re: Ancestral geneology of SEC people

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I'm of African descent. A few white people sprinkled in on my mon's side but other than that, don't know much pre-1900. The system pretty much erased most of my ancestors' history.

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You're like my opposite. I'm mostly white and supposedly indian (native american) with a sprinkling of black ancestry. The only reason I know of my black heritage is because one side carries an exceptionaly unusual surname (seriously only a handful of people carry the name and most all are now mostly black) but the surname made it so I found that not only were we here since colonial days but also that we were listed on the Free People of Color Rolls/free black founding families. We descend from a a free black man and white indentured servant woman and fled for the maroon zone/safe zone of the mountains of E. TN.

Unlike the vast majority of white folks, this is the only heritage I'm certain of so I wouldn't be surprised if my family didn't pass as white on more than one side, especially given where we were located. My family (both SIDES!) claims not to know our heritage but various surnames indicate continued marriage to light-skinned multiracial people for a long time (though it's hard to say for sure on that count). I also found that a black genealogy website listed my mom as a blood relative - giving her age and where she was born (a tiny place).

I really do wish I knew more.