African-American and Native Americans

During African-American History Month, I wanted to stop and reflect on my great

grandmother Jayne Weldon. She was born in 1851 as a part of the Choctaw Nation in Mississippi. Seldom do our families talk about this side of our family tree. We didn’t know who she was and how she became the wife of my great grandfather after the end of slavery in 1865.

The Choctaw Nation was part of the five “civilized” tribes of the Indians in Oklahoma. Each tribe had its own Seal and lived without government interference because they were no longer in rebellion against the encroaching European-Americans. The five tribes consisted of the Seminole Nation, the Muskogee CreekNation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Cherokee Nation and the Choctaw Nation.

Though many African-Americans say that they have some Indian blood in their family, Dr. Louis Gates of Harvard University recently has clearly proved by substantial evidence that only about 4% of African-Americans have Indian ancestry and our family is one of them. His finding further disclosed that a great percentage of African-Americans have European ancestry. The evidence of that fact is a part of our family as well, and is clearly demonstrated by our mother’s Irish-American father.

In the exploration into my family history I have uncovered some interesting and exciting facts about the evolution of Weldon’s in America. The name is Teutonic which is German but is also found in Ireland. The Weldon slave plantation in Alabama is where the name attached to our family. The Weldon name has evolved into Edwards, Rivers, Coleman, Madden, Kim, Powell, Newsome, and still expanding.

So today, I acknowledge my great grandmother Jayne and the role of the Choctaw Nation in our family history. The Choctaw greetings, “Henjayday” for how are you and the response, “Matabomus” for I am find, still lives in our family. The “Tokashy” which means “fire” still burns. I was taught these words as a child while sitting at my grandfather’s knee watching him work on shoes, he was cobbler.

Jayne’s story came to mind this morning while in meditation. Over the past five days each morning during my meditation I notice a hummingbird in one of my trees. This morning it came to my window and look at me. I wondered about the sound it was making while standing still. I wondered if it sounded like my meditation tape (the ohm) which runs for about 30 minutes. I checked on the internet and it turned out to be true.

So, I checked on the myths surrounding hummingbirds and learn that most of the myths came from native- American Indians and in South America. The Hummingbird only appears in the Western Hemisphere and most of the myths were about its connection with the rain and its connection with the Creator. There must be other stories as well but these stories aroused my interest and brought to mind, Jayne! Peace.