http://www.dailynewsbin.com/news/fact-c ... job/25004/Native American Ancestry is perhaps the most difficult part of any individual's racial heritage to trace, because the cultural differences, and the status to which most Native Americans were relegated throughout most of their history, prevented any kind of accuracy in record-keeping related to births, marriages, and deaths. The biggest barriers seem to be the denial of education as a basic right, which affected a significant number of Native Americans for generations, and their removal from their historic lands, and confinement to reservations, where the corruption of government officials placed in charge, and mistreatment, were commonplace. Until recently, identifying as a member of a Native American tribe was detrimental enough that many of those who did get an education left both the reservation, and their heritage, behind. Even in the 1970's, when I was in school, there wasn't a high level of trust in the government programs and benefits that were just beginning to be developed. About a fourth of the students in the school I attended from 2nd grade through high school were Apache, and I know a lot of kids who had to struggle with taking scholarship money given because of their heritage, and wondering whether their continued self-identification as Apache in order to get the scholarships would just lead to further discrimination, both at the university and in trying to get a job later on.
One of my Great Aunts did a family history on my Dad's side of the family, and found some indications that there might have been some Susquehanna and Shawnee ancestry at various points. Her grandmother was a Harrison, and from that family history, in which there are two US Presidents, was a reference to the fact that she might have been at least half of one tribe or another. There's no other verification of that, but I've heard all my life that there was Native American ancestry on my Dad's side of the family. That's apparently how Elizabeth Warren got the information that she has a bit of Cherokee ancestry in her family, which is also how most Americans who make that claim would say they know. It's been proven that the claim she used her heritage to get advantages at Harvard are false.
None of that changes the despicable, demeaning, racist namecalling that Donald Trump has done, and I would think that any Cherokee, or Native American, would find that highly offensive and inexcusable, regardless of whether she has any Cherokee heritage or not.
On a side note, David, I took a group of students from my school in Houston several years ago to a mission project in Stilwell (not Stillwater) Oklahoma. We camped out in the Maryetta School, which belonged to the Cherokee tribe, and the tribal council in the area funded the purchase of building materials for their qualified residents, while our kids worked on crews who helped with roofing and weatherization. I found the people to be very hospitable, friendly, grateful for the help to the needy in their community, and quite connected to their Cherokee heritage. We had the experience of being treated to a Sunday afternoon hog fry after church, with all of the accompanying side dishes.