to be a testing of ingrained prejudices, and this scientific evaluation of the
improved attitudes in both groups was overdue. Happily, it seems to confirm what will
happen as ignorance is dispelled: the changes were strongly positive-an under·
standing of, and more respect for, the other's value system did occur. One can only say

58
this project was a good idea, it was well·implemented, and it offers a happy ending.
The paper on Hispanic suicides offers some intriguing and discomforting observa·
tions. It is unfortunate that data seems so difficult to obtain, and I am not positive if
the reason is racism or simply lack offunding in general for these kinds of statistics. I
found it interesting to note that there has been a prevailing myth that suicide is rare, or
at least that very low rates occur, among minorities. But then I recalled in William
Faulkner's The Bear that an ante·bellum white Southerner asserts "Niggers don't
commit suicide. " I'm sure that it suits racists to assert that these "inferior" ethnic
groups don't have deep sensitivity and simply, animal·like, accept unthinkingly their
physical pain and mental anguish. I found the paper commendable for raising three
disturbing ideas:
(1) in recent years rates of suicide, according to statistics, have grown extremely
rapidly among Mexican·Americans, far more rapidly than those for Anglos;
(2) suicides are more frequent among the young, prime-of·life Hispanics, a time
when physical health problems are not likely to be a factor as they might be for
aging Anglos;
(3) fewer Mexican·Americans agreed that the suicide rate is higher for minorities,
and this might mean a turning away from the problem by the ethnic group itself.
I thought that the third paper, on faith healing as indicative of the way Mexican·
American artists use "magical realism" as "symbolic image," was extremely well·
done. The use of Alurista's fine poem, "Must be the Season of the Witch, " was a good
choice in pointing out the sustaining vitality of the original myth and its contemporary
re·working by a sensitive artist. More, perhaps, could have been made of the witch's
cry of agony as she sees her sons devoured in the bowels of the factories, symbol of
ethnic groups being destroyed by an acquisitive, materialistic, and obsessed Estab·
lishment. The emphasis, though, on the awareness of the logically inexplicable is a
valid and valuable part of the Chicano heritage.
From these diverse topics , it may be possible to generalize on the route we must take
in order to solve our ethnic dilemma. Today, the ideal solution, the ideal program, I
would argue, would be to bring all ethnic minorities-but especially blacks, Native·
Americans, and Hispanics-totally into the economic mainstream through quality
formal education and through tho! breaking down of racial stereotyping and prejudices,
while at the same time emphatically emphasizing that these members of the minority
group should keep all, or at least-subj ect to extremely careful analysis-the most
valuable parts of their cultural heritage: their art, dance, oral traditions, holidays,
foods, religious and social customs which have been successful in meeting life's
challenges for centuries. How soon, orif ever, this will be done is impossible to predict if
we examine our historical track record, especially in the climate of a capitalist, racist,
materialistic America in 1 984. It seems fair to say, though, that awareness of ethnicity
has been a positive and encouraging sign during the last twenty years. Additionally, a
note of hope has been struck at several panels of this annual conference, in the reports
of pockets of progress by small groups who worked desperately hard to make some
gains which should help to improve the America that our children will populate.

59
Saturday Session: Media Development

Barbara L. Hiura, Sacramento, CA. Ethnic Images in White Popular

Culture
This slide presentation shows some historical and current images of coloured ethnic
people in white popular culture. While illustrating how the current images reinforce
negative stereotypes, these slides also illustrate how pervasive cultural ignorance is
among Americans. More important, however, the images demonstrate the increasing
lack of sensitivity within coloured ethnic populations.
American Indian, Asiamerican, black, and Mexican American images are shown in
various negative settings. Most of the images reflect a Euroamerican stereotypical
perception of culture history. In most cases, the Euroamerican images portray a static
and distorted version of ethnic history as well as present harmful ethnic character·
izations. It is my hope that this presentation will promote research in the areas of
cultural imperialism and economic exploitation as motivating factors in perpetuating
negative images, especially those supported by ethnic groups themselves.

C harles C. Irby, Ames, IA. Blacks in Film

This presentation represents a work in progress, The Celluloid Black, which will be
ready for distribution by the Iowa State University Research Foundation later this
year. Oscar Micheaux is discussed as a pioneer filmmaker and a would· be novelist. The
discussion, however, centers on the j oys and problems associated with doing a slide·
tape production with scarce resources.

60
 The Editor Notes . . .

On a visit to the Mesquakie Settlement during May of this year, one

elder told me that there were too many distractions for the children to
fully comprehend the traditions as she had learned them as a child. As
I reflected on her comments, I realized that she truly had cause for
alarm: Although Mesquakies have contended with many, many great
pressures since their removal and return to Iowa during the last
century, they have only in recent history had to contend with the
all-pervasive power of television to create, destroy, distort, form, mold,
and shape images of reality-although television is less brutalizing
than some educational experiences many Mesquakies had in Bureau
of Indian Affairs schools.
Most of us, by the time we become adults, understand that images
are symbols of reality. Jack Forbe.s demonstrates how symbols
became the reality for Anglo-Saxons in the U.S. and elsewhere in their
perceptions and identification of aboriginal Americans as"blacks"­
an historic problem which continues to be extant in 1 984. Forbes's
article, following the trend set by the last issue of the journal, suggests
problems we encounter when we accept language imperialism either
on the printed page or that which is projected electronically.
Silvester Brito's contribution asks us to think about how traditional
Western scholarship has painted a false picture of traditional Native
American songs. He shows how some Indian poets use the language of
the imperialists to give themselves voice in contemporary U.S. society.
Lee Hadley and Annabelle Irwin look at language and reality, too. They
look at the images which were formed by their own backgrounds and
how they went beyond their niches to engage in writing multicultural
fiction for young readers. Brito, Hadley, and Irwin have revealed the
"nuts and bolts" of cultural specificity and look at the process of
cultural change. They essentially show how the "process of creating
culture" works.
While I am on nomenclature: Why are aboriginal Hawaiians called
Pacific Islanders rather than Native Americans? Why are the aborigi­
nal inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands called Aleuts (or Eskimos)
rather than Pacific Islanders or Native Americans?
The 1 984 Annual Conference in Kansas City was the most exciting
and stimulating to date, and the Executive Council has made plans to
return to the same location in 1 985. Come to the Conference. Help
create a unique experience for ethnic studies scholars.
Charles C. Irby
61
 Contributors

MARGARET BEDROSIAN is a lecturer in English and comparative

literature at the University of California, Davis; she will be
teaching multiethnic literature in the United States during the
next academic year.

SILVESTER J. BRITO is assistant professor of English at the

University of Wyoming; he was elected as vice-president for
NAIES during the 1984 Annual Conference.

JACK D. FORBES is professor of Anthropology and Native American

Studies at the University of California, Davis; he served as the
Tinbergen Chair Professor at Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
during the 1983-84 academic year.

LEE HADLEY is assistant professor of English at Iowa State

University; she teaches expository and creative writing.

JOHN M. HUNNICUTT is a professor in the department of sociology

at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.

ANNABELLE IRWIN is associate professor of English at Iowa State

University; she teaches adolescent literature and creative writing.

NEIL NAKADATE is associate professor of English at Iowa State

University; he teaches ethnic and American literature.

JU ANITA PALMERHALL is the former assistant director of Minor­

ity Student Affairs at Iowa State University; she has moved to
New Mexico to pursue writing and teaching.

62
 canadian etudes
eth n ic eth n iq ues
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An interdisciplinary journal devoted t o the study o f ethnicity, immigration, inter-group relations and the history
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