The "Pocahontas exception" (Virginia, 1924–1926)

SUMMARYThe "Pocahontas exception" (Virginia, 1924–1926) [Connections: Virginia & Eastern Shore, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDUnder the Racial Integrity Act, "the term 'white person' shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian." It then adds that persons with "one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian" and "no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed to be white persons." The Act made knowingly false race registration a felony. Encyclopedia Virginia says the exception "catered to those elite Virginians who counted themselves as descendants of" Pocahontas and John Rolfe. On 14 Jan. 1926, Del. Robert O. Norris Jr. introduced a bill removing it, with some estimating that about 20,000 white Virginians had small amounts of "Indian blood." The Senate indefinitely postponed the bill on 12 Mar. 1926

PATTERNThe same law handled Indian ancestry in two opposite ways. In an elite white family it was protected. In a family with any African ancestry it was erased

LENS (WW9)Indian ancestry was allowed when it belonged to elite white families and denied when it belonged to anyone else

OPENWhich named legislators pushed for the exception needs deep research. The page does not name them

SOURCEEncyclopedia Virginia, "Preservation of Racial Integrity (1924)"; Encyclopedia Virginia, "Racial Integrity Laws (1924–1930)". Primary: Code of Virginia 1924, §5099a, p. 1259.