{"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Baccess_subjects%5D%5B%5D=Miscegenation.\u0026view=compact","last":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Baccess_subjects%5D%5B%5D=Miscegenation.\u0026page=1\u0026view=compact"},"meta":{"pages":{"current_page":1,"next_page":null,"prev_page":null,"total_pages":1,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":0,"total_count":3,"first_page?":true,"last_page?":true}},"data":[{"id":"vi_vi02800","type":"collection","attributes":{"title":"Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925","creator":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi02800#creator","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n","label":"Creator"}},"abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi02800#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925. This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person. The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended. \u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi02800#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"id":"vi_vi02800","ead_ssi":"vi_vi02800","_root_":"vi_vi02800","_nest_parent_":"vi_vi02800","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/lva/vi02800.xml","title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925\n"],"title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925\n"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["1140744, 1164679\n"],"text":["1140744, 1164679\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925","African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Eugenics.","Indians of North America.","Interracial marriage.","Interracial marriage. -- Law and legislation.","Monacan Indians.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Depositions -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.",".15 cu. ft. (1 box) and 1 oversized folder","Rockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later. \n","On March 20, 1924, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act that recognized only two races, white and colored.  The act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth, and made marriage between white persons and non-white persons a felony.  The law was the most famous ban on miscegenation in the United States, and was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia.  The registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital of Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, developed the racial criteria behind the act and adhered strictly to the one-drop rule, a historical colloquial term that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black.  The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas exception.  Since many influential families claimed descent from Pocahontas, the legislature declared that a person could be considered white with as much as one-sixteenth Indian ancestry.  This law, along with the Sterilization Act also of 1924, imposed the practice of scientific eugenics in the Commonwealth.\n","Walter Ashby Plecker, 1861-1947, was a physician and public health advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics.  Plecker graduated from Hoover Military Academy in 1880 and obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1885. He settled in Hampton, Virginia 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 fifty percent 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, Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been mongrelized with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly in 1924, The Racial Integrity Act, recognized only two races, white and colored. Plecker believed that colored people were attempting to pass as Indian and obsessively documented each and every birth and marriage registration submitted to his agency. Plecker's policies pressured state agencies to reclassify most citizens claiming Indian identity as colored. This policy has left a modern day legacy where Virginia's Native Americans struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage as required by federal laws.\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925.  This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person.  The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended.\n","Atha Sorrells's contention was that her family had some Native American ancestors not African American ancestors and that they had long been considered white or at least not negro.  Evidence in the form of a family tree, copies of federal land warrants and War of 1812 military service, a prior case of ancestor James Clarke who was declared in 1876 to be a white person in a similar case, and depositions to support her claim were submitted.  All of the depositions concern the family tree and family relationships, whether the Clark and Sorrells families had gone to to white or colored churches and schools, who these families associated and married with, and what the general opinion of the neighborhood was as to their color and the color of their ancestors.  Many questions centered on the families of the Irish Creek community in Rockbridge County, many of whom either claimed or were accused of some degree of Native American ancestry, probably Monacan.  Dr. Walter A. Plecker, then-registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, was one of the deponents for the defense.  The lawyer for Shields tried many times to ask deponents about additional families of the Irish Creek area and their ancestries but the judge continually disallowed such discussions.  Atha Sorrells won her case when the judge decided that her ancestry was Indian and not negro, and that she contained little enough Indian to be classified as a white person under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.","Some correspondence filed at the end of the case discussed the possibility of an appeal of the decision.\n","Library of Virginia\n","Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court. ","Clark family.","Clarke family.","Sorrel family.","Sorrells family.","Puls family.","Pultz family.","Wood family.","Woods family.","Holt, Henry W.","Painter, Robert.","Plecker, Walter Ashby -- 1861-1867.","Shields, Abner Terry -- 1852- .","Sorrells, Atha.","English\n"],"unitid_tesim":["1140744, 1164679\n"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925"],"collection_title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925"],"collection_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925"],"repository_ssm":["Library of Virginia"],"repository_ssim":["Library of Virginia"],"creator_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n"],"creator_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n"],"acqinfo_ssim":["These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n","Photolab id number for inkjet print of genealogical chart 091374.\n"],"access_subjects_ssim":["African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Eugenics.","Indians of North America.","Interracial marriage.","Interracial marriage. -- Law and legislation.","Monacan Indians.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Depositions -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County."],"access_subjects_ssm":["African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Eugenics.","Indians of North America.","Interracial marriage.","Interracial marriage. -- Law and legislation.","Monacan Indians.