Very cool. Do you know how far removed your heritage is? And the last I spoke to my mother about the subject, she did mention the possibility of a Cherokee influence as well. Though, if I had to guess, it's at best exaggerated. For my family, all evidence points to Tuscarora ... not the least of which being that nearly all traceable ancestors are from the Niagara/Buffalo area. Have you yet had any chance to connect with any of the culture or traditions? Sadly, I haven't. My parents were distinctly American in their traditions (none of the Polish or even French Canadian influences, much less Native American, made much of a dent in our lives).
Great-grandparents and earlier. I don't have the geneaology lineage in front of me but two of my great-grandparents on my father's side were full blooded members of the Monacan Nation from the Amherst County area of this state and my relatives have been able to trace our Monacan ancestors back to about the beginning of the 19th century. Possibly earlier but I'd have to double check. We also learned about the horribly racist eugenics policies pursued by longtime state politician and bureaucrat Walter Plecker during his time in office, which adversely affected how native Virginia tribes were seen and treated by authorities.
What a Pleckerhead. Which may be a contributing factor to why some, like myself, only have a cursory familiarity with heritage and traditions. I'm not much of a traditionalist in any sense of the term (honestly, the biggest tradition I get behind is celebrating Halloween in a naturalistic - rather than commercial - sense). I've done a fair amount of research and study on my own, but I do wish I knew more about the specifics of my own heritage. So while the pow wow here wasn't Nation-specific (I believe there were several dozen Nations represented at it), it was great to have a more personal experience with Native traditions.
Plecker was a real piece of work. The horrendous Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was largely his baby. As tsq stated so succinctly, this sort of virulent racism wasn't confined to just Virginia. I'm sure other states attempted to pass or actually passed legislation like this into law within their own borders during the course of past century or so, and even if they didn't the widespread cultural bigotry directed at Native Americans was still all but impossible to escape throughout the nation.
It's not "may be" it's almost certainly the reason. The US government on both state and federal levels worked actively to destroy what remained of the Indian cultures after the plagues and genocide, well into the 1970s. The whole point of things like forced boarding schools was to separate Indians from their culture and kill the languages.
My wife is, but I represent her. I remember when Oprah came back with the news that she was Zulu. My first thought was that she was scammed because at the time only the most educated on the subject could name an African tribe besides the Zulus and Mandingo. Now we have other actors and celebs showing their heritage to a certain region as if the slaves went in packs and not singles to their eventual location. I should ask my brother who is into genealogy and such if he has ever taken this step. Even though my parents came of age during legal segregation and I during social segregation we do have one white great, great grandparent. About 30% of my generation, about half of whom were military brats, have other then Black spouses. That first generation of mixed race are universally thought of as Black except for one girl raised on Okinawa who calls herself Blasian. Her oldest girl by a Japanese man is considered Japanese and the later children with her African American husband are considered Black.