It's interesting the history of the notion of "whiteness."
If you read Benjamin Franklin's work, he didn't even consider Germans to be "white," since he believed their worldview was incompatible with the American ideal. (The large German community in Pennsylvania didn't take kindly to Franklin suggesting that, either.)
@jmyrlefuller My grandmother was a full-blooded Tuscarora Indian,and judging by the only known photo of her that I have seen,she was pretty damn dark. Then again,even though modern history wants to ignore it,there was at least ONE "Native Tribe" that lived near where the NC/SC border is now that were very dark and had what was described as "African features" by the dood from Jamestown (James White?) that went out amongst all the locals he could find to report on their ways and draw pictures of them. Unfortunately for them,the tribe was dying out by the time he discovered them. Warfare with other,stronger tribes and diseases had their numbers down to the point where the males were going to be killed or die off,and the females absorbed into other local tribes.
It should be noted that native tribes didn't much care about skin color or anything else other than "can they work and give birth to benefit the tribe?"
I have talked with a few of the older women around here decades ago who knew her when they were girls,and every one of them said she was the smartest woman they ever met,so......so much for the rural southern racism of legend. My grandfather was of Scots-Irish blood,and had red hair and blue eyes. Other than one son and my mother who had red hair and blue or green eyes,the rest of their children (7 in total) had black hair,blue eyes,and they all had very pale skin.
As for me,my father was ethnic Greek,so I don't really know,or care about what category I fit into. After all,it's not like I can do anything about it,is it?