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Depositions -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":[".15 cu. ft. (1 box) and 1 oversized folder"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later. \n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eOn March 20, 1924, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act that recognized only two races, white and colored.  The act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth, and made marriage between white persons and non-white persons a felony.  The law was the most famous ban on miscegenation in the United States, and was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia.  The registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital of Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, developed the racial criteria behind the act and adhered strictly to the one-drop rule, a historical colloquial term that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black.  The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas exception.  Since many influential families claimed descent from Pocahontas, the legislature declared that a person could be considered white with as much as one-sixteenth Indian ancestry.  This law, along with the Sterilization Act also of 1924, imposed the practice of scientific eugenics in the Commonwealth.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWalter Ashby Plecker, 1861-1947, was a physician and public health advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics.  Plecker graduated from Hoover Military Academy in 1880 and obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1885. He settled in Hampton, Virginia 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 fifty percent 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, Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been mongrelized with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly in 1924, The Racial Integrity Act, recognized only two races, white and colored. Plecker believed that colored people were attempting to pass as Indian and obsessively documented each and every birth and marriage registration submitted to his agency. Plecker's policies pressured state agencies to reclassify most citizens claiming Indian identity as colored. This policy has left a modern day legacy where Virginia's Native Americans struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage as required by federal laws.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Historical Information\n"],"bioghist_tesim":["Rockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later. \n","On March 20, 1924, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act that recognized only two races, white and colored.  The act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth, and made marriage between white persons and non-white persons a felony.  The law was the most famous ban on miscegenation in the United States, and was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia.  The registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital of Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, developed the racial criteria behind the act and adhered strictly to the one-drop rule, a historical colloquial term that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black.  The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas exception.  Since many influential families claimed descent from Pocahontas, the legislature declared that a person could be considered white with as much as one-sixteenth Indian ancestry.  This law, along with the Sterilization Act also of 1924, imposed the practice of scientific eugenics in the Commonwealth.\n","Walter Ashby Plecker, 1861-1947, was a physician and public health advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics.  Plecker graduated from Hoover Military Academy in 1880 and obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1885. He settled in Hampton, Virginia 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 fifty percent 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, Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been mongrelized with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly in 1924, The Racial Integrity Act, recognized only two races, white and colored. Plecker believed that colored people were attempting to pass as Indian and obsessively documented each and every birth and marriage registration submitted to his agency. Plecker's policies pressured state agencies to reclassify most citizens claiming Indian identity as colored. This policy has left a modern day legacy where Virginia's Native Americans struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage as required by federal laws.\n"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925.  This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person.  The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAtha Sorrells's contention was that her family had some Native American ancestors not African American ancestors and that they had long been considered white or at least not negro.  Evidence in the form of a family tree, copies of federal land warrants and War of 1812 military service, a prior case of ancestor James Clarke who was declared in 1876 to be a white person in a similar case, and depositions to support her claim were submitted.  All of the depositions concern the family tree and family relationships, whether the Clark and Sorrells families had gone to to white or colored churches and schools, who these families associated and married with, and what the general opinion of the neighborhood was as to their color and the color of their ancestors.  Many questions centered on the families of the Irish Creek community in Rockbridge County, many of whom either claimed or were accused of some degree of Native American ancestry, probably Monacan.  Dr. Walter A. Plecker, then-registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, was one of the deponents for the defense.  The lawyer for Shields tried many times to ask deponents about additional families of the Irish Creek area and their ancestries but the judge continually disallowed such discussions.  Atha Sorrells won her case when the judge decided that her ancestry was Indian and not negro, and that she contained little enough Indian to be classified as a white person under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome correspondence filed at the end of the case discussed the possibility of an appeal of the decision.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content\n"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925.  This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person.  The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended.\n","Atha Sorrells's contention was that her family had some Native American ancestors not African American ancestors and that they had long been considered white or at least not negro.  Evidence in the form of a family tree, copies of federal land warrants and War of 1812 military service, a prior case of ancestor James Clarke who was declared in 1876 to be a white person in a similar case, and depositions to support her claim were submitted.  All of the depositions concern the family tree and family relationships, whether the Clark and Sorrells families had gone to to white or colored churches and schools, who these families associated and married with, and what the general opinion of the neighborhood was as to their color and the color of their ancestors.  