Anita: Some of this took place in NC well into the middle of the 20th Century. Jane.
-----Original Message-----
>From: Anita Wills <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Jun 26, 2007 11:38 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Plecker
>
>Paul,
>You forgot to mention that Plecker was a card carrying member of the
>Eugenics movement. They supported sterilizing Indians, and other
>people of color, who they considered inferior. You should ask the
>Natives how they feel about Plecker and his methods.
>
>Anita
>
>
>
>
>
>-- Paul Heinegg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Hi Sally. Walter Plecker was a medical doctor who was also a
>relatively low
>level government official--Registrar of Vital Statistics--in Virginia
>in
>1928 when he began a campaign against counties registering light-
>skinned
>people as "Indian" on their birth certificates because he knew that
>nearly
>all people in Virginia with Indian ancestry have African ancestry as
>well.
>He had nothing to do with the passage of the "racial integrity" law
>he
>enforced, but he is the one associated with it.
>
>What about the Governor, legislature, etc., that signed the law?
>
>Since the Civil War (and still today) there have been three castes in
>Virginia and surrounding states: white, Indian and African American.
>The
>racial integrity law reclassified very light-skinned mixed-race
>people as
>"Negroes."
>
>Apparently to some, Jim Crow laws were fine as long as they were
>excepted.
>For example, there are a group of people in Tennessee and surrounding
>areas
>called "Melungeons," who could pass as white in most cities but are
>known in
>the areas where they live to have mixed ancestry. In the mid-1900s
>they were
>described by some anthropologists as the most racist people in the
>United
>States. Imagine how they felt when Plecker contacted their local
>county
>officials asking that they be classified as "Negroes."
>You can read the family history of many of those who were the subject
>of
>Virginia's racist "Eugenics" laws on my website:
>http://www.freeafricanamericans.com
>The families included Adkins, Allmond, Bass, Beverly, Bradby,
>Brandom/
>Branham, Bunch, Byrd, Clark, Coleman, Collins, Custalow, Dungee,
>Epps,
>Fortune, Gibson, Goins, Hartless, Holmes, Johns, Locklear, Mason,
>Miles,
>Redcross, Roberts, Sawyer, Shepherd, Sorrell, Tyree, Terry, Spurlock,
>Stewart, Weaver, Wynn, and others. Incidentally, the Weavers were
>East
>Indians who mixed with African Americans and are today considered
>Nansemond
>Indians.
>Paul
>
>
>_____________________________________________________________
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Lillian Jane Steele
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