23andMe Explains Cherokee Princess Syndrome

Cherokee Princess Syndrome (CPS) arises from the popular myth in some parts of the South that everyone has a little American Indian in them. Typically, this myth is passed down from in one’s family and attributed to “high cheek bones” or dark hair. Antebellum Southerners often wrote negatively about American Indians and sought to resettle tribal bands beyond the Mississippi River in an effort to open up more land in the Southeast for White settlement. However, later generations during a time in which Whiteness was portrayed negatively in the media seem to have adopted CPS in part as a way to escape White guilt. One will often hear refrains such as “I am not all White” or “My great grandma was a full-blooded Cherokee” from White people with fair European features who seem to know nothing else of their ancestry except for their single alleged Indian ancestor. CPS can also be partly attributed to the imposed deracination of Southerners and the poverty inflicted upon us through punative economic measures following the conquest of the Confederacy. So, it arises in part from ignorance and also from media and academia-created negative associations with Whiteness.

There are undoubtedly some White people with trace or small amounts of American Indian DNA and this article is not meant as an insult to them. The focus here is on the much larger group of people who know very little of their ancestry but suffer from CPS.

Like many Southerners I was raised with CPS. I was told many times as a child that a family member’s dark hair or “high cheek bones” was a throw-back to some forgotten Cherokee princess. It is always a princess, by the way, and never a prince. The race-mixing of a White male typically seems a bit less offensive to us than that of a White female – and with defensible evolutionary rationale, in fact. Cherokees are typically employed in CPS over more primitive or savage American Indian tribes, likely because of their comparative handsome appearance and more civilized culture. I suffered from CPS until I took a DNA test several years ago and found out that my ancestry is almost entirely (96%) Northern European and mostly British (57%). There is no Cherokee princess in my wood pile.

Apparently, my experience is not uncommon now that DNA tests are becoming more popular – especially with deracinated American Whites who want to establish some connection to their roots. 23andMe, a leading ancestry testing site, even has an article to explain CPS to Whites who have a difficult time coming to grips with their lack of Indian DNA. One of their Frequently Asked Questions is, “I know I have Native American ancestry. Why doesn’t it show up in my results?” The company tries its best to let its customers down gently while explaining CPS:

We have extremely high confidence in the accuracy of your results and the science behind them. But 23andMe is a genetictesting service, which means we can only show you what is found in your DNA. If your Native American heritage cannot be seen through your DNA, that doesn’t mean that your understanding of your family heritage as passed down through the generations is incorrect, only that your genetic heritage does not reveal Native American ancestry.

There are a few common reasons why you may not see the Native American population in your Ancestry Composition results:

If your most recent Native American ancestor was more than five generations ago, you may have inherited little or no DNA directly from them. The farther back in your history you look, the less likely you are to have inherited DNA directly from every single one of your ancestors. This means that you can be directly descended from a Native American without having any Native American DNA.

Your Native American ancestry may be assigned to the Broadly East Asian & Native American population. Even using state-of-the-art science, the Native American and East Asian populations are genetically similar, and sometimes they can’t be distinguished from each other with high confidence.

Throughout American history, people without a genetically Native American background have claimed Native American heritage for a variety of social reasons related to the shifting politics of race and indigeneity in the United States. As a result, many families without any genetically Native American ancestors have passed down stories about Native American ancestry. For examples, see this article or the book, Becoming Indian: The Struggle over Cherokee Identity in the Twenty-first Century, by Circe Strum.

About Palmetto Patriot 242 Articles
South Carolinian. Southern Nationalist. Anglican.

65 Comments

  1. Yep you are mostly British, Americans. Running away from it had been ever so destructive.

      • No, not really. Most whites in the US are from the British Isles, but the way the groups are divided out, Germans come out on top. There are also a large number of us with British ancestors who call our selves “American”, without any hypen. Germans are immigrants and guests that the American people would have been better off without.

  2. Interesting stuff irish and german catholics can’t relate to. Even ‘early’ arrivals weren’t here, for the most part (not entirely), till around the 1840’s on the german side. And they settled in the midwest but not frontier enough to encounter real injun culture.

