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Surnames, by Counties and Cities, of Mixed Negroid Virginia Families Striving to Pass as "Indian" or White.
Walter Plecker circulated a list of surnames of "mixed negroid Virginia families striving to pass as 'Indian' or white" in each county.
Registration of Birth and Color--Virginia
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.
Application for Marriage License (Charlie Sorrells and Sophia Jane Woods)
In his application for a marriage license, Charlie Sorrells indicated that both he and his fiancee, Sophia Jane Woods, were white. A.T. Shields, the same clerk of the court who denied Atha Sorrells' right to marry, signed the license. The Sorrells'…
Letter, Walter A. Plecker, Richmond, to A.T. Shields, Lexington.
In a letter to A.T. Shields, Walter Plecker asserted that Judge Holt's decision to categorize Atha Sorrells as white despite her Indian heritage had "emboldened" the Rockbridge tribe. Nonetheless, he advised against appealing the Sorrells case to the…
Letter, Walter A. Plecker, Richmond, to Turner McDowell, Fincastle
In a letter to Turner McDowell, clerk of the Circuit Court in Botetourt County, Walter Plecker probed the legality of the marriage between Grace Mohler and Samuel Christian Branham. The court ruled that Branham was a "Negro" and ordered him "never…
Petition for mandamus, Atha Sorrells v. A.T. Shields, Clerk
A.T. Shields, clerk of the Circuit Court of Rockbridge County, denied Atha Sorrells and Robert Painter a marriage license because of Sorrells' Indian heritage. Sorrells and Painter brought action against Shields, and Judge Holt ruled in their favor,…
