I have never in my rather long life known any American who thought of himself or herself, pleased or not, as a "descendant of Pocahontas." Perhaps I have lived a circumscribed life . . . or you are reaching for a metaphor that does not actually exist.
I was perhaps being both metaphorical and too glib. There was something of a flair for claiming such ancestry in the early 20th century. I think Edith Wilson was legitimately a descendant, and certainly didn’t hide that fact. But I mostly meant it metaphorically as a reference to people who like to brag about Native American ancestry, real or imagined, which is definitely a thing, just as shame about such ancestry is also a thing. I chose Pocahontas to make that reference because she’s the closest analog in American history to La Malinche.
I have never in my rather long life known any American who thought of himself or herself, pleased or not, as a "descendant of Pocahontas." Perhaps I have lived a circumscribed life . . . or you are reaching for a metaphor that does not actually exist.
I was perhaps being both metaphorical and too glib. There was something of a flair for claiming such ancestry in the early 20th century. I think Edith Wilson was legitimately a descendant, and certainly didn’t hide that fact. But I mostly meant it metaphorically as a reference to people who like to brag about Native American ancestry, real or imagined, which is definitely a thing, just as shame about such ancestry is also a thing. I chose Pocahontas to make that reference because she’s the closest analog in American history to La Malinche.