Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! November is Native American History Month. We learned the story of Thanksgiving in elementary school so there’s no need to replay the narrative. What has transpired is the focus of Thanksgiving has turned to be more about the Native Americans and less about the Pilgrims. Truth be told, the Native Americans lived here centuries before the English evasion but get no credit for their existence. This newsletter will focus on the indigenous people of North America.

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WARTIME CODE TALKERS

The government did not recognize Native American citizenship until 1924 and many places denied Natives the right to vote until the 1950s. However, Natives did not hesitate to join the Armed Forces and fight for the United States. Native Americans called Code Talkers used their tribal language to send secret messages to the battlefield about troop movement and location of the enemy during World War I and II.

During World War I, the code talkers known as the Choctaw Telephone Squad, sent coded communications to the front lines. During World War II, the military continued to recruit Native Americans as code talkers. This was ironic since the government required Native American children to attend boarding schools to assimilate them into “American” culture. Students were punished if they spoke their native language or practiced any of their cultural traditions. The military combined several Native languages to create this code:  Choctaw , Comanche, Cheyenne, Ho-Chunk, Cherokee, Osage and Yankton Sioux.

During World War II, the Army recruited Native Americans from the reservations of Oklahoma in 1940. They received basic training and at completion, they were locked in a guarded room together until they produced a code. Because native languages were mostly unwritten, they had to memorize these codes and use them only among each other. The Navy and Marine Corps recruited Native Americans in 1942. They created a language of 211 terms which was eventually increased to 411 words that translated to military words and names. Two code talkers were assigned to each unit, one would work the radio and the other would translate the code into English. Their work was considered top secret until the program was declassified in 1968. 

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LOOKING FOR LONG LOST RELATIVES?

If you have an interest in researching your family history, let me know and I can assist you. I offer several affordable packages depending on your research needs. If you are an amateur genealogist/family historian, I can create a research plan to guide you in the right direction.

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DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SLAVE CLAIMS COMMISSION?

Did you know that enslavers whose slaves were enlisted or drafted into military service during the Civil War received compensation from the government? Why? Not having their slaves presented a financial hardship to the enslaver. Let’s unpack this…

The Emancipation Proclamation only freed the enslaved in Confederate States. Slavery was still legal for the bordering Union loyal states (Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, West Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri). Soldiers of the United States Colored Troops (USCT)  had the largest numbers of claims in these states.

The War Department through Congress passed two acts. 13 Stat. 11 in 1864 & 14 Stat.321 in 1866 allowed slave owners to receive up to $300 for slaves that enlisted and up to $100 for slaves that were drafted during the Civil War. In order to receive compensation, the enslaver had to prove legal ownership, proof of the slave’s enlistment and the owner’s loyalty to the Union. These records are searchable by soldier’s name and enslaver’s name. If you are interested in checking for your ancestor, click here.

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CLIENT CORNER – TOMMIEA JACKSON

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FEATURED ARTICLE

The Paper Genocide of Native Americans 

I was listening to one of my favorite genealogy podcasts on Facebook Live and the discussion turned to Indians suddenly disappearing. That’s the way it seemed, especially in North Carolina. In fact, when I first arrived in Onslow County, North Carolina, I told that the Tuscarora Indians disappeared because they left the area. They assumed the tribe moved away because of the lack of natural resources. I was assured they were not forcibly removed (as in the Trail of Tears). I found this hard to believe so I did my own research. 

Race Has Always Been A “Thing”

A person’s race has always been a defining factor in this country and in the world. It seems that a dominant race overpowers any race of color: Slavery was forced upon the Africans; the Holocaust was inflicted upon the Jews; the Japanese were imprisoned in internment camps in the United States during WWII; and Native Americans were forced off their land and removed to a far off area where they would be less troublesome to the colonists. Legal definitions of race were established to classify people based on racial identity and appearance, especially in Virginia. An 1866 Virginia law specified the degree of “blackness” in order to be listed as “colored” or Indian. It was not until 1924, when Virginia passed the “Act to Preserve Racial Integrity” that the Native American started to “disappear.”

Genocide On Paper

Racial definition became important to enforce segregation, especially in Virginia. Walter Ashby Plecker, the Virginia Registrar of the Vital Statistics bureau, enforced the law to push people to categorize their race as either “colored” (Black) or white. “Colored” was the new race for African Americans and Virginian Indians were included in this group. There were many Virginians with mixed African and Native American heritage. Plecker believed that these half Native Blacks stated they were Native Americans in order to “get over” on segregation laws to pass for white. He scrutinized every birth certificate and marriage application for these citizens and manipulated their records. Statistically speaking, he reclassified many with “Indian” mixed heritage as “colored” which eradicated the genealogical heritage of Native Americans in Virginia. He developed and maintained the one drop rule therefore mixed Native African heritage would follow this rule and they would be considered colored. 

Erasure

The racial “erasure” initiated by Plecker was one of the reasons that Native Americans “disappeared” from documents and records. Native Americans living on Virginia Reservations (bet you did not know that Virginia has two state recognized Indian reservations) had their status reinstated in 1930 but Plecker’s policy is still felt among the Native American population today. Virginian Natives have been struggling to acquire federal recognition because they do not have the documentation to prove their Native American race and status.

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WANT TO HOST A CLASS?

Are you or your organization interested in a group genealogy class? We offer a group session with a special rate to teach 20 or more people how to research their family history. Click here to contact me.

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Editor’s Note – Learn Your History