Judy, Dan's suggestion of a disclaimer is a good one. If someone finds accurate history offensive then let them close the book. It isn't up to us, nor is it our right to revise history. That is a part of the problem we have as researchers today. Too many book writers took it upon themselves to give the unpleasant parts of our history a cottonball cushion. Much of American history is violent, dirty and unpleasant BUT it's knowing that that will help us realize what it took to get us where we are today. The only thing that people should try to really and truly understand is that the violence wasn't solely race against race. Take the Vann family, for instance. They were of white and Cherokee blood and were violent against African Americans. That violence worked in many ways. But for every instance of violence and sorrows there is thousands of instances of people simply living their lives and doing what had to be done to survive and raise a family. BTW, as for myself, I will give you, Dennis and your crew a well deserved thank you for all the enormous amount of work you are doing for all of us. Joyce Reece -----Original Message----- >From: Judy <judy@genealogysurnames.com> >Sent: Feb 15, 2006 12:03 PM >To: CherokeeGene-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [CherokeeGeneCommunity] RE: Need some help > >Maybe some of you have an answer to a problem we are having with Native >American and African American books we put on line. > >Most of our book pages now have the following disclaimer: This site >includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes >reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These >items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be >interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes >implied. This site includes some historical materials that may imply >negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular >period or place. These items are presented as part of the historical record >and should not be interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse >the stereotypes implied. Followed by the name of the book and date. > >The following is one of many we receive: >I am White with some "relatively" unknown Indian blood. I have studied Indian >culture and language at college and partook of the native communities in >Nebraska. I did read the Cherokee History Area and yes, I find much >offensive.. I'm only beginning the rest of the History Area. Reading the >warning that it may be offensive, Why can't you have someone clean the >offensive parts up or rewrite excluding the offensive parts and just quote >the current sources when using unoffensive summations???? Isn't it time in >history to do this? > >Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we could make it clearer we have no >intention of rewriting history, and this is what the book said. > >Thanks >Judy > > >==== CherokeeGene Mailing List ==== >This list is for Genealogy related conversations >Your supporting website http://www.wvi.com/~wb/Cherokee1.html >Please Good manors and no flaming others >For Culture, ridges; bumps; skin tones; or Language lessons Please visit >CHEROKEE-L-request@rootsweb.com > You can also find what you need search the archives >or to get off this list via web site below >http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/CherokeeGene.html >Listowner = CherokeeGene-admin@rootsweb.com >