American Indian Culture and Research Journal

To the student of Anglo-Indian relations in seventeenth-century New England the absence of interracial marriage is a subject whose depth and breadth remain largely unexplored. The familial nature of English immigration and the relatively balanced sex ratio in the emergent Bible commonwealths have long been offered as explanations for the New Englanders' failure to inter-marry with the American Indians. Propounded too, are the differences of religion, culture, and education which, to the Puritans especially, constituted formidable barriers to interracial marriage. Finally, the New England natives' precipitate population diminution and relative inaccessibility have been advanced as reasons for the lack of Anglo-Indian intermarriage. Undeniably, such explanations have considerable merit. Unfortunately, their self-evident importance and general acceptance have discouraged further research into an intriguing question that reveals much about the dynamics of interracial relations in seventeenth-century New England. The purpose of this essay is to re-examine the standard explanations and to shed new light on the reasons why seventeenth-century New Englanders were unwilling to intermarry with their Native American neighbors.

INTRODUCTION The subject of American Indian stereotypes has received considerable attention in Native American Studies literature. A survey of some of this literature reveals a number of general conclusions concerning Indian stereotypes ("images"). First, stereotypes of Indians appear in several domains of American culture: arts and literature; education (particularly textbooks); mass media (especially movies, television, and comics); sports and recreation; and commercial advertising. Second, the stereotypes that non-Indians hold of Indians are multi-dimensional. That is, they refer to an array of characterizations of Indians regarding their culture, history, physical appearance, status and role, psychological makeup, motivation, and capabilities. Third, Indian stereotypes have been shown to be dynamic and variable, changing in form and prevalence depending upon historical and socio-cultural circumstances. Fourth, until quite recently, the dominant stereotypes of Indians have tended to be negative, inaccurate, self-seeking, or in other ways misleading, the result of which has been an ethnocentric and prejudiced view of Native American culture, history, and people.

On February 25, 1987, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision in the case of California, et al. v. the Cabeuln Band of Mission Indians, et al. The decision involved the attempt by the state of California and the country of Riverside to regulate or shut down bingo games set up by the Cabezon and Morongo bands of Indians. Bingo has become a major source of income on a number of Indian reservations. This income comes not from winnings, but from the profits that tribes make as operators of high-stakes bingo operations. These operations have been challenged by the states, which have jurisdiction over gaming within their borders. California gaming laws, for example, place a cap of $250 per pot on all bingo games, require that bingo profits be used for charitable purposes only, and stipulate that those who run the games receive no pay for their work. Indian bingo, in contrast, is typically a high-stakes game (pots may reach $100,000 or more), profits go to the operators, and employees are paid. The vast majority of players in these games are non-Indians. Indian bingo games in Oklahoma, for example, draw high-rollers from Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and even Texas to take advantage of what has become a bigtime gambling operation.

The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere. By Travis Hudson and Thomas C. Blackburn. Los Altos, Calif.: Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, Nos. 25, 27, 28, 30, and 31, 1979-1986. 5 Volumes 2038 pages. Volume 1: $34.95 Cloth, $19.95 Paper; Volumes 2 and 3: $39.95 Cloth, $24.95 Paper; Volume 4: $47.95 Cloth, $29.95 Paper; Volume 5: $41.95, Paper $28.95. Five volume set: $190.00 Cloth, $120.00 Paper. The five volumes of The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere present a compilation of all discovered ethnographic notes concerning the traditional material culture of several native southern California societies. The ethnographic notes of John Peabody Harrington represent the largest portion of the data. Other ethnographic sources are incorporated, and photographs of many ethnographic and some archaeological specimens are used to illustrate many artifact types. Most of the ethnographic data were previously available only as unpublished notes. Hudson and Blackburn have carefully organized these notes and incorporated most published references to artifacts. Photographs of many of the numerous ethnographic specimens illustrated in these volumes have never been published previously and they provide important documentation of Chumash material culture.