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 _____________________________________________________________ Click here to double your salary by becoming a medical transcriber http://track.netzero.net/s/lc?u=http://tagline.untd.us/fc/Ioyw6ijmaKNrzzfiR0F7bOIbfjmLT1Y4lBb6YR2hstCnUO5o3JywZE/