Half-breed is a term, now considered offensive, used to describe anyone who is of mixed race; although, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, it usually refers to people who are half Native American and half European/

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

Use by governments

United States

In the 19th century the

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

set aside lands in the western states for people of American Indian and European or

European-American European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent E ...

ancestry known as the Half-Breed Tract. The Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation was established by the Treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1830. In Article 4 of the 1823 Treaty of Fond du Lac land was granted to the "half-breeds" of Chippewa descent on the islands and shore of St. Mary's River near Sault Ste. Marie. Unusually for its time, under the 1850

Donation Land Claim Act The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Pre ...

, "half-breed Indians" were eligible for land grants in the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

, as were married white women.

Canada

During the

Pemmican War The Pemmican War was a series of armed confrontations during the North American fur trade between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC) in the years following the establishment of the Red River Colony in 1812 by Lord Se ...

trials that began in 1818 in Montreal regarding the destruction of the

Selkirk Settlement The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay C ...

on the Red River the terms ''Half-Breeds'', '' Bois-Brulés'', ''Brulés'' and ''Métifs'' were defined as "Persons descended from Indian women by white men, and in these trials applied chiefly to those employed by the

North-West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wealt ...

". The

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in ...

used the term half-breed in the late 19th and early 20th century for people who were of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry. The North-West Half-Breed Commission established by the Canadian government after the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a Resistance movement, resistance by the Métis people (Canada), Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Natio ...

also used the term to refer to the

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...

residents of the

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. In 1885 children born in the North-West of Métis parents or "pure Indian and white parents" were defined as half-breeds by the commission and were eligible for "Half-breed" Scrip. In

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

the Métis formed the "Halfbreed Association of Northern Alberta" in 1932.

Geographical names

Halfbreed Lake National Wildlife Refuge Grass Lake National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Halfbreed Lake National Wildlife Refuge) is in the central section of the U.S. state of Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is border ...

and Halfbreed Lake in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

In popular culture

* "Half-Breed" is a country and western song recorded by

Marvin Rainwater Marvin Karlton Rainwater (July 2, 1925 – September 17, 2013) was an American country and rockabilly singer and songwriter who had several hits during the late 1950s, including " Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" and " Whole Lotta Woman," which hit #1 ...

in 1959, which reached #16 on the US Country Chart. *" Half-Breed" is a song recorded by

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

and released as a single in 1973. On October 6, 1973, it became Cher's second U.S. number one hit as a solo artist, and it was her second solo single to hit the top spot in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

on the same date."Top Singles"
''RPM'', Volume 20, No. 8, October 06 1973, Library & Archives Canada *''Halfbreed'' is a memoir written by author

Maria Campbell Maria Campbell (born April 26, 1940 near Park Valley, Saskatchewan) is a Métis author, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder. Campbell is a fluent speaker of four languages: Cree, Michif, Western Ojibwa, and English. Four of her publis ...

published in 1973. The book details her experience growing up as a

woman in

Notes

External links

Murray Parker: "The Half-breed Savage/ Quanah Parker"
Texas Escapes

Dictionary {{Ethnic slurs Ethnic and religious slurs Multiracial affairs in the Americas English words