Reclaiming an Identity: The Impacts of The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 on The Identity Construction of Present-Day Monacan Indians in Amherst County, Virginia
Location
Room 217, Schewel Hall
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Entry Number
73
Start Date
4-5-2023 2:15 PM
End Date
4-5-2023 2:30 PM
College
Lynchburg College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Anthropology
Keywords
Racial Integrity Act of 1924, Walter Plecker, Monacan Indians, Bear Mountain, Amherst County, Race, Identity Construction
Abstract
The racial category of ‘American Indian’ has been an historically unstable one, constantly being defined and redefined within certain socio-historical contexts. For the Monacan Indians of Amherst County, Virginia, the targeted effects of the Racial Integrity Act (1924) on their community throughout the twentieth century has provided one particular source for construing identity and meaning. Advocated and enforced by Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker (1861-1947), this act prevented Indigenous peoples in Virginia from claiming an ‘Indian’ identity for over 50 years and served as legal justification for the racial segregation and harsh treatment of Monacans from both White and Black individuals in Amherst County. Through a secondary, qualitative analysis of over 30 interviews and statements provided by Monacans between the years 1993 and 2011, this paper examines how the Monacans constructed and maintained a sense of their Indian identity throughout these events, and how the shared memory of the adverse experiences caused by this act continues to function as a form of social solidarity and communal identity for the Monacans today. Understanding the far-reaching effects of this act on the communal identity and solidarity of the Monacans is important for conceptualizing the struggles of this community, and others like it, in reclaiming their identity and sovereignty today.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Paul McClure
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Reclaiming an Identity: The Impacts of The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 on The Identity Construction of Present-Day Monacan Indians in Amherst County, Virginia
Room 217, Schewel Hall
The racial category of ‘American Indian’ has been an historically unstable one, constantly being defined and redefined within certain socio-historical contexts. For the Monacan Indians of Amherst County, Virginia, the targeted effects of the Racial Integrity Act (1924) on their community throughout the twentieth century has provided one particular source for construing identity and meaning. Advocated and enforced by Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker (1861-1947), this act prevented Indigenous peoples in Virginia from claiming an ‘Indian’ identity for over 50 years and served as legal justification for the racial segregation and harsh treatment of Monacans from both White and Black individuals in Amherst County. Through a secondary, qualitative analysis of over 30 interviews and statements provided by Monacans between the years 1993 and 2011, this paper examines how the Monacans constructed and maintained a sense of their Indian identity throughout these events, and how the shared memory of the adverse experiences caused by this act continues to function as a form of social solidarity and communal identity for the Monacans today. Understanding the far-reaching effects of this act on the communal identity and solidarity of the Monacans is important for conceptualizing the struggles of this community, and others like it, in reclaiming their identity and sovereignty today.