Collections

Start Over Collection Rockbridge County (Va.) Clerk's Correspondence (Walter A. Plecker to A. T. Shields), 1912-1943 Level Collection
Library of Virginia

Rockbridge County (Va.) Clerk's Correspondence (Walter A. Plecker to A. T. Shields), 1912-1943

Rockbridge County (Va.) Clerk's Correspondence (Walter A. Plecker to A. T. Shields), 1912-1943, consists principally of correspondence to the Rockbridge County clerk of the circuit court Abner Terry Shields from Walter Ashby Plecker, head of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics. The correspondence includes Vital Statistics forms and instructions, Virginia Health Bulletins about enforcing the Racial Integrity Law of 1924, a letter to the attorney general asking for clarification of procedures required by the new Racial Integrity Act about issuing marriage licenses, pamphlets about eugenics issued by Plecker and the Bureau of Vital Statistics, lists of families that Plecker considered to be of questionable racial lineage including families of Amherst and Rockbridge counties, specific inquiries from Plecker about individuals he was seeking to prove were non-white, and newspaper articles about court cases challenging the Racial Integrity Law. References exist to the cases of Dorothy Johns and Atha Sorrells who separately challenged the Racial Integrity Law in 1924.

1 result

Rockbridge County (Va.) Clerk's Correspondence (Walter A. Plecker to A. T. Shields), 1912-1943

Rockbridge County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Rockbridge County (Va.) Clerk's Correspondence (Walter A. Plecker to A. T. Shields), 1912-1943, consists principally of correspondence to the Rockbridge County clerk of the circuit court Abner Terry Shields from Walter Ashby Plecker, head of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics. The correspondence includes Vital Statistics forms and instructions, Virginia Health Bulletins about enforcing the Racial Integrity Law of 1924, a letter to the attorney general asking for clarification of procedures required by the new Racial Integrity Act about issuing marriage licenses, pamphlets about eugenics issued by Plecker and the Bureau of Vital Statistics, lists of families that Plecker considered to be of questionable racial lineage including families of Amherst and Rockbridge counties, specific inquiries from Plecker about individuals he was seeking to prove were non-white, and newspaper articles about court cases challenging the Racial Integrity Law. References exist to the cases of Dorothy Johns and Atha Sorrells who separately challenged the Racial Integrity Law in 1924.

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.