are Native American Indians really red?

[alilsa]

I had always heard that indians were red but most of the ones I had seen were dark brown. My son is in NM, and the Navajos look more like the Hispanics around where I live, medium brown color. Are any Native Americans actually reddish brown or red skinned? My other son is part Cherokee and is quite red skinned, though. In pictures, the Cherokees were painted as being more red. On t.v., the Native Americans are reddish brown. I am considered "white" but white people aren't really white either. An Asian lady at my church isn't actually yellow either. Is this color calling all that right? In fact, I'm white if I'm really sick and pale, red if I'm sunburned, and yellow when I don't drink enough water. What color are Native Americans anyhow? And I wonder why my son is red toned most his life to being only 1/16 Cherokee.

 

[ps139]

The colors given to various ethnic groups are usually representative of a distinguishing skin tone... not meaning that anyone is really pure red, yellow, or white. Just tints and lightness of skin.

If your son is 1/16th Cherokee and he has some reddish skin tone, it must be that the Cherokee genes are represented in his skin tone (phenotype).

 

[SamanthaOfHope]

i agree with Ps139 my mother is tsalagi(cherokee) and my father is african american. my skin does have a very reddish tone to it,but not as intense as my mother's skin tone.

 

[Ice_Princess]

Not necessarily.I am part Cherokee and i'm not red.

 

[SpaceProg]

I'm part Cherokee and nobody would know it. I'm as pale as they come and my skin combusts in sunlight.

Must be the Irish in me...

 

[SamanthaOfHope]

eek! spaceprog :o

*points to profile *....um my picture is in there

 

[SquareC]

I'm only red when I stay out in the sun at least 6 straight hours.....otherwise a nice shade of tan to very brown. This might be that I am as true an American as is possible to be: Cherokee (on both sides of the family), Cheyenne, Comanche and Iroquois, plus English, Irish, Scots, Dutch and tad bit of Portuguese. A mutt, in other words!

 

[kingzjewel]

It also has much to do with the amount of indian you have within your blood. More indian blood means a closer skin tone to that of a full blood. Many part Cherokees, for example, tend to have whiter skin tones because the part they have isn't significant enough to take over the skintone gene and give them a red tinge.

 

[i1will1obey1god]

yeah

 

[Mayflower1]

We are learning about Native Americans in American History. I learned that Indians are are the English name of Native Americans because Christopher Columbus thought they were from India or the West Indies. He thought that is where he was.

 

[i1will1obey1god]

i have indian blood

 

[SquareC]

We are learning about Native Americans in American History. I learned that Indians are are the English name of Native Americans because Christopher Columbus thought they were from India or the West Indies. He thought that is where he was.

Quite true! That's why some consider it to be an insult to be called "Indians" rather than Native Americans. I think there's too much emphasis on labels and not enough on just people, myself. All of us have one reason or another to be proud of our ancestry.

 

[PastorMikeJ]

I am half Cree and I am not red...but..the term redskin came from the use of some herbs used by the Native Americans to rub on their skin to protect them from bugs.. so when the first explorers saw them they called them red skinned...

 

[Dawn Marie]

My dad has some Cherokee in him (well, we all do)... and his skin is quite red. I don't know if it has anything to do with being of that blood line though, since it's really only slightly.

I'm just... yellow-ish. O_O

 

[Asherz]

I'm an eighth Cherokee and I'm pretty fair skinned. My brother on the other hand has a lot of red in his skin tones. Many people assume he is part Mexican. My DH is also part Cherokee (1/8 to 1/4ish, still trying to figure out how much) and he has warmer skin tones, but he doesn't look "red."

 

[Historian]

The association with NDNs and having "red skin", comes from the northeastern tribes. They did not have red skin, but warriors covered their bodies in red ochre paint. Therefore, many early colonists refered to them as "red men" or "red skins". The earliest recorded example of the term "redskin" is contained in the following quotation from 1699.

Portion of a letter written in 1699 by Rev. Henry Smith's son, Samuel Smith of Hadley Massachusetts, to his son Ichabod Smith.

