Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sweet, ch. 4

How did Native Americans feel about sexual unions or marriage with blacks?

10 comments:

Matthew McConnell said...

Most of the sexual unions or marriages between blacks and Native Americans were between free black men and Native American women. It would appear, according to Sweet's Chapter 4, pages 172-176, that although there were some instances of heads of tribes trying to make it so that those married and not Indians could not participate in Indian society, they were often voted down. It would also appear that the Indians were ambivalent or perhaps slightly supportive of the said marriages or sexual unions. This can be evidenced by two sources: missionary Gideon Hawley's census and the relationship between Sarah Muckamugg and Aaron (the black slave). Overall, it would appear that it would depend on the tribe or enclave in which the sexual unions or marriages occured.

toribarnes said...

Most of the marriages between Indians and blacks were between Indian women and black men. Although tribes had differing views on it, some Indian men did not like Indian women to marry black men because they thought the roles black men and women played were so different than Indian men and women. Also, there was a concern that non-Indians (aimed mostly at black men) were going to take control of the tribe’s resources.

KristinSheppard said...

Sweet gave examples of Native American men not caring for sexual unions or marriage between Indian women and black men. One reason could be that Native Americans had been emulating English ways and customs, including the prejudices of blacks. Sweet writes one of the reasons for the interracial marriages was out of necessity; due to the wars, such as the Seven Year War, the female population far outnumbered the male population. Sweet also writes the Indian men felt that the interracial marriages would threaten Indian traditions, and were afraid that freed blacks would try and take over Indian land.

Thabie Melvin said...

The Native American thought on sexual unions is that there a strong sense of resentment towards this practice. Vaughan mentions on page 172 that in the 1760's "open conflicts emerged in southern New england over the legitimany of Indian women marriage to men some considered outsiders, particularly black men." Vaughan says part of the resentment was due to "fears of Land shortages in enclaves and anxieties about cultural changes." After the census was taken to see if there was need for a schoolmaster Vaughan points out that the Native Americans were concerned as pointed out on page 173 about " patterns of Indian women marrying black men." A key figure who represented the Native American views on sexual unions was Samson occom who did his best to exclude the outsiders. He was concerned about outsiders gaining control over the Native American tribes.

monica said...

Sweet says that Indians began to take hold of the English prejudices. They were also the group who were most likely to join the Indian tribes. The unions and marriages mostly happened between black men and Indian women. On page 174 Sweet says, "decisions by Indian women to marry black men sometimes 'created a very bitter feeling among the Indian men against the blacks.'"

Peggy Maria said...

The chapter says that open conflicts emerged over the legitimacy of Indian women's marriages to men that were considered outsiders, especially black men. At the time, land and tribal membership were crucial issues. Indians were very concerned over sharing land and tribal resources with the blacks that were marrying Indian women. Indians feared that their tribe and lands were being overrun by blacks through marriage. One reason that Indian women were seeking out black men was because they noticed that black men worked with and helped their wives, unlike Indian men who did not. This attraction to black men by the Indian women caused Indian men to feel a threat from black men taking their women.

clthacker said...

In Southern New England, many Indian women were marrying free black men. There was controversy over this issue because the English/Puritans worried about cultural changes and land shortages. The English believed that a true Indian only has "pure blood". The English were obviously against this issue but the Indians were surprisingly ambivalent towards the issue. The two sources that give us this evidence is the Hawley census and the relationship of Sarah and Aaron.

PaulT said...

Native Americans began to look at interracial unions as a political conflict. Indians were beginning to look at the preservation of their own race and how unions with whites or blacks disrupted the tribal 'membership.' Concerns over Indian women marrying black men arose because black men were the most likely candidates to enter Indian communities, seeking more opportunities away from English society. Many Native Americans felt threatened by black-Indian marriages and feared losing their Indian customs over time.

Unknown said...

One of the greatest concerns to Native Americans in the lat Eighteenth Century was intermarriage, especially with blacks. One concern was land allocation. Since more and more of their lands were being taken by whites, they were not inclined to allocate land to mixed blood Indians. They were more concerned with black men since they were the ones more likely to seek shelter with Natives in order to escape slavery or otherwise. Blacks involvement in Indian life also meant that they brought English culture with them. They wanted to emulate British life. IN order to do that they needed land and the best way to get land was to marry Indian women.

Ruth said...

Native Americans women and men felt differently about sexual unions with blacks because most of the unions were between Native American women and black men. There are several reasons why a Native American woman chose to marry a black men, many Indian men had died fighting colonial wars and because women saw that black men were willing to work out in the fields something that Indian culture frowned upon. Even so, there were also marriages and unions between black women and Indian men, this can be seen in the rules were Indians are allowed to vote in the tribe as long as their mother was not black.