The Monacan Indian Nation of Virginia

by Whitlock, Rosemary Clark; Paredes, J. Anthony; Blumer, Thomas J.

• ISBN13: 9780817354886
• ISBN10: 0817354883
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-03
• Publisher: Univ of Alabama Pr

Summary

Like members of some other native tribes, the Monacans have a long history of struggles for equality in jobs, health care, and education and have suffered cultural, political, and social abuse at the hands of authority figures appointed to serve them. The critical difference for the Monacans was the actions of segregationist Dr. Walter A. Plecker, Director of the Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912 to 1946. A strong proponent and enforcer of Virginia's Racial Integrity Law of 1924 that prohibited marriage between races, Plecker's interpretation of that law convinced him that there were only two races, white and colored. Anyone not bearing physically white genetic characteristics was "colored" and that included Indians. He would not let Indians get married in Virginia unless they applied as white or colored, he forced the local teachers to falsify the students' race on the official school rolls, and he threatened court clerks and census takers with prosecution if they used the term "Indian" on any official form. He personally changed government records when his directives were not followed and even coerced postpartum Indian mothers to list their newborns as white or colored or they could not take their infants home from the hospital. Eventually the federal government intervened, directing the Virginia state officials to begin the tedious process of correcting official records. Yet the legacy of Plecker's attempted cultural genocide remains. Through interviews with 26 Monacans, Whitlock provides first-person accounts of what happened to the Monacan families and how their very existence as Indians was threatened. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Rosemary Clark Whitlock is a Monacan Indian and independent scholar residing in Lancaster, South Carolina

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Virginia Monacan Indians	p. 1
Chief Kenneth Branham	p. 8
George Branham Whitewolf	p. 18
Danny Gear	p. 23
Lucian Branham-The Patriarch in 1997	p. 38
William Sandidge, Clerk of Court	p. 45
Dena Branham	p. 54
Jo Ann Staubitz	p. 57
Lee Branham	p. 62
Annie Johns Branham	p. 64
Phyllis Branham Hicks	p. 67
Thelma Louise Branham-Branham	p. 79
Eugene Branham	p. 84
Herbert Hicks	p. 86
Karenne Wood and Diane Shields	p. 89
Sharon Bryant	p. 94
Brenda Branham Garrison	p. 104
Hattie Belle Branham Hamilton	p. 110
Bertie Duff Branham	p. 113
Cecil Hamilton Terry	p. 122
Ella Branham Mays	p. 125
Betty Hamilton Branham	p. 130
Lacie Johns Branham	p. 132
Cammie Branham Johns	p. 135
William Carson Branham	p. 140
Heather and Holly Branham	p. 143
The Minister	p. 147
Rosemary Clark Whitlock	p. 155
Appendixes	p. 165
References	p. 213
Index	p. 215
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