Many questions centered on the families of the Irish Creek community in Rockbridge County, many of whom either claimed or were accused of some degree of Native American ancestry, probably Monacan.  Dr. Walter A. Plecker, then-registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, was one of the deponents for the defense.  The lawyer for Shields tried many times to ask deponents about additional families of the Irish Creek area and their ancestries but the judge continually disallowed such discussions.  Atha Sorrells won her case when the judge decided that her ancestry was Indian and not negro, and that she contained little enough Indian to be classified as a white person under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.","Some correspondence filed at the end of the case discussed the possibility of an appeal of the decision.\n"],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc label=\"Location\"\u003eLibrary of Virginia\n\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["Library of Virginia\n"],"names_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court. ","Clark family.","Clarke family.","Sorrel family.","Sorrells family.","Puls family.","Pultz family.","Wood family.","Woods family.","Holt, Henry W.","Painter, Robert.","Plecker, Walter Ashby -- 1861-1867.","Shields, Abner Terry -- 1852- .","Sorrells, Atha."],"corpname_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court. 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Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925\n"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["1140744, 1164679\n"],"text":["1140744, 1164679\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925","African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Eugenics.","Indians of North America.","Interracial marriage.","Interracial marriage. -- Law and legislation.","Monacan Indians.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Depositions -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.",".15 cu. ft. (1 box) and 1 oversized folder","Rockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later. \n","On March 20, 1924, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act that recognized only two races, white and colored.  The act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth, and made marriage between white persons and non-white persons a felony.  The law was the most famous ban on miscegenation in the United States, and was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia.  The registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital of Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, developed the racial criteria behind the act and adhered strictly to the one-drop rule, a historical colloquial term that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black.  The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas exception.  Since many influential families claimed descent from Pocahontas, the legislature declared that a person could be considered white with as much as one-sixteenth Indian ancestry.  This law, along with the Sterilization Act also of 1924, imposed the practice of scientific eugenics in the Commonwealth.\n","Walter Ashby Plecker, 1861-1947, was a physician and public health advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics.  Plecker graduated from Hoover Military Academy in 1880 and obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1885. He settled in Hampton, Virginia 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 fifty percent 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, Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been mongrelized with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly in 1924, The Racial Integrity Act, recognized only two races, white and colored. Plecker believed that colored people were attempting to pass as Indian and obsessively documented each and every birth and marriage registration submitted to his agency. Plecker's policies pressured state agencies to reclassify most citizens claiming Indian identity as colored. This policy has left a modern day legacy where Virginia's Native Americans struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage as required by federal laws.\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925.  This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person.  The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended.\n","Atha Sorrells's contention was that her family had some Native American ancestors not African American ancestors and that they had long been considered white or at least not negro.  Evidence in the form of a family tree, copies of federal land warrants and War of 1812 military service, a prior case of ancestor James Clarke who was declared in 1876 to be a white person in a similar case, and depositions to support her claim were submitted.  All of the depositions concern the family tree and family relationships, whether the Clark and Sorrells families had gone to to white or colored churches and schools, who these families associated and married with, and what the general opinion of the neighborhood was as to their color and the color of their ancestors.  Many questions centered on the families of the Irish Creek community in Rockbridge County, many of whom either claimed or were accused of some degree of Native American ancestry, probably Monacan.  Dr. Walter A. Plecker, then-registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, was one of the deponents for the defense.  The lawyer for Shields tried many times to ask deponents about additional families of the Irish Creek area and their ancestries but the judge continually disallowed such discussions.  Atha Sorrells won her case when the judge decided that her ancestry was Indian and not negro, and that she contained little enough Indian to be classified as a white person under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.","Some correspondence filed at the end of the case discussed the possibility of an appeal of the decision.\n","Library of Virginia\n","Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court. ","Clark family.","Clarke family.","Sorrel family.","Sorrells family.","Puls family.","Pultz family.","Wood family.","Woods family.","Holt, Henry W.","Painter, Robert.","Plecker, Walter Ashby -- 1861-1867.","Shields, Abner Terry -- 1852- .","Sorrells, Atha.","English\n"],"unitid_tesim":["1140744, 1164679\n"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925"],"collection_title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925"],"collection_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, \n 1925"],"repository_ssm":["Library of Virginia"],"repository_ssim":["Library of Virginia"],"creator_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n"],"creator_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n"],"acqinfo_ssim":["These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Rockbridge County (Va.) 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(1 box) and 1 oversized folder"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later. \n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eOn March 20, 1924, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act that recognized only two races, white and colored.  