Hadley, Massachusetts Colony,
Jan. ye Firste, 1699

My Dear & Dutiful Sonn;
I was of so tender an Age at the Death of my beloved Father, that I am possessed of but little of the Information for which you seek. My Revered Father was an ordained Minister of ye Gospelle, educate at Cambridge in England, & came to ye Land by reason of ye Great Persecution by which ye infamous Archbishop Land and ye Black Tom Tyrante (as Mr. Russell was always wont to call ye Earl of Strafforde) did cause ye reign of his Majestie, Charles ye First, to loose favor in ye sight of ye people of England. My Father & Mother came over in 1636/37, firste to Watertown which is neare Boston & after a yeare or two to Weathersfield on ye great River, where he became ye firste settled Pastor. Concerning of ye earlie days I can remember but little save Hardship. My Parents had broughte both Men Servants & Maid Servants from England, but ye Maids tarried not but till they got Married, ye weh was shortly, for there was great scarcity of Women in ye Colonies. Ye men did abide better. Onne of em had married onne of my Mother's Maids & they did come with us to Weathersfield, to our grate Comforte for some years, untill they had manny littel onnes of theire Owne. I do well remember ye Face & Figure of my Honoured Father. He was as Active as ye Red Skin Men & sinewy. His delights was in sportes of strengthe, & withe his owne Hands he did helpe to reare bothe our owne House & ye Firste Meetinge House of Weathersfield, wherein he preacht yeares too fewe. He was well Featured & Fresh favoured with faire Skin & swete smilinge Mouthe, tho he could frowne stemlie eno' when need was.

Ye firste Meeting House was solid mayde to withstande ye wicked onsaults of ye Red Skins. Its Foundations was laide in ye feare of ye Lord, but its Walls was truly laide in ye feare of ye Indians for many & grate was ye Terrors of em. I do minde me yt alle ye able-bodyed Men did work thereat & ye olde & feeble did watch in turns to espie if any Salvages was in hidinge neare & every Man keept his Musket nighe to his hande. I do not myself remember any of ye attacks mayde by large bodeys of Indians whilst we did remain in Weathersfield, but did oftimes hear of em. Several Families weh did live back a ways from ye River was either Murderdt or Captivated in my Boyhood & we all did live in constant feare of ye like. My Father ever declardt there would not be so much to feare if f ye Red Skins was treated with such mixture of Justice & Authority as they eld understand, but iff he was living now he must see that wee can do naught but fight em & that right heavily.

After ye Red Skins ye grate Terror of our lives at Weathersfield & for many yeares after we had moved to Hadley to live was ye Wolves. Catamounts were bad eno' & so was ye Beares, but it was ye Wolves yt was ye worst. The noyse of theyre howlings was eno to curdle ye bloode of ye stoutest & I have never seen ye man ye did not shiver at ye sounde of a Packe of em. What with ye way wa hated em & ye goode money ye was offered for theyre Heads we do not heare em now so much, but when I do I feel again ye younge Hatred rising in my Blood & it is not a Sin because God mayde em to be hated. My Mother & Sister did each of em Kill more yan one of ye gray Howlers & once my oldest Sister shot a Beare yt came too neare ye House. He was a goode Fatte onne & keept us all in meate for a god while. I guess onne of her Daughters has got ye skinne, as most of ye Weathersfield Settlers did come afoat throu ye Wilderness & brought with em such Things only as they did most neede at ye firste, ye other Things was sent round from Boston in Vessels to come up ye River to us. Some of ye Shippes did come safe to Weathersfield, but many was lost in a grate storm. Amongst em was onne weh held alle our Beste Things. A goode many Yeares later, long after my Father had died of ye grate Fever & my Mother had married Mr. Russell & moved to Hadley it was found that some of our Things had been saved & keept in ye Fort wch is by ye River's Mouthe, [Saybrook] & they was brought to us. Most of em was spoilt with Sea Water & Mould, especially ye Bookes & ye Plate. Of this there was no grate store, only ye Tankard, weh I have, and some Spoones, divided among my Sisters weh was alle so black it was long before any could come to its owne colour agen."

[The remainder of the letter was burnt in a house fire.]

Hope this helps.

 

[Historian]

Just an FYI

The myth that has become popular in the U.S. is that, since Columbus was looking for "India" in 1492, when he landed in San Salvador, thinking he had landed in India, he named the native people he met, "Indians." However, this is far from the truth.

Columbus was not looking for India in 1492, because that area of the world was not known as India yet, but instead was called "Hindustan."

The earliest name for India was Bharatavarsha or Bharat. Sometime after the 12th century the area was known as Hindustan. However, it was not known as India until the 17th century.

The term "Indian" was derived from the Spanish friars who accompanied Columbus. The Spanish friars called the native people on San Salvador Los ninos en Dios, or "The children in God." This term was soon shortened to "en Dios" and later was interpreted as "indios." Even today, throughout South and Central America, the indigenous people are still called "Indios."

Later as French explorers came to North America the Spanish term of "Indios" was translated into French as "Indien." The English then interpreted the French term to "Indian."

 

[alilsa]

In paintings and pictures, the Seminole and Cherokee indians have red skin. Like in the "Trail of Tears" painting, they look red skinned. On t.v., some of the indians do look reddish brown. But where my son lives, with the Navajos, they are just dark brown like the Hispanics around us.