Browse Items (19 total)

Sorrells family tree 09_1374.JPG
Atha Sorrells presented her family tree as evidence that she was white in her suit to obtain a license to marry Robert Painter.

Buck_Symbols 12_1094_002.JPG
Because characteristics such as feeble-mindedness and sexual immorality were thought to be hereditary, the Virginia Colony often used pedigrees to determine whether a person was a good candidate for sterilization.

Buck_Buildings12_1094_003.JPG
These buildings at the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded were the site of Carrie Buck's 1927 sterilization. Afterward, she was released from the colony. She married twice, and family and friends later denied the accuracy of her…

A Strode 050905_02.JPG
Aubrey E. Strode drafted the 1924 sterilization law and acted as legal counsel to the Board of Directors of the Virginia State Colony. He was paid $750 to represent the Board in each of the appeals of Carrie Buck's case.

A S Priddy 050905_01.JPG
Dr. A.S. Priddy, the superintendent of the Virginia Colony, assigned Irving Whitehead, a former member of the colony's board, to be Carrie Buck's defense lawyer. Priddy died before the appeals in the case were heard, and John Bell succeeded him.

Carrie_Buck_150dpi.JPG
Carrie Elizabeth Buck was born in Charlottesville in 1906 and placed with a foster family at age three. Her foster parents took her out of school after sixth grade to perform housework for them. In 1923 she became pregnant after her foster parents'…

Vivian_Buck_150dpi.JPG
Mrs. John Dobbs was the foster mother of Vivian Buck, Carrie's daughter. To demonstrate that the infant was an imbecile, like her mother and grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs waved a coin in front of Vivian's face and determined that the infant could not…

Plecker 12_1245_005.JPG
In the Virginia Law to Preserve Racial Integrity, "white" persons were defined as those with "no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian" or "one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian." The second part of the definition was…

Plecker 10_0878_003.JPG
In a 1943 letter to local registrars, clerks, and legislators, Plecker asserted, "[T]here does not exist today a descendant of Virginia ancestors claiming to be an Indian who is unmixed with negro blood."

Plecker 10_0878_001.JPG
Every person living in Virginia had to register as either "white" or "colored." This designation determined whom a person could marry and where he or she could attend school, among other things.
Output Formats

atom, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2