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 >From: David Kiracofe <[log in to unmask]> >Date: 2008/05/07 Wed PM 07:48:25 CDT >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Mildred Jeter Loving (1940-2008), & an apology (was Re: What would Jeffer... >John Rolfe was the Englishman who married Pocahontas--not John Smith -- although I fear there will be someone who will insist that DNA must somehow be brought to bear on the discussion to demonstrate that it is preposterous that Smith could have had a sexual relationship with Pocahontas! (Sorry, that's a joke-- brought on the punchiness of too many hours grading). > >Dave Kiracofe > >David Kiracofe >History >Tidewater Community College >Chesapeake Campus >1428 Cedar Road >Chesapeake, Virginia 23322 >757-822-5136 >>>> Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]> 05/07/08 6:40 PM >>> >Smith and Pocahontas were an early mixed race couple. In the 1920s VA >passed its law declaring that any person with ANY non-white ancestry was >not white! A few years later the legislature passed an amendment to say >that people with less than 1/16th Indian ancestry were also "white." It >was known as the Pocahontas law because many FFV's claimed to be >descendants of Smith and his Indian bride. Before the Civil War people >who were less than 1/4th non-white were considered white. The >definition of "white" or "black" has alway been socially and legally >constructed. > >Paul Finkelman >President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law > and Public Policy >Albany Law School >80 New Scotland Avenue >Albany, New York 12208-3494 > >518-445-3386 >[log in to unmask] >>>> [log in to unmask] 05/07/08 5:53 PM >>> >Weren't John Smith and Pocahontas a mixed race marriage in Virginia > > > > > > We quote the late Ned Heite, who wrote about white-Indian couplings 30 >Jan 2000: > > > >What happened to > the Delmarva Indians? Dr. Helen C. Rountree, in her several >excellent > publications, has given us a picture of those Eastern Shore >Indian descendants > who have been identified. Many of our neighbors are clearly >identified > as Indians, and their ancestry is not in doubt. > > > > > >However, I am coming > to the conclusion that most of the Indian descendants in the >Middle Atlantic > region today are identified as "white," and not "mulatto" > or "black." > > > > > >There is plenty > of unwritten evidence that intermarriage between Indians and >whites was > the rule, rather than the exception, in the early years of >European colonization. > In the latest issue of the Archaeological Society of Virginia >bulletin > is Martha McCartney's insightful analysis of the census records >for the > Virginia colony compiled in 1619-1620. Most settlers were male; >in some plantations, all were male. There simply were no "available" > English women. > > > > > >Therefore, we must > assume that these fellows were either gay, celibate, or mated >with Indian > women. Take your choice, but remember that they were largely >young and > robust single Englishmen, away from home and not terribly well >regulated. > So only the third choice stands the test of reasonableness. > > > > > >Flash forward nearly > a century, and? ---the Virginia legislature passes a law stating >that the > child of a white and an Indian is a mulatto, but the child of a >white > and a half Indian (that is, with one Indian grandparent) is >white.--- ? This > rule seems to have held in Delaware and Maryland, too. > > > > > >Why do legislatures > pass laws? Because some constituent believes there is an issue >to be addressed. > We don't talk about gun laws unless there is gun violence. >Clearly there > is a reason to enfranchise as "white" anyone with only one >Indian > grandparent. My suggestion: The legislators, or their >constituents, needed > to define a difference between "mulatto" and "white" > for purposes of the civil law. > > > > > >The logical inference > from the Virginia legislature's definition is that there must >have been > plenty of white planters with Indian ancestry who wanted their >franchise > protected during a period when racial divides were becoming >sharper and > sharper. > > > > > >Indian wives would > help explain why so many genealogies are easily traced through >the male > line, but hit dead ends at the female side. If the mother was an >Indian, > and if the marriage was sanctioned only in the most irregular >way, a child's > legal record (in cases of probate for example) would refer only >to his > or her father's side, the mother's family being outside the >English legal > system. > > > > B&R Terry > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: [log in to unmask] >To: [log in to unmask] >Sent: Wed, 7 May 2008 3:47 am >Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Mildred Jeter Loving (1940-2008), & an apology >(was Re: What would Jeffer... > > > > > > > > > > > >Weren't John Smith and Pocahontas a mixed race marriage in Virginia some > >time before the Loving's decided to make a Federal case out of the whole > thing. > >J South > > > > >**************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? 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