The act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth, and made marriage between white persons and non-white persons a felony.  The law was the most famous ban on miscegenation in the United States, and was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia.  The registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital of Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, developed the racial criteria behind the act and adhered strictly to the one-drop rule, a historical colloquial term that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black.  The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas exception.  Since many influential families claimed descent from Pocahontas, the legislature declared that a person could be considered white with as much as one-sixteenth Indian ancestry.  This law, along with the Sterilization Act also of 1924, imposed the practice of scientific eugenics in the Commonwealth.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eWalter Ashby Plecker, 1861-1947, was a physician and public health advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics.  Plecker graduated from Hoover Military Academy in 1880 and obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1885. He settled in Hampton, Virginia 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 fifty percent 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, Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been mongrelized with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly in 1924, The Racial Integrity Act, recognized only two races, white and colored. Plecker believed that colored people were attempting to pass as Indian and obsessively documented each and every birth and marriage registration submitted to his agency. Plecker's policies pressured state agencies to reclassify most citizens claiming Indian identity as colored. This policy has left a modern day legacy where Virginia's Native Americans struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage as required by federal laws.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Historical Information\n"],"bioghist_tesim":["Rockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later. \n","On March 20, 1924, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act that recognized only two races, white and colored.  The act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth, and made marriage between white persons and non-white persons a felony.  The law was the most famous ban on miscegenation in the United States, and was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia.  The registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital of Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, developed the racial criteria behind the act and adhered strictly to the one-drop rule, a historical colloquial term that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black.  The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas exception.  Since many influential families claimed descent from Pocahontas, the legislature declared that a person could be considered white with as much as one-sixteenth Indian ancestry.  This law, along with the Sterilization Act also of 1924, imposed the practice of scientific eugenics in the Commonwealth.\n","Walter Ashby Plecker, 1861-1947, was a physician and public health advocate who was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics.  Plecker graduated from Hoover Military Academy in 1880 and obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1885. He settled in Hampton, Virginia 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 fifty percent 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, Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been mongrelized with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly in 1924, The Racial Integrity Act, recognized only two races, white and colored. Plecker believed that colored people were attempting to pass as Indian and obsessively documented each and every birth and marriage registration submitted to his agency. Plecker's policies pressured state agencies to reclassify most citizens claiming Indian identity as colored. This policy has left a modern day legacy where Virginia's Native Americans struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage as required by federal laws.\n"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925.  This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person.  The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAtha Sorrells's contention was that her family had some Native American ancestors not African American ancestors and that they had long been considered white or at least not negro.  Evidence in the form of a family tree, copies of federal land warrants and War of 1812 military service, a prior case of ancestor James Clarke who was declared in 1876 to be a white person in a similar case, and depositions to support her claim were submitted.  All of the depositions concern the family tree and family relationships, whether the Clark and Sorrells families had gone to to white or colored churches and schools, who these families associated and married with, and what the general opinion of the neighborhood was as to their color and the color of their ancestors.  Many questions centered on the families of the Irish Creek community in Rockbridge County, many of whom either claimed or were accused of some degree of Native American ancestry, probably Monacan.  Dr. Walter A. Plecker, then-registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, was one of the deponents for the defense.  The lawyer for Shields tried many times to ask deponents about additional families of the Irish Creek area and their ancestries but the judge continually disallowed such discussions.  Atha Sorrells won her case when the judge decided that her ancestry was Indian and not negro, and that she contained little enough Indian to be classified as a white person under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSome correspondence filed at the end of the case discussed the possibility of an appeal of the decision.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content\n"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Atha Sorrells by her next friend William Sorrells vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Circuit Court, 1925.  This judgment consists of the papers related to the suit that Atha Sorrells brought against the clerk of Rockbridge circuit court after he denied her a marriage license to marry Robert Painter on the grounds that she was not a white person.  The case contains her petition for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to declare her a white person and grant her a marriage license, an order appointing William Sorrells as her next friend since she was a minor, a memorandum opinion of Judge Henry W. Holt ordering the license to issue, witness subpoenas, depositions, and correspondence and evidence related to the case including a large family tree of the Clark family from whom Altha Sorrells descended.\n","Atha Sorrells's contention was that her family had some Native American ancestors not African American ancestors and that they had long been considered white or at least not negro.  Evidence in the form of a family tree, copies of federal land warrants and War of 1812 military service, a prior case of ancestor James Clarke who was declared in 1876 to be a white person in a similar case, and depositions to support her claim were submitted.  