The thing that collapses me about "Whiteness" is that anyone whose ancestors have been in America for several generations actually has no idea how "white" they are. Genealogy almost always concentrates on the male line. Who the WOMEN were who married into the "family name" gets really murky for most people once you get past great grandparents. And who the mothers of those women were--even feeding into the known great grandparents--is also lost since they took another "family name." And so on, the further back you go.
My maternal ancestor came to America in 1637. My mom always said he simply swam after the Mayflower. Her birthname is traced all the way back to him. There is a big fat book about it. But for the women who married into that name in most instances, nor their mothers, nor their mothers--no sign. In going on 500 years, who these women were and what THEIR female lineage was is simply not known. They could have been slaves or indigenous Americans or any other kind of "non-white" who may have ventured here--or had ancestors themselves back in whatever Old Country they came from. Rape, passing, other illegitimacy, whatever-- none shows up and so presumably kept the Family Name is pure because those women didn't count.
My mother is listed in the book, along with her brothers, as child of Family Name. My cousins, sons of her brothers, are. But myself and my brother--not mentioned. We have a different family name.
So I have no clue what my ancestry is in full. I am far from being a WASP--I am a motley mess, and proud of it. I did one of those DNA tests years ago and came up with "Middle Eastern origin" as the greatest part (along with a touch of Neanderthal). Gee Whiz--my DNA stretches back to Mesopotamia--fancy that! Along with pretty much every other human on the planet.
The thing that collapses me about "Whiteness" is that anyone whose ancestors have been in America for several generations actually has no idea how "white" they are. Genealogy almost always concentrates on the male line. Who the WOMEN were who married into the "family name" gets really murky for most people once you get past great grandparents. And who the mothers of those women were--even feeding into the known great grandparents--is also lost since they took another "family name." And so on, the further back you go.
My maternal ancestor came to America in 1637. My mom always said he simply swam after the Mayflower. Her birthname is traced all the way back to him. There is a big fat book about it. But for the women who married into that name in most instances, nor their mothers, nor their mothers--no sign. In going on 500 years, who these women were and what THEIR female lineage was is simply not known. They could have been slaves or indigenous Americans or any other kind of "non-white" who may have ventured here--or had ancestors themselves back in whatever Old Country they came from. Rape, passing, other illegitimacy, whatever-- none shows up and so presumably kept the Family Name is pure because those women didn't count.
My mother is listed in the book, along with her brothers, as child of Family Name. My cousins, sons of her brothers, are. But myself and my brother--not mentioned. We have a different family name.
So I have no clue what my ancestry is in full. I am far from being a WASP--I am a motley mess, and proud of it. I did one of those DNA tests years ago and came up with "Middle Eastern origin" as the greatest part (along with a touch of Neanderthal). Gee Whiz--my DNA stretches back to Mesopotamia--fancy that! Along with pretty much every other human on the planet.