"Any African descent came to be viewed as eclipsing Indian ancestry" (New Stockbridge and Brothertown, N.Y., 1790s–1870s)

SUMMARY"Any African descent came to be viewed as eclipsing Indian ancestry" (New Stockbridge and Brothertown, N.Y., 1790s–1870s) [Connections: Northeast & Mid-Atlantic, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDChristopher Geherin documents free Black residents at New Stockbridge and the Oneida villages by the 1790s, and growing intermarriage after the Revolution. White and tribal authorities increasingly labeled mixed members "Black, Negro, mulatto, or colored." William Gardner was adopted by the Stockbridge council as Narragansett. The state later labeled him "colored," and by the 1870s the tribe sought to exclude his family as "negro." Members of European ancestry did not face the same treatment. A tract the Stockbridge ceded in 1825 was called "New Guinea."

PATTERNShows the "one-drop" logic entering the nations' own membership decisions under outside pressure

LENS (WW9)A Narragansett man was adopted as Narragansett and later written down as "negro."

OPENGet the primary documents behind the Gardner case

SOURCEChristopher Geherin, "New Guinea: Racial Identity and Inclusion in the Stockbridge and Brothertown Indian Communities of New York," New York History 90:3 (2009), excerpt.