All of the depositions concern the family tree and family relationships, whether the Clark and Sorrells families had gone to to white or colored churches and schools, who these families associated and married with, and what the general opinion of the neighborhood was as to their color and the color of their ancestors.  Many questions centered on the families of the Irish Creek community in Rockbridge County, many of whom either claimed or were accused of some degree of Native American ancestry, probably Monacan.  Dr. Walter A. Plecker, then-registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, was one of the deponents for the defense.  The lawyer for Shields tried many times to ask deponents about additional families of the Irish Creek area and their ancestries but the judge continually disallowed such discussions.  Atha Sorrells won her case when the judge decided that her ancestry was Indian and not negro, and that she contained little enough Indian to be classified as a white person under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.","Some correspondence filed at the end of the case discussed the possibility of an appeal of the decision.\n"],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc label=\"Location\"\u003eLibrary of Virginia\n\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["Library of Virginia\n"],"names_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court. ","Clark family.","Clarke family.","Sorrel family.","Sorrells family.","Puls family.","Pultz family.","Wood family.","Woods family.","Holt, Henry W.","Painter, Robert.","Plecker, Walter Ashby -- 1861-1867.","Shields, Abner Terry -- 1852- .","Sorrells, Atha."],"corpname_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court. "],"famname_ssim":["Clark family.","Clarke family.","Sorrel family.","Sorrells family.","Puls family.","Pultz family.","Wood family.","Woods family."],"persname_ssim":["Holt, Henry W.","Painter, Robert.","Plecker, Walter Ashby -- 1861-1867.","Shields, Abner Terry -- 1852- .","Sorrells, Atha."],"language_ssim":["English\n"],"total_component_count_is":0,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T01:18:32.115Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi02800"}},{"id":"vi_vi04030","type":"collection","attributes":{"title":"Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December","creator":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi04030#creator","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n","label":"Creator"}},"abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi04030#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license. \u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi04030#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"id":"vi_vi04030","ead_ssi":"vi_vi04030","_root_":"vi_vi04030","_nest_parent_":"vi_vi04030","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/lva/vi04030.xml","title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December\n"],"title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December\n"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["1140710\n"],"text":["1140710\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December","African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Interracial marriage -- Law and legislation.","Interracial marriage -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","1 folder","Rockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later.\n","Anti-miscegenation laws banning interracial marriage between whites and non-whites were first enacted in Virginia in 1691. As early as 1792, a person was legally a mulatto if they had one fourth or greater part of negro blood. The 1866 law decreed that every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one-fourth or more Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian. In 1924, the Racial Integrity Law changed this to the so-called one drop rule that held that the term white shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian, but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian, and no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons. Every other combination was to be negro or colored.\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license.\n","Clark was an ancestor of Atha Sorrells of Rockbridge who in 1924 also sued for a writ of mandamus after denied a marriage license under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 that greatly narrowed racial definitions in Virginia.\n","State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia\n","Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court.","Clark family","Clarke family","English\n"],"unitid_tesim":["1140710\n"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December"],"collection_title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December"],"collection_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December"],"repository_ssm":["Library of Virginia"],"repository_ssim":["Library of Virginia"],"creator_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n"],"creator_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.\n"],"acqinfo_ssim":["This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Rockbridge County.\n"],"access_subjects_ssim":["African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Interracial marriage -- Law and legislation.","Interracial marriage -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County."],"access_subjects_ssm":["African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Interracial marriage -- Law and legislation.","Interracial marriage -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["1 folder"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAnti-miscegenation laws banning interracial marriage between whites and non-whites were first enacted in Virginia in 1691. As early as 1792, a person was legally a mulatto if they had one fourth or greater part of negro blood. The 1866 law decreed that every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one-fourth or more Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian. In 1924, the Racial Integrity Law changed this to the so-called one drop rule that held that the term white shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian, but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian, and no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons. Every other combination was to be negro or colored.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Historical Information\n"],"bioghist_tesim":["Rockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later.\n","Anti-miscegenation laws banning interracial marriage between whites and non-whites were first enacted in Virginia in 1691. As early as 1792, a person was legally a mulatto if they had one fourth or greater part of negro blood. The 1866 law decreed that every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one-fourth or more Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian. In 1924, the Racial Integrity Law changed this to the so-called one drop rule that held that the term white shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian, but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian, and no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons. Every other combination was to be negro or colored.