The Racial Education of the Catawba Indians

Orphans of the americas: Why the existence of zambo societies has been denied

“…This was the pattern followed by the Creeks as Holland-Braund (1991) and Krauthamer (2000) clearly demonstrate. These trading relationships and other contacts with whites gradually made the Catawba and other Indians more knowledgeable of the emergent European American race-based cultures (Merrell, 1984).…”

“…The South would not accept passive silence on the issue; only participation and forthright defense of slavery were evidence of sympathy [on the part of the Cherokee] toward the southern way of life." Moreover, Indians feared being lumped with blacks (Merrell, 1984). By the beginning of the 19th century, most white citizens in the United States believed there was a unbridgeable gulf between the white and black races, and that no matter what a black person might accomplish, he could not rise to the height of whiteness.…”