On Sun, 14 Jan 2001 20:59:50 -0500 (EST), Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Jan 2001, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
>> In WWII the military conducted a special recruitment effort to sign up
>> some Native Ameicans of the Navaho Tribe.
> Navajo is spelled with a "j" not an "h."
> Also, it's not "Tribe" but "Nation," so the complete
> and correct designation is "Navajo Nation."
> Also, a native American is pretty much anyone born in
> the western Hemisphere.
No. A "native-born" American is pretty much anyone born in the Western
Hemisphere. A Native American is a person whose ancestry stems from
the indigeneous peoples of the Americas.
> MOST aboriginal Americans prefer
> being referred to by their tribe or nation name. Failing that,
> believe it or not, "Indian" is preferred.
MOST aboriginal Americans in my state of Virginia (There are many here, and
I know a few of them) prefer being known either by their tribe name or as
Native Americans. They dislike the term Indian, saying that it is a
misnomer given them by Christopher Columbus, who in 1492 mistakenly thought
that he had discovered some islands just off the east coast of India.
IMNSHO, the term Native American is more appropriate than the term Indian
because "Indian" may be taken to refer to a person from India.
On many government forms, such as those used by the census bureau for
example, one has to answer questions concerning his ethnic identity. The
government forms make use of the term Native American to refer to aboriginal
persons of the contiguous 48 states. There are other terms used to refer to
aboriginal Alaskans and aboriginal Hawaiians.
>> BTW, a man named Ira Hayes was a Navaho.
> Nope, he was Pima.
> (the tribe with the highest rate of diabetes ever recorded)
I have always heard that he was a Navajo. Maybe you have done your homework
on this point. I haven't, so I am quite possibly wrong.
All the best,
Sam Heywood
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