\n"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eClark was an ancestor of Atha Sorrells of Rockbridge who in 1924 also sued for a writ of mandamus after denied a marriage license under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 that greatly narrowed racial definitions in Virginia.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content\n"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license.\n","Clark was an ancestor of Atha Sorrells of Rockbridge who in 1924 also sued for a writ of mandamus after denied a marriage license under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 that greatly narrowed racial definitions in Virginia.\n"],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc label=\"Shelf Location\"\u003eState Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia\n\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia\n"],"names_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court.","Clark family","Clarke family"],"corpname_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). 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The 1866 law decreed that every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one-fourth or more Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian. In 1924, the Racial Integrity Law changed this to the so-called one drop rule that held that the term white shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian, but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian, and no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons. Every other combination was to be negro or colored.\n","Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license.\n","Clark was an ancestor of Atha Sorrells of Rockbridge who in 1924 also sued for a writ of mandamus after denied a marriage license under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 that greatly narrowed racial definitions in Virginia.\n","State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia\n","Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court.","Clark family","Clarke family","English\n"],"unitid_tesim":["1140710\n"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, \n 1876 December"],"collection_title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. 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Circuit Court.\n"],"acqinfo_ssim":["This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Rockbridge County.\n"],"access_subjects_ssim":["African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Interracial marriage -- Law and legislation.","Interracial marriage -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County."],"access_subjects_ssm":["African Americans -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Interracial marriage -- Law and legislation.","Interracial marriage -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Miscegenation.","Civil court records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Legal correspondence -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County.","Local government records -- Virginia -- Rockbridge County."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["1 folder"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County was named for Natural Bridge, an exceptional rock formation located in the county. The county was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties in 1778, and another part of Botetourt was added later.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAnti-miscegenation laws banning interracial marriage between whites and non-whites were first enacted in Virginia in 1691. As early as 1792, a person was legally a mulatto if they had one fourth or greater part of negro blood. The 1866 law decreed that every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one-fourth or more Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian. In 1924, the Racial Integrity Law changed this to the so-called one drop rule that held that the term white shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian, but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian, and no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons. 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In 1924, the Racial Integrity Law changed this to the so-called one drop rule that held that the term white shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian, but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian, and no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed white persons. Every other combination was to be negro or colored.\n"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eRockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license.\n\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eClark was an ancestor of Atha Sorrells of Rockbridge who in 1924 also sued for a writ of mandamus after denied a marriage license under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 that greatly narrowed racial definitions in Virginia.\n\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content\n"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Clark vs. J. P. Moore, Clerk of Court, 1876 December. This judgment consists of the petition of James Clark (alternately spelled Clarke in the documents) for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to issue him a previously denied marriage license to marry Cerinda Robison, a whtie woman, on the grounds that he is a black man. Clark claims to be of mixed blood and less than the one fourth minimum negro or Indian blood that the law required. Included is a letter from the clerk of court of Amherst County to whom Moore had written to inquire about Clark's racial background and ancestry. Clark was successful in getting the court to order the clerk issue him a marriage license.\n","Clark was an ancestor of Atha Sorrells of Rockbridge who in 1924 also sued for a writ of mandamus after denied a marriage license under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 that greatly narrowed racial definitions in Virginia.\n"],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc label=\"Shelf Location\"\u003eState Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia\n\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia\n"],"names_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). Circuit Court.","Clark family","Clarke family"],"corpname_ssim":["Rockbridge County (Va.). 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This judgment consists of the petition of James Connor, a white man, and Dorothy Johns, a free issue or triple mixed blood (white, Indian and negro) woman, to the court to issue a writ of mandamus to the clerk of court. Shields had refused to issue them a marriage license under the provisions of the 1924 Racial Integrity Act. Also included in a witness summons for Silas Coleman of Amherst County. The verdict is not recorded on the court papers but Mr. Connors and Miss Johns were not successful in their request. \u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi04029#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"id":"vi_vi04029","ead_ssi":"vi_vi04029","_root_":"vi_vi04029","_nest_parent_":"vi_vi04029","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/lva/vi04029.xml","title_ssm":["Rockbridge County (Va.) James Connor and Dorothy Johns vs. A. T. Shields, Clerk of Court, \n 1924 September\n"],"title_tesim":["Rockbridge County (Va.) 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