Pamunkey: the marriage rule that recognition exposed (King William County, VA; Final Determination, 2 July 2015)

SUMMARY21. Pamunkey: the marriage rule that recognition exposed (King William County, VA; Final Determination, 2 July 2015) [Connections: Who decided who's Indian, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDThe Interior Department acknowledged the Pamunkey Indian Tribe (signed by Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn on 2 July 2015; published 8 July 2015). The notice records that Pamunkey governing documents had a rule requiring members to marry only persons of "white or Indian blood," and that on 27 Aug. 2014 the petitioner deleted that section. A commenter (Stand Up for California! and MGM) objected that the standards "specifically prohibit its members from marrying" African Americans. The Department noted interracial marriage was a crime in Virginia until Loving v. Virginia (1967), and said such evidence "often offends today's sensibilities, [but] is, nonetheless, evidence to be analyzed."

PATTERNA tribe under constant threat of being reclassified "colored" wrote a rule against Black marriage into its own law. The pressure of the paper line shows up inside the nation's records

LENS (WW9)The paper war was so strong it made Aboriginal people police the color line themselves to stay "Indian."

OPENWhen the Pamunkey rule was first adopted and why (scholars tie it to Virginia race law; needs deep research in Rountree and the BIA final determination, petition 323). Do not blame the Pamunkey people as a whole; name the laws that pushed the rule

SOURCEFederal Register, 8 July 2015, 2015-16711 (PDF).