Choctaw (White Indian (Americana))
by Claudio Saunt
Category: History

"History professor Saunt examines the complicated history of race in America through five generations of a Native American family, the Graysons, whose long-denied descendants include African slaves. From 1780 to 1920, Saunt traces the Graysons and their interaction and intermixing with whites and blacks. At the center of this family saga is Katy Grayson, a Creek woman, who, along with her brother, had children with partners of African descent. Katy later married a Scottish-Creek man, disowned her black children, and became a slave owner. Her brother, William, stayed with his black wife and children, later emancipating them. In 1907, when Creeks were granted U.S. citizenship, state law split the family by defining some as black and some as white. The divergent paths of these families parallel the interactions among whites, blacks, and Indians as racial and social differences solidified through slavery and the mistreatment of Indians. This is a fascinating look at a seldom-recognized aspect of American race relations." -- Vernon Ford.