We are taught to revere our culture and do exactly as our parents did ("Why? 
Because I said so"), but anthropologists tell us that mankind has been able 
to populate the entire globe because we are able to change our culture to 
meet new circumstances. So there must be a gene in some of us to want to 
rebel or question why we do the things we do, or perhaps some have the 
ability to step back and analyze a situation without the interference of 
culture.

In modern times I would place Bill Cosby in that category. Note also those 
leaders who have led most of the white population of the U.S., starting in 
the 1960s and continuing, to accept that our culture was immoral in its 
treatment of African Americans, women, and is now even moving toward 
accepting gays.

Most colonial Virginia Indians who lived amongst the English adopted English 
ways and blended into the free African American population.

A study aired on the BBC of Indian groups in the West that lived within the 
white communities revealed that the women's bones were all distorted from 
overwork. The men would not haul firewood or do any work associated with 
farming. It was not part of their culture to do so.

In the 1750s William Chavis, a free African American of Granville County, 
N.C., owned an inn frequented by whites. Many would give him their money to 
lock in his desk, so they would not have to worry about someone stealing it 
from them when they got drunk. Chavis owned thousands of acres of land and 
was a slaveowner. His son Gideon married a relatively well-to-do white 
woman. This sort of thing was quite common in areas in Virginia, N.C. and 
S.C. where they were anxious to have new settlers of any color.
Paul