Cage Family: Shortening the distance between Native American ancestry is difficult and problematic. Many families have stories passed down through the generations that they had at least one Native American ancestor in their family tree.

The question is the story true and can you find evidence to prove it?

Our story starts in Pilot Knob, a settlement in Tennessee, with a woman named Florence Cantrell and her mother, Hannah Cage. Discovering all of who we are is going to be challenging — especially at the intersection of race and an indigenous identity.

And, we shouldn’t overshadow important cultural factors — because reducing a Native or African identity to nothing more than a spit test would be a shame.