    I think everyone needs to know that 23andme, like all or most DNA testing services, is a jew-run operation. As such, it shouldn’t be trusted on various levels. I see them contriving and even falsifying results in the near future if they’re not doing it yet. They will do this to mess with our minds by telling some of us we’re part jew, for instance, even if we’re not, or by claiming we have SNP’s that are ‘presdisposing’ us to some supposed homicidal psychosis or something.

    Are jews taught that they should try to deny their DNA? Italians? Slavs?

    No, only we ‘anglos’ or northwestern europeans are told that we are biologically defective when we’re pure or thereabouts.

  3. You are going to find that even the German and Irish DNA is overly emphasized in the family history. Because the founding population of the colonies was demonstrably English much of the DNA in you is going to be some sort of British
    and even if you have distant German ancestors your profile will still be mostly British and probably indistinguishable from most modern white Brits anyway.

    • As of a year and a half ago, 23andme had the ‘Irish and English’ category (I don’t think it said British…) So at that time they weren’t distinguishing between the irish and english, which doesn’t seem wholly accurate to me since there are shades of difference, but I imagine not much when compared to other groups.

      What seemed bogus was the grouping of ‘german and french’ together. Anyone who has traveled in Germany and France, or observed french people compared to a range of germans, has to question this.

      Romans occupied France for longer and left way more of their mediterranean seed in Germany. I could not buy many shoes in northern France as my wide feet (9-9 1/2 in today’s America) were too broad in the ball. While they’re a bit extreme among my own people, they’re not that uncommon in Germany, where bigger taller squarer people abound. I saw not one real blue eyed blonde in France over an entire summer, and not even a fake redhead. I felt like a freak looking like I walked out of Norway.

    • Disagree. There were huge waves of Irish and German immigrants in the 19th Century. There are parts of America that are still largely German (the Midwest) or Irish (New England).

      • Not sure what you’re disagreeing with. Half my family was irish/german catholics who settled in the midwest in the 1840’s-50’s. My half german catholic/half irish catholic grandma wasn’t allowed to play with the protestant kids by their parents’ edict in her farm neighborhood (Indiana) in the late 1910’s-20’s even though she looked like Hitler’s darling. The catholics inhabited their own insular world then, at least in Indianapolis’ environs.

        Maybe farther west these catholics engaged with ‘injun culture’ but my forebears were totally oblivious.

        • Disgreeing with this:

          “You are going to find that even the German and Irish DNA is overly emphasized in the family history. Because the founding population of the colonies was demonstrably English much of the DNA in you is going to be some sort of British”

          I don’t think the German-Irish DNA is really overstated at all.

  4. How dare you call me racist, I´m 1/32 Cherokee, been to a Cherokee casino and a blue transnigger that has been raped by White Supremacists in jail! Have I not suffered enough!?? Did you just assume my race? You can’t deny that or you are oppressing me!

  5. The Roman Empire stopped at the Danube and the Rhine, so the Romans were never in Germany. But German tribes did invade or resettle in provinces of the Western Empire towards the end of Roman power in the 5th century. I wonder if it’s possible to trace one’s ancestry back to specific people or families who lived in ancient times? Are there any direct descendants of Caesar, Xerxes or Hannibal still around today?

    • Provinces to the west and south were conquered by Rome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania

      I’m not sure, though, if they’re referring to conquered for a few years as some section of modern day Germany was, or whether these parts of today’s Germany actually fell under Roman control for some time.

      Studying the Middle Ages we referred to ‘germanic’ regions and tribes as there was no modern ‘Germany’ until very recently, and the focus was more on how Christianity was syncretized with the native religions.

      Regardless, it is odd that 23andme groups germans and french together, considering how little they look and act alike.

      I met a ‘100% german’ guy who clearly exhibited obvious italian traits along with german cheek bones, chin, etc. and a somewhat bigger build. Some ‘germans’ are dark but perhaps coming from the southeast, who knows.

      • There are Frenchmen who look very Gallic and Germans who look very Prussian, so I suspect this 23 & Me stuff has more than a little “artistic license” in it.

