Summary: One of the earliest adaptations of a Native American image was at the Boston Tea Party prior to the American Revolution. The image being adopted was a symbolic representation of an anti-British identity that stood for strength and fortitude on the new frontier of a new nation. Over the years of this nation's growth, the image of Native Americans in the United States has been manipulated and maneuvered to reflect the American society more than that of a native one. Certain symbols -- the wolf, eagle, headdresses and dream catchers -- have come to represent Native Americans in the American imagination. My research in the tattoo community points to the appropriation of authority through the application of these ethnic symbols. The tattoo community is comprised of a slightly less diverse population than the United States. Remarkably, a disproportionate number of tattoo collectors sport what they consider to be Native American tattoos. Comparing the images among the more traditional communities of the Ojibwa nation to those identified as Native American in design by members of the tattoo community, we see the strong influence of American society on both groups and the visual marks of identification that each group utilizes to express their ethnic identities. This adopted ethnicity becomes a physical marker of authority to claims of place and changes the status of the immigrant to that of native born. As we move into an age of globalization with a renewed interest in indigenous heritage and the protection of cultural property rights the ambiguity of meaning contained in a symbol in the easily mediated visual of a tattoo allows for the appropriation of culture and the cultural heritage it implies.