On May 7, 2008, at 9:04 PM, Ed Truslow wrote:

> It is also my understandiing that Virginia did not have a  
> miscegenation law until 1691 so the Rolfe-Pocahontas marriage was  
> not a legal problem.  Could anyone confirm that?
>
> Edward Truslow
> Williamsburg, Vrginia

Ed,

Below is a partial history (with citations!!!) of Virginia's racial  
integrity laws. These laws are relevant for this discussion because  
Mildred was both Native and African American.

1682--This is when the admixture of African blood came to symbolize  
that which was non-white. By act, the Assembly ordered Indian women  
tithables “to pay levies in like manner as negroe women brought into  
this country doe, and ought to pay.” This is the first linkage between  
Africans and Virginia Indians. (William Hening, ed., _Statutes of  
Virginia_, II:490-492)

1691--Virginia passed its first anti-miscegenation law, “An Act for  
Suppressing Outlying Slaves.”  The Assembly banned intermarriage  
between a free “white man or woman . . . [and] any negroe, mulatto, or  
Indian man or woman bond or free.” (William Hening, ed., _Statutes of  
Virginia_, III:87) The is the law that first suggests a bi-racial  
Virginia.

1705--The Virginia Assembly passed a series of laws, that barred any  
“negro, mulatto, or Indian” from voting, holding office, or testifying  
in court proceedings (among other things like serving in the militia).  
(William Hening, ed., _Statutes of Virginia_, III:250-51) Again, this  
law effectively linked Indians and Africans as non-whites. These  
"black codes" mark the creation of a "biracial" culture in Virginia.

1723--Non-whites were permitted to testify against slaves (but not  
against whites until after the Civil War). (William Hening, ed.,  
_Statutes of Virginia_, IV:126-128)

1830s--The term "persons of color" came to describe both Indians and  
free blacks. The term "colored people" became more common later in the  
century and also had a more restricted meaning. There is a whole  
separate trajectory (not discussed here) on the transition in popular  
literature and legal codes from "colored" to "negro" to "black."

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE WORDING HERE!!
1833--"An Act for Certifying Indians" declared that Indians could  
receive a certificate, based solely on their white neighbors  
testimony, that Indians were "persons of mixed blood not being free  
negroes or a mulattoes." The certificate DID NOT declare the bearer as  
Indian; rather, it simply stated that individual was not a free negro  
or mulatto, and as such, the certificate protected the individual from  
the "pains, penalties, disabilities, and disqualifications imposed by  
law upon free negroes and mulattoes as free negroes and mulattoes."  
OUCH!! (_Acts of the Assembly_, 1832-1833, p. 51)

1866--The Virginia Assembly defined Indians for the first time in  
Virginia’s history!!!!  “Every person having one-fourth or more of  
negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a  
colored person having one-fourth or more of Indian blood shall be  
deemed an Indian.” (_Acts of the Assembly_, 1865-1866, pp. 84-85) This  
is the first time the Virginia codes use the term "colored person."

1910--Virginia defined a "colored person" as anyone with 1/16th  
African ancestry. (_Acts of the Assembly_, 1910, p. 581)

1924--Virginia’s Racial Integrity Law defined a “white person” as one  
“who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian.”  
Except . . . to account for the few Virginia elites who traced their  
ancestry to Pocahontas, the law allowed that "persons who have one- 
sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian and have no  
other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons." Notice, this  
law defines white people (and Pocahontas's descendants).  (_Acts of  
the Assembly_, 1923-1924, p. 468)

1930--The Assembly made the definition of non-whites more explicit:  
"Every person in whom there is ascertainable any Negro blood shall be  
deemed and taken to be a colored person, and every person not a  
colored person having one-fourth or more of American Indian blood  
shall be an American Indian; except that the members of Indian tribes  
living on reservations allotted them by the Commonwealth having one- 
fourth or more of Indian blood and less than one-sixteenth of Negro  
blood shall be deemed tribal Indians so long as they are domiciled on  
such reservations." (_Acts of the Assembly_, 1929-1930, pp. 96-97)

1954--The state began to ameliorate the racial identity of Indians:  
"members of Indian tribes existing in this Commonwealth having one- 
fourth or more of Indian blood and less than one-sixteenth of Negro  
blood shall be deemed tribal Indians." The tribal chiefs determined  
who were "tribal Indians." (_Acts of the Assembly_, 1954, p. 905)

1967--In Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned  
Virginia's anti-miscegenetion law. (Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1  
[1967])

1975--The state of Virginia repealed all laws that defined race.  
(_Acts of the Assembly_, 1975, pp. 1172-1174)

Hopefully, this will inject some sense of the facts into this  
discussion.

Best,
Edward Ragan

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