      • France’s Gallic blood has for centuries been diluted by Germanic Franks (Charlemagne and his ancestors) from the east, and Norse from Denmark invading both the northern and southern coasts. There’s still quite pure Celtic blood in Ireland and Scotland, but the Britons of England have been thoroughly diluted by Germanic Normans and Saxons, so It’s not surprising at all that German DNA shows up in people who think they’re of mostly British ancestry.

  6. There are a lot of Whites who think it’s cool to have Injun ancestry. But what if they found out they had a great-great grandpappy who was a coon?

  7. I always found it amusing, when I was young, when some sweet, young, fair, blue eyed, blonde claimed she was part Cherokee, or part Indian.

    • The “Federally recognized Indian” (with an ID card to prove it) is even more of a joke. They are extremely common here in Oklahoma. I didn’t realize before I moved here that the Indian tribes had more blondes than Sweden! Most of the time when you see a vehicle with a tribal plates it will be driven by a European-looking person.

      • Federal Blood Quantum laws state a person is recognized as American Indian with 1/8 Indian heritage. I worked with a guy who claimed to be Indian that blue eyed and blonde haried.

  8. Very interesting and insightful piece Mr. Cushman. I loved your comment “There is no Cherokee princess in my wood pile.”
    I do know a couple of people who are obsessed with Indians, thought they look fully white. I too have met people with the CPS thing. Even if they were 1/8 of 1/16 Cherokee, how does that overshadow their 15/16 of whiteness?
    I have never done a DNA test, but I have no reason to doubt that I am totally Western European. My Mom is primarily Anglo-Celtic (with a little German), and my Dad is 1/4 German and the rest Anglo-Celtic. As you certainly know, when one’s family has been in America 200+ plus years, the exact fraction of one’s EuroTribal heritage can be impossible to ascertain.
    I enjoyed this piece, and will share it with others.

  9. I always laughed at the claims by some family members that we had Cherokee blood, until I participated in the National Geographic testing. Turns out that I have somewhere between 1% and 2% Amerind DNA.

    Somehow I don’t feel the need to go to a Pow Wow or buy a dream catcher.

  10. My maternal grandmother always told us that her grandmother was Cherokee but without the claim of that ancestor being a princess. But like most people who were told something similar no Indian ancestry was revealed in my DNA test. My grandmother, who passed prior to my testing, did always mention that is where her high check bones originated. But I assure you she was in no way anti-white or in any sense ashamed of being white. She like nearly everyone of her generation had no use for Negroes or race mixing.

    • Harold, there are a lot of Nordic/Scandinavian types who have high cheekbones, deep set eyes, and chiseled features. More do, than don’t from what I’ve seen. Then you have the Finns…

  11. Come on, you could have shown a Cherokee Princess with a Swastika headband.

    My uncle always claimed to have Sioux ancestry, then his 23 and Me showed he was pure German-English. Most Americans are pure Huwhite.

  12. I have some Injun ancestors. I don’t see what is wrong with that.

    If somebody in your family has high cheekbones, then you are definitely Indian, Mexican, Asian, or Negro. That isn’t a feature of Europeans.

    • I wasn’t ashamed at the thought of NA blood. Instead, I was amused at the claims, since nobody in my family looks like an Indian. At less than 2% NA, I wouldn’t think I have any NA traits. I have twice the Neanderthal DNA, but that probably just manifests itself in common European traits.

      • I don’t believe Neanderthals and early modern humans had anything to do with each other, because they were almost two different kinds of human primate. It’s become fashionable for many anthropologists to suggest there was a relationship, but guess which Tribe controls the study of anthropology?

  13. 23andme is not a trustworthy source. They’re notorious, for instance, for telling eastern Europeans who have never left their region that they have American Indian ancestry. DNA testing is still in the experimental stage and should not be considered anything more than that. Remember how they use this testing to vilify Thomas Jefferson as rapist.

