In a message dated 6/26/00 12:31:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << Can you tell me anything about the term? What does it mean to you >> Hi Larry, I believe the term was created to cover Native American Indians, in marrages to white Dutchmen . It was done to protect those mixed marriages. Many in the south would frown on these unitys, so they needed to protect their children and lives. You may notice that alot of different people from different countries claim black dutch. And mostly they are Germans, who claim the most. This is not accurate info. I have in our archives here at black-dutch-america, many post, from people in Germany and surrounding countries, saying they never heard the term over there. Most people you talk to about it, will tell you they have Indian ancestry in their familys. And they that don't , either haven't looked hard enough or are in denial.In any event, I look at Black- Dutch families, as I would others who have made claims of ancestry.Take for example African- Americans, Asian-Americans, Spanish -Americans and so forth and so on.What is the difference? Are Black-Dutch not being reconized because their is no American in the title? Because Black-Dutch-Americans are no different then those listed above. My goal is to get Black- Dutch Americans reconized as who they are, and in the books. We I feel are being discriminated against, because we have not been able to claim our heritage, as it has been passed down to us, for so many generations. I also feel that attitudes, from this very country we live in, made us hid our heritage, into near extincion. But please remember that anything the Native American Indian, was intitled to, has to be fought for. And we don't win very often. Please pardon my spelling, I am not a very good speller. Bright Star