Walter Ashby Plecker
Encyclopedia
Walter Ashby Plecker was a physician
and public health
advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia
's Bureau of Vital Statistics, serving from 1912-1946. He was a leader of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America, a white supremacist organization founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1822. He drafted and lobbied for the passage of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924
by the Virginia legislature; it institutionalized the one-drop rule
.
in 1880 and obtained a medical degree
from the University of Maryland
in 1885.
in 1892, and became its public health officer in 1902. He took an active interest in obstetrics
and public health issues, educating midwives
, inventing a home incubator
, and prescribing home remedies for infants. His efforts are credited with an almost 50% decline in birthing deaths for black mothers.
From 1912 to 1946, Plecker served as the first registrar of Virginia's newly created Bureau of Vital Statistics. An avowed white supremacist
and advocate of eugenics
, he became a leader of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America in 1922. He wanted to prevent miscegenation
, or marriage between "races," and thought that a decreasing number of mulattoes, as classified in the census, meant that more of them were passing as white.
Plecker further believed that the state's Native Americans
had been "mongrelized" with its African American
population. He did not recognize that many mixed-race Virginia Indians had maintained their culture and identity as Indians.
Plecker drafted and helped gain passage for the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924
" by the state legislature. It recognized only two races, "white" and "colored" (black). It essentially incorporated the one-drop rule
, classifying as "colored" any individual with any African ancestry. This went beyond existing law, which had classified persons as white who had one-sixteenth (equivalent to one great-great-grandparent) or less black ancestry.
In addition, he campaigned with the US Census Bureau to have the category of "mulatto" dropped in the 1930 and later censuses. This deprived mixed-race people of recognition of their identity. The action contributed to a binary culture of hypodescent
, in which mixed-race persons were often classified as the group with lower social status. It was not until the 21st century that the Census allowed individuals to indicate more than one race or ethnic group in self-identification.
Because Plecker believed there were few "real" Indians left, as they had intermarried over time with other ethnic groups, he thought "colored" people were attempting to pass
as "Indian." He ordered state agencies to reclassify most citizens' claiming American Indian identity as "colored," although many groups of Virginia Indians had continued in their cultural identity, practices and communities. Their identities were often recorded as Indian in church records, for instance. Specifically, Plecker ordered state agencies to reclassify certain families whom he identified by surname, as he had decided they were trying to pass and evade segregation
. This was legal in the South until federal legislation of the 1960s.
Among other effects, Plecker's policy caused a contemporary problem: members of eight state-recognized Virginia tribes struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their continuity of heritage through historic documentation, as required by federal laws. Encountering European Americans first during the colonial period, the tribes had treaties mostly with the King of England rather than the United States government. Plecker's actions in the twentieth century altered records and for decades destroyed the evidence for many individuals and families of cultural continuity as Indians. In 2007, the House of Representatives passed a law to recognize the Virginia tribes at the Federal level, but it has not yet gained passage in the Senate.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
's Bureau of Vital Statistics, serving from 1912-1946. He was a leader of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America, a white supremacist organization founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1822. He drafted and lobbied for the passage of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924
Racial Integrity Act of 1924
On March 20, 1924 the Virginia General Assembly passed two laws that had arisen out of contemporary concerns about eugenics and race: SB 219, entitled "The Racial Integrity Act" and SB 281, "An ACT to provide for the sexual sterilization of inmates of State institutions in certain cases",...
by the Virginia legislature; it institutionalized the one-drop rule
One-drop rule
The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States for the social classification as black of individuals with any African ancestry; meaning any person with "one drop of black blood" was considered black...
.
Early life and education
Plecker graduated from Hoover Military AcademyHoover Military Academy
Hoover Military Academy was a military academy in Staunton, Virginia, United States, in the 19th century....
in 1880 and obtained a medical degree
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore, was founded in 1807. It comprises some of the oldest professional schools in the nation and world. It is the original campus of the University System of Maryland. Located on 60 acres in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, it is part of the University System of Maryland...
in 1885.
Career
Plecker settled in Hampton, VirginiaHampton, Virginia
Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
in 1892, and became its public health officer in 1902. He took an active interest in obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
and public health issues, educating midwives
Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
, inventing a home incubator
Neonatal intensive care unit
A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit —also called a Special Care Nursery, newborn intensive care unit, intensive care nursery , and special care baby unit —is an intensive care unit specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants.The problem of premature and congenitally ill infants is not a...
