"Racial Integrity" and the Tribes of King William

OC-48

Virginia’s “Act to Preserve Racial Integrity,” adopted in 1924 to protect White “purity,” reinforced centuries of racial discrimination against Indigenous peoples, including the Mattaponi, Pamunkey, and Upper Mattaponi of King William Co. State officials used the law to effectively define Virginians as “White” or “Colored,” denying most Native people the right to identify as “Indian” on official documents. Referred to as a “paper genocide,” this erasure hindered tribes’ efforts to gain state and federal recognition and led many tribal members to leave VA. The tribes protested these policies and continued to practice cultural traditions. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional in 1967.

Department of Historic Resources, 2025

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Brendan Wolfe, “Racial Integrity Laws (1924-1930),” Encyclopedia Virginia, 7 Dec. 2020. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/racial-integrity-laws-1924-1930/ Tori Talbot, “Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947),” Encyclopedia Virginia, Dec. 2020. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/plecker-walter-ashby-1861-1947/ Richmond Times-Dispatch, 14 July 1925. Ashley Spivey, “Knowing the River, Working the Land, and Digging for Clay: Pamunkey Indian Subsistence Practices and the Market Economy, 1800-1900,” Ph.D. diss., College of William and Mary, 2017. Helen Rountree, “The Indians in Virginia: A Third Race in a Biracial State,” in Southeastern Indians since Removal Era, ed. Walter L. Williams (Athens: University of Georgia, 1979). Ashley Craig, “The Impact of the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity on Virginia’s Indigenous Tribes,” The Uncommonwealth: Voices from the Library of Virginia, 17 July 2024. https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2024/07/17/racial-integrity-indigenous-tribes/ Nora Birchett, “Records of a Paper Genocide,” The Uncommonwealth: Voices from the Library of Virginia, 13 Nov. 2024. https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2024/11/13/records-of-a-paper-genocide/ W.A. Plecker, “The New Virginia Law to Preserve Racial Integrity,” Virginia Health Bulletin, vol. 16 (March 1924). Correspondence from W.A. Plecker to Local Registrars, Physicians, Health Officers, Nurses, School Superintendents, and Clerks of the Courts (Library of Virginia).