Title: Native American identity in the United States - Wikipedia
Headings: Native American identity in the United States
Native American identity in the United States
Contents
Definitions
Traditional
Constructed as an imagined community
Blood quantum
Residence on tribal lands
Construction by others
United States government definitions
Self-identification
Personal reasons for self-identification
Historic struggles
Unity and nationalism
Examples
Cherokee
Navajo
Lumbee
References
Bibliography

Content: Traditional
Reservation life has often been a blend of the traditional and the contemporary. In 1877, this Lakota family living at South Dakota's Rose Bud Agency had both tipis and log cabins. Traditional definitions of "Indianness" are also important. There is a sense of "peoplehood" which links Indianness to sacred traditions, places, and shared history as indigenous people. This definition transcends academic and legal terminology. Language is also seen as an important part of identity, and learning Native languages, especially for youth in a community, is an important part in tribal survival. Some Indian artists find traditional definitions especially important. Crow poet Henry Real Bird offers his own definition, "An Indian is one who offers tobacco to the ground, feeds the water, and prays to the four winds in his own language." Pulitzer Prize-winning Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday gives a definition that is less spiritual but still based in the traditions and experience of a person and their family, "An Indian is someone who thinks of themselves as an Indian. But that's not so easy to do and one has to earn the entitlement somehow.