, and prescribing home remedies for infants. His efforts are credited with an almost 50% decline in birthing deaths for black mothers.
From 1912 to 1946, Plecker served as the first registrar of Virginia's newly created Bureau of Vital Statistics. An avowed white supremacist
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
and advocate of eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
, he became a leader of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America in 1922. He wanted to prevent miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
, or marriage between "races," and thought that a decreasing number of mulattoes, as classified in the census, meant that more of them were passing as white.
Plecker further believed that the state's Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
had been "mongrelized" with its African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
population. He did not recognize that many mixed-race Virginia Indians had maintained their culture and identity as Indians.
Plecker drafted and helped gain passage for the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924
Racial Integrity Act of 1924
On March 20, 1924 the Virginia General Assembly passed two laws that had arisen out of contemporary concerns about eugenics and race: SB 219, entitled "The Racial Integrity Act" and SB 281, "An ACT to provide for the sexual sterilization of inmates of State institutions in certain cases",...
" by the state legislature. It recognized only two races, "white" and "colored" (black). It essentially incorporated the one-drop rule
One-drop rule
The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States for the social classification as black of individuals with any African ancestry; meaning any person with "one drop of black blood" was considered black...
, classifying as "colored" any individual with any African ancestry. This went beyond existing law, which had classified persons as white who had one-sixteenth (equivalent to one great-great-grandparent) or less black ancestry.
In addition, he campaigned with the US Census Bureau to have the category of "mulatto" dropped in the 1930 and later censuses. This deprived mixed-race people of recognition of their identity. The action contributed to a binary culture of hypodescent
Hypodescent
In societies that regard some races of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior, hypodescent is the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union or mating between members of different socioeconomic groups or ethnic groups to the subordinate group...
, in which mixed-race persons were often classified as the group with lower social status. It was not until the 21st century that the Census allowed individuals to indicate more than one race or ethnic group in self-identification.
Because Plecker believed there were few "real" Indians left, as they had intermarried over time with other ethnic groups, he thought "colored" people were attempting to pass
Passing (racial identity)
Racial passing refers to a person classified as a member of one racial group attempting to be accepted as a member of a different racial group...
as "Indian." He ordered state agencies to reclassify most citizens' claiming American Indian identity as "colored," although many groups of Virginia Indians had continued in their cultural identity, practices and communities. Their identities were often recorded as Indian in church records, for instance. Specifically, Plecker ordered state agencies to reclassify certain families whom he identified by surname, as he had decided they were trying to pass and evade segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
. This was legal in the South until federal legislation of the 1960s.
Among other effects, Plecker's policy caused a contemporary problem: members of eight state-recognized Virginia tribes struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their continuity of heritage through historic documentation, as required by federal laws. Encountering European Americans first during the colonial period, the tribes had treaties mostly with the King of England rather than the United States government. Plecker's actions in the twentieth century altered records and for decades destroyed the evidence for many individuals and families of cultural continuity as Indians. In 2007, the House of Representatives passed a law to recognize the Virginia tribes at the Federal level, but it has not yet gained passage in the Senate.
Quotes
- "Let us turn a deaf ear to those who would interpret Christian brotherhood as racial equality." (1925)
- the "sickening and saddest feature...the considerable number of degenerate white women giving birth to mulatto children" (1925)
- "...insanity, tendency to crime, and immorality are almost surely transmitted to their children, especially when both parents are of the same class. The worst forms of undesirables born amongst us are those whose parents are of different races."
See also
- institutional racismInstitutional racismInstitutional racism describes any kind of system of inequality based on race. It can occur in institutions such as public government bodies, private business corporations , and universities . The term was coined by Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael in the late 1960s...
- one-drop ruleOne-drop ruleThe one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States for the social classification as black of individuals with any African ancestry; meaning any person with "one drop of black blood" was considered black...
- HypodescentHypodescentIn societies that regard some races of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior, hypodescent is the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union or mating between members of different socioeconomic groups or ethnic groups to the subordinate group...
- Racial Integrity Act of 1924Racial Integrity Act of 1924On March 20, 1924 the Virginia General Assembly passed two laws that had arisen out of contemporary concerns about eugenics and race: SB 219, entitled "The Racial Integrity Act" and SB 281, "An ACT to provide for the sexual sterilization of inmates of State institutions in certain cases",...