Race and Ethnicity: When and how did the myth of white Americans having Cherokee ancestors develop?

Like Anon, I defer to Sam Morningstar. And Sam has another outstanding response to this question, buried in this comment thread:

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-poss…

It even has maps!

Exec summary:

  • Name recognition
  • Perception Cherokee were more “civilised” than other Indian tribes
  • Longstanding contact with whites
  • Felicitous accidents of skin pigmentation 🙁
  • Larger area of Cherokee land claims, extending beyond where Cherokee lived; so lots of white people had nominal contact with Cherokee when they moved in

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