That the blood stay pure : African Americans, Native Americans, and the predicament of race and identity in Virginia

Title:

Author:

Coleman, Arica L.

ISBN:

9780253010438

Personal Author:

Coleman, Arica L.

Publication Information:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2013]

Physical Description:

xxii, 300 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Series:

Blacks in the diaspora

Contents:

Historicizing Black-Indian relations in Virginia -- Prologue: Lingering at the crossroads : African-Native American history and kinship lineage in Armstrong Archer's A compendium on slavery -- Notes on the state of Virginia: Jeffersonian thought and the rise of racial purity ideology in the eighteenth century -- Redefining race and identity: the Indian-Negro confusion and the changing state of Black-Indian relations in the nineteenth century -- Race purity and the law: the Racial Integrity Act and policing Black-Indian identity in the twentieth century -- Denying blackness: anthropological advocacy and the remaking of the Virginia Indians -- Black-Indian relations in the present state of Virginia -- Beyond black and white: Afro-Indian identity in the case of Loving v. Virginia -- The racial integrity fight: confrontations of race and identity in Charles City County, Virginia -- Nottoway Indians, Afro-Indian identity, and the contemporary dilemma of state eecognition -- Epilogue: Afro-Indian peoples of Virginia; the indelible thread of Black and Red.

Language:

English

Subject Term:

African Americans -- Virginia -- History.

Indians of North America -- Virginia -- History.

African Americans -- Relations with Indians.

Racism -- Virginia -- History.

Geographic Term:

Virginia -- Ethnic relations -- History.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Call Number	Status
Searching... Downtown Branch at Slover	Hardback Book	0118613326917	305.8009 COL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Richard A. Tucker Memorial Library	Hardback Book	0118612646752	305.8009 COL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Storage	Hardback Book	0118612646794	305.8009 COL	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

That the Blood Stay Pure traces the history and legacy of the commonwealth of Virginia's effort to maintain racial purity and its impact on the relations between African Americans and Native Americans. Arica L. Coleman tells the story of Virginia's racial purity campaign from the perspective of those who were disavowed or expelled from tribal communities due to their affiliation with people of African descent or because their physical attributes linked them to those of African ancestry. Coleman also explores the social consequences of the racial purity ethos for tribal communities that have refused to define Indian identity based on a denial of blackness. This rich interdisciplinary history, which includes contemporary case studies, addresses a neglected aspect of America's long struggle with race and identity.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Coleman (black studies, Univ. of Delaware) delivers a book that is a revelation. It is, by far, the most logical analysis yet detailing the role of racial politics in the "crescent" of tri-racial recognition of Native identity, Virginia and the Carolinas. The author goes into such terrain as the fact that certain areas in this portion of the South tolerated open interracial sexual congress, as long as the participants did not seek public acceptance. She likewise details the role of long-demonized Virginia Registrar of Vital Statistics (and rabid racist) Walter Ashby Plecker's role in the politics of bi-/tri-racial Native identity, but also calls into question once-lionized academics Frank Speck and Helen Rountree. Coleman laudably relies heavily on primary documents, but the seminal work on "tri-racial isolates" is Brewton Berry's pioneering Almost White (1963), which Coleman fails to cite--an elemental oversight. If she had, she would have learned of the derivation of the term "Ishies" for the Amherst Cherokee (i.e., "Free Issues of Color'). Nevertheless, this tremendous book, wisely honing in on one state, one set of political agendas, and a chronological view of the phenomenon of negotiated ethnicity, is the most thorough treatment of the topic this reviewer has read. A pure joy! --Cynthia Rachel Kasee, Winston-Salem State University

Joseph F. Jordan

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
Introduction	p. 1
Part 1 Historicizing Black-Indian Relations in Virginia
Prologue. Lingering at the Crossroads: African-Native American History and Kinship Lineage in Armstrong Archer's A Compendium on Slavery	p. 21
1 Notes on the State of Virginia: Jeffersonian Thought and the Rise of Racial Purity Ideology in the Eighteenth Century	p. 42
2 Redefining Race and Identity: The Indian-Negro Confusion and the Changing State of Black-Indian Relations in the Nineteenth Century	p. 64
3 Race Purity and the Law: The Racial Integrity Act and Policing Black-Indian Identity in the Twentieth Century	p. 89
4 Denying Blackness: Anthropological Advocacy and the Remaking of the Virginia Indians	p. 122
Part 2 Black-Indian Relations in the Present State of Virginia
5 Beyond Black and White: Afro-Indian Identity in the Case of Loving v. Virginia	p. 151
6 The Racial Integrity Fight: Confrontations of Race and Identity in Charles City County, Virginia	p. 177
7 Nottoway Indians, Afro-Indian Identity, and the Contemporary Dilemma of State Recognition	p. 207
Epilogue: Afro-Indian Peoples of Virginia: The Indelible Thread of Black and Red	p. 235
Appendix: The Racial Integrity Act	p. 243
Notes	p. 245
Selected Bibliography	p. 285
Index	p. 293

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Table of Contents