    One of the great things about being American is our genealogy. Due to careful record-keeping, many of us are able to trace our family lines to the early 1600’s. There is a society of the descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe! We know from the primary source documentation (not sooper seekrit “testing”), that many of the very early settlers did in fact marry Indian women, often chieftain’s daughters. The Indian Princess historiography, while it may sometimes be apocryphal, contains a very important element of truth: the best women of the Indians chose American frontiersmen as their sires.

    Norman Rockwell, a Mayflower descendant, included an Indian lady in his famous version of our national family tree. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6pAn4SwFISc/TarUlQynZtI/AAAAAAAACRs/8P8mNOaRvT4/s1600/5613481369_7cf14950ee_onorman+rockwell.jpg

    This seems like another attack on the true American identity by the altright. Moldbug is probably somewhere rubbing his greasy little paws in glee. TLDR, we don’t need jews to tell us who we are. We’ll tell them who we are, and we’re basically awesome and glorious. That’s why they came to live by us and why they’re so, so salty. Good luck finding a jew with a proper genealogy, the shtetls certainly didn’t keep good records.

    • It wasn’t at all unheard of for early settlers to have Native wives, and the Indian Princess story has roots in history, as marriage between prominent whites and the daughters of Indian chiefs was viewed as diplomacy by both sides. And claiming Indian descent may have even been a way of claiming descent from higher ranking whites by lower status whites in the past, rather than a way of denying European roots..

      http://danielboonetrail.com/history-perspectives/general-joseph-martin/

      http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/lachlan-mcgillivray-1719-1799

      I took part in National Geographic’s Genographic project, and don’t know of any problems associated with it. Then again, I haven’t really researched to see if flaws are noted. I bought a canine DNA test at Petsmart for fun, and it correctly identified my dog. That was over ten years ago, so canine DNA testing has been accurate for some time now. Are humans more difficult to identify?

    • It wasn’t at all unheard of for early settlers to have Native wives, and the Indian Princess story has roots in history, as marriage between prominent whites and the daughters of Indian chiefs was viewed as diplomacy by both sides. And claiming Indian descent may have even been a way of claiming descent from higher ranking whites by lower status whites in the past, rather than a way of denying European roots..

      http://danielboonetrail.com/history-perspectives/general-joseph-martin/

      http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/lachlan-mcgillivray-1719-1799

      I took part in National Geographic’s Genographic project, and don’t know of any problems associated with it. Then again, I haven’t really researched to see if flaws are noted. I bought a canine DNA test at Petsmart for fun, and it correctly identified my dog. That was over ten years ago, so canine DNA testing has been accurate for some time now. Are humans more difficult to identify?

      *Disgard post in moderation. I wasn’t paying attention, and it was posted under my wordpress account.

    • “23andme is not a trustworthy source…”

      I don’t know which DNA service it is, but one of them was started by a Jewish man to help locate and identify Jewish ancestry -one of the most bogus and bastardized genetic ancestries on the planet!

      Not only that, but the article with which 23 and me refers people to, about (supposed) Cherokee ancestry, is by Henry Louis Gates-anyone remember him?

      He was the African-American professor who caused the “Gatesgate” scandal during the Obama charade/years- in short, one of the most “uppity” and racist Niggers out there… just sayin.

  14. My wife and I were both told that we had distant indian ancestors when growing up, DNA tests have proven otherwise.
    And I’ve run across multiple blond haired and blue eyes Americans who identify as Indian. I’d love for them to be able to see their DNA results.

  15. I don’t see how you could be a white nationalist and want to have anything other than european DNA. The fact that some of you cucks “don’t see whats wrong with having NA DNA” leads me to believe you have little understanding of what this really implies. Moreso, it eludes to the fact that you have shallow convictions when it comes to WN. Blood is everything. Period

    • Are you serious? Should I slit my own wrists over less than 2% NA blood, or over the fact that one of my colonial ancestors likely had a NA spouse? Are you kicking me out of the club?

