Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1785 · Places: Virginia
SUMMARY1785 and 1866: blood-fraction lines (Virginia, Oct. 1785; 27 Feb. 1866) [Connections: Virginia & Eastern Shore, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDThe 1785 act deemed a mulatto "every person of whose grandfathers or grandmothers any one is, or shall have been a negro," meaning "one-fourth part or more of negro blood." The 1866 act provided that "every person having one-fourth or more of negro blood, shall be deemed a colored person" and "every person, not a colored person, having one-fourth or more of Indian blood, shall be deemed an Indian."
PATTERNUnder these laws, "Indian" was something left over: you could only be classed as Indian if you were first found not to be "colored."
LENS (WW9)The state made the categories and moved the lines between them, then held the people responsible for which side they landed on
OPENWhich 1870/1880 Eastern Shore census entries changed between "Indian" and "mulatto."
SOURCEEncyclopedia Virginia, Act of 1785; Encyclopedia Virginia, Chapter 17, Acts of 1866.