Navajo Women

[macwilkin]

I have found this a most interesting thread, from which I have learned more about the interface between the native North American cultures and those of the descendants of the European voyagers. Although I am a Scot living in Scotland, my mother's family are on Vancouver Island as her father's brothers all emigrated there around a hundred years ago. One of my second cousins married a native "Indian" who teaches native arts and crafts for a living and constructs totem poles in his spare time. Their daughter, in turn being of mixed Scottish/native stock then married a Mexican "Indian". So it appears to me that while the native tribes preserve their own crafts, cultures and skills, there is also a mixing with the incomers to provide the unique combination that makes Canada and the USA the great nations they are today.

For a very interesting read on this thread's subject, I recommend the book "Scottish Highlanders, Indian Peoples: thirty generations of a Montana family"* by James Hunter:

http://www.his.state.mt.us/pub/press/scothigh.asp

The book "Scots in the North American West 1790-1917" also has a very good summary of the Scottish-First Nations connection; it is available online at:

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/indians.htm

* published in Scotland as "Glencoe and the Indians". Hunter also wrote "A Dance Called America" about Scottish immigration to the US and Canada.

Regards,

Todd