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Dissertation Information for Fay Ann Yarbrough

NAME:
- Fay Ann Yarbrough

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (2003)

ADVISORS:
- Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- James L Roark
- John T. Juricek

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: 'those disgracefull and unnatural matches': Interracial sex and Cherokee society in the nineteenth century

Abstract: "'those Disgracefull and unnatural Matches': Interracial Sex and Cherokee Society in the Nineteenth Century" examines the attitudes and responses of Cherokee Indians to interracial sex as licit or illicit behavior during the nineteenth century. The Cherokee Nation's definitions of and policing of interracial sex illuminate changing Cherokee notions of community and identity. Moreover, Cherokee regulation of interracial marriage reveals a conception of race that differed from American formulations.

The story of interracial sex in this dissertation begins with a consideration of some of the historiography on the creation of race as a concept. Racial construction theories that only take into account the racial categories of 'black' and 'white' ignore the divergent experiences of indigenous populations in North America. The Cherokee Indians, for instance, incorporated the language of race in response to threats to Indian political sovereignty. The first chapter also identifies how the Cherokees used racial terms and defines some other important concepts for studying race in the Cherokee Nation: citizenship, adoption, clan, and matrilineal descent. The chapter then turns to tracing the development of a racial ideology in the Cherokee Nation.

The second chapter outlines the evolution of laws regarding marriage in the Cherokee Nation. Cherokee legislators began policing interracial marriage and interracial sex in response to the growing tendency of Cherokee women to choose spouses outside of the Nation and of 'foreign' men to seek Cherokee wives to gain access to resources. The third chapter draws on over 2,000 marriage records to uncover trends in marriages and relates trends to changes in the intermarriage laws. The fourth chapter follows changes in Cherokee attitudes towards blacks in the nineteenth century. Cherokee perception and treatment of interracial sex with partners of African descent contrasted sharply with blacks' assessments of those same relationships. Through the words of the ex-slaves, the final chapter offers a glimpse at black attitudes towards their relationships with American Indians and with whites. My project attempts to magnify those voices often ignored in the larger historiography of the South and interracial sex: Cherokee Indians and African Americans.

MPACT Scores for Fay Ann Yarbrough

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calculated 2008-01-31 06:33:50

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Students under Fay Ann Yarbrough

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None