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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