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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