White Enough to Be American? : Race Mixing, Indigenous People, and the Boundaries of State and Nation

Racial mixture posed a distinct threat to European American perceptions of the nation and state in the late nineteenth century, says Lauren Basson, as it exposed and disrupted the racial categories that organized political and social life in the United States. Offering a provocative conceptual approach to the study of citizenship, nationhood, and race, Basson explores how racial mixture challenged and sometimes changed the boundaries that defined what it meant to be American. Drawing on government documents, press coverage, and firsthand accounts, Basson presents four fascinating case studies concerning indigenous people of "mixed" descent. She reveals how the ambiguous status of racially mixed people underscored the problematic nature of policies and practices based on clearly defined racial boundaries. Contributing to timely discussions about race, ethnicity, citizenship, and nationhood, Basson demonstrates how the challenges to the American political and legal systems posed by racial mixture helped lead to a new definition of what it meant to be American--one that relied on institutions of private property and white supremacy. Mixed Blood Americans: The Jane Waldron And Barney Traversee Allotment Disputes -- Métis Americans: Louis Riel And The Northwest Territories -- Annexed Americans: Robert Wilcox, Home Rule, And Self-government For Hawaii -- Anarchist Americans: Lucy Parsons, Foreign Bodies, And American Soil. Lauren L. Basson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [211]-226) And Index. Offering an approach to the study of citizenship, nationhood, and race, this title explores how racial mixture challenged and sometimes changed the boundaries that defined what it meant to be American. It reveals how ambiguous status of racially mixed people underscored the problematic nature of policies and practices based on racial boundaries. Combines information taken from government documents, firsthand accounts, and press coverage to examine issues surrounding Indians of North America of mixed decent and other racially mixed people in the United States during the late nineteenth century