"American Heritage"

I'd recently been talking to my father, of our many short and sparse conversations we've had over the years...However when we do talk, I find our conversations informative, enjoyable at times, and humorous. I was retelling him a joke I'd heard sometime ago, by a relative on his side of the family. The joke was; Slaves from our family escaped out of Louisiana headed North. They cross the border into Arkansas, they'd reach as far as Pinebluff or so. "We Free"...One of them said. Well they were captured and became slaves in Arkansas. The punch line supposedly was, "They did'nt go far enough North!" Not funny...Lol... Turns out Dad went on to inform me of some of the actual history associated with this family.We are of Native American descent too. The mere fact of our mixture through his side, brings about the Native American "Choctaw" Indians and African American, marriage to light, that formulated my Dad. Formulated meaning (Chemistry). Now I don't know much about this Native American group, except they loved to ware "Hats" as Dad told me. But I'm going to look them up as I write this article... Research Time... I'll "Google it"...
01/05/2010

Okay, turns out "Choctaw" Chocta, pronounced "Chock-taw". That literally means "The People" is their own tribal name and of a legendary Choctaw leader. Original Choctaw people were of the American Southeast, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida. Most were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800's along the "Trail Of Tears". Trail of Tears was the Choctaw and Cherokee name for what (White) Americans called Indian Removal. During the 1800's, the US government created an "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma and sent all the Eastern Native American tribes to live there. They were quite good builders, and their homes were of wood and plaster, with thatched or wood shingled bark. Looking even deeper into the history of these Native Americans, that goes beyond the 1500's... Their fight against the Spanish and close associations with the French and English (which they had to fight too). Their History could go into Pre-Colombia, though not confirmed. However, these Native Americans were definately apart of the Louisiana Purchase, "Louisiana Territory"... (On the map in Red it's marked out, & Colombia in Green in South America...) Many of the Choctaw were in Louisiana anyway, when President Thomas Jefferson acquired the Territory in 1803...These Native Americans are a great part of our nation and suffered many of the injustice, we people of color had to endure to be apart of this country. Yet it's apart of the colorful nature that makes up "me" and those of my family... However that's only part of my Heritage. The flip side is my Mom's people and the trek that made it's way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This is where Mom & Dad met that made me and my siblings. One of my sisters did a family research that resulted going to the area of North Carolina, Hyde County to be exact. A slave owner, Irish lived about the 1800's... Supposedly had my Grand Father, who was born Jan1900... His Name was "Benjamin Franklin"! No relation to the guy on the 100 dollar bill, that we know of. Though Mother insist that we need to look into a connection of Franklins of the (Franklin Mint) Frankin's... Would'nt that be a "Grand" connection literally... But that's another story! You just never know what will "POP" up, in your own Heritage, your ancestry, your deep past! I'll keep searching mine. What about you? What's the make up of your Heritage? Do you have a clue? In one way I'm "RICH", a rich man in culture and family Heritage, it makes me feel great to know...What the heck, do I know? I'm sitting here looking at a map of the "American Hemisphere", talking to myself...