      • No, you shouldn’t worry over it. I just point out my comparative purity (I have >3% Neanderthal genes and disagree with spahnranch1969 that it’s all made up) because someone with the least non-germanic/celtic genes will likely get targeted by jews, blacks, guineas, spics, etc. more. In the tribal battleground that is the northeast we don’t care as much about DNA and go by how one looks, acts and identifies. Around and after 20-25% of some ‘other’ DNA things can start to get dicey, depending on what that ‘other’ is.

        For the WASP’s who worry that they have ‘10% WOP’ DNA according to 23andme, I’d first say that Roman England was administered by some tribe that wasn’t straight out of Rome, I can’t remember which. To walk around England in college after leaving France 25 years ago was like coming home, even compared to NJ. I saw almost no obvious echoes of the mediterraneans.

        • I haven’t had my DNA tested – although I’m wildly curious. I regard Meds as White, though. Depending. I’m a Brythonic Celt aka of Welsh Descent. With a smattering of Teutonic thrown in. I know my ancestry. We were coal miners, and farmers, etc. Those of us with Silurean blood in our veins are Old Stock. We’re dark. We are not, however, Semites. I saw the Tribal DNA a few years ago, when I attended a Welsh Festival. Most of us are of middling height, brown eyed, and brown haired, ranging for a light blondish brown, to a dark brown. Same range for eye color, although there are few blue-eyes types, like my hubby. The remarkable element was our facial features; we all kinda look alike. Great big foreheads, short noses, and “Irish”/fairy” eyes. Eyes that tilt down on the outside. (I LOVE that look, fyi) We also hade very similar reactions, a sense of humour, and facial expressions (!). It was really amazing to meet a bunch of strangers they seemed like close family.

          • Catherine Zeta-Jones might come close to epitomizing this look? I always theorized that some Iberian got injected into the Welsh, not unlike the irish, but that it was a narrower streak maybe which left mostly the very dark hair. But I haven’t seen many Welsh people, so I didn’t know much. They aren’t dark-skinned, from those I have seen. I’d hardly put them in some ‘Med’ category, generally anyway.

            Maybe there’s some other explanation for the darker hair…hmm…

      • But, as time goes on, I do think (((they))) will mess with our minds purposely. Just look at TV and film; italian males especially are seeded into depictions of WWII or the South. The film Unbroken from several years ago casts an obviously italian american soldier as the stalwart hero. This was not only inaccurate from a demographic standpoint, in terms of what stock most american soldiers were of in WWII, it imbues him with a heroism my veteran irish great uncles certainly would have questioned. They used to joke that ‘when you see a bunch of men running from battle, check for the vowels at the end of their names…’ I know of only one italian hero from that war and I grew up around these people. They avoided Viet Nam in much greater numbers than the northwestern europeans (the jews opted out totally). The supporting lead in Unbroken is a very celtic as opposed to germanic looking famous irish actor.

        Some current cable TV zombie series has an obviously southern italian man in a lead speaking in a heavy southern accent in what is supposed to be the South. WTH?

        WASP’s are either being totally erased out of their own history or depicted as ancillary characters, villains and morally-compromised protagonists, or brothers of jew-surrogate italians.

        Check it out for yourselves. The jews are using italians to reconfigure mediterraneans (and by implication or association themselves) as the founding stock of America.

    • Good article, Mr. Cushman. Reposted here: http://nationalvanguard.org/2017/07/cherokee-princess-syndrome/

      Great name, Mr. Higgers. You say it all. Period!

      I had my DNA tested just last month with that other Jew-owned (Greenspan) site, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). a few of us racial nationalists discussed that here: http://whitebiocentrism.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3136&sid=f1d5de45d1ab12b64b1c386234fb9a79&start=10

      I wrote this there a couple of days ago, “I remain skeptical of this (FTDNA) testing method. Like I said before, where are all of my known White American ancestors, going back five or more generations stateside? DNA testing determines race and percentages of racial admixture, so why not give results for that instead of from where distant ancestors may have lived two or three centuries ago? Isn’t that the result we racial nationalists and separatists are interested in?”

      That seems to me to be just common sense. Then I read here the double-talk of this weasley 23&Me Jew: “If your most recent Native American ancestor was more than five generations ago, you may have inherited little or no DNA directly from them. The farther back in your history you look, the less likely you are to have inherited DNA directly from every single one of your ancestors.”

      Kowabunga, Chief Thunderthud! These kike cozeners lie out of both sides of their everted lips. Which is it, Jewboys? Our last five generations of ancestors only, or only those beyond five? You need to get your stories straight.

      Caveat emptor.

  16. It wasn’t at all unheard of for early settlers to have Native wives, and the Indian Princess story has roots in history, as marriage between prominent whites and the daughters of Indian chiefs was viewed as diplomacy by both sides. And claiming Indian descent may have even been a way of claiming descent from higher ranking whites by lower status whites in the past, rather than a way of denying European roots..

    http://danielboonetrail.com/history-perspectives/general-joseph-martin/

    http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/lachlan-mcgillivray-1719-1799

    I took part in National Geographic’s Genographic project, and don’t know of any problems associated with it. Then again, I haven’t really researched to see if flaws are noted. I bought a canine DNA test at Petsmart for fun, and it correctly identified my dog. That was over ten years ago, so canine DNA testing has been accurate for some time now. Are humans more difficult to identify?

  17. Living across the river from Oklahoma, a few people around here actually do have some Cherokee blood.

  18. There’s no such thing as a pure, native Brit. They are all decended from Celts, Vikings, Normans, Anglo Saxons, and Iberians. All these groups originated in what is now France, Germany, Austria, Spain and Also Norway.
    Its amazing the number of Brits (who are not of immigrant stock) who look southern European despite being what we’d currently term ‘native British’.
    The main component in British ancestry is mostly German, then French and Austrian followed by smaller elements of the other areas. Of course, during these migrations, these nations as such, didn’t exist.
    Britain was indeed a melting pot long before immigration from the third world began in the twentieth century.

    • According to DNA evidence, most native Brits (Scots, English, Irish, etc.) are descended mainly from early European hunter-gatherers who entered the Isles after the last great Ice Age, and are largely not Celtic, Germanic, Latin, etc. Most Europeans (Germans and Scandinavians included) have a fair amount of ancient ME/South Asian admixture (usually around 15%) from invaders who brought agriculture to the region. That doesn’t mean that Europeans aren’t culturally and genetically distinct from non-Europeans, because we are. The thousands of years that we have developed largely apart from others has made us unique culturally and genetically.

    • BS, I noticed very little ‘southern european’ at all in the absolutely native brits.

      This is EJew talking points 101.

      The english were first celts, then anglo saxons and maybe a little norman, a few other random viking genes even. Some odd Roman-appointed managers left far more of a cultural imprint than a biological one, at least by looking at them.

      Begone Jew.

      • Begone Jew? I don’t claim to be an expert on genetics, and I don’t think there is one on this board, but it is pretty obvious that there are different genetic influences among different modern European groups, and the differences are ancient. You don’t have to know much about history to know that Europe was settled in waves, and the ancient influences came at different times from different peoples, which is why Spaniards and Norwegians are quite similar when compared to Asians and Africans, but still different.

        I know that there is a Lefty and anti-White angle to some research, but the view that agriculturalists spread from the ME to Europe and left a genetic imprint that lessens the farther north in Europe you go makes sense to me.It beats fairy tales.

          • You don’t believe that agriculture and people spread from the ME to Europe 5,000 tears ago or more, and made a genetic contribution, that the Ice Age some five thousand years prior kept Europe relatively uninhabitable for a very long time, or that different peoples came into Europe after the Ice Age? I think it is possible that the Out of Africa theory is wrong, but I don’t believe that Europeans just sprang out of rocks in Europe. What ever happened, Europeans evolved to be quite similar to one another culturally and genetically, when compared to Asians and Africans while being fairly different like Swedes and Greeks.

            FWIW, Germanics and Brits are largely of different male haplogroups. Maybe the science is all a lie, but that’s how it reads.

  19. I wish you wouldn’t link to 23andMe on your website. It’s owned by the Jew ex-wife of Russian Jew Sergey Brin from Google. It’s highly likely that’s is front group to collect data on people.

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