Vikki

Nice to hear from you. Thanks for calling attention to the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which represents an extreme example by some states to ferret out every person with African Ancestry and identify them as “black.” As you point out, ethnic and racial discrimination has historically cast a very wide net, with shocking results.

Vikki

Interesting.

For a look at a particularly brutal implementation of laws that combined race, gender, and class discrimination, your readers might be interested in the following entry concerning the Racial Integrity Act of Virginia, 1924. Not only were men and women of African descent discriminated against in no uncertain terms; so were men and women of Indigenous descent and white women from impoverished economic classes. The most infamous case of class discrimination involved Carrie Buck, a young white woman who was raped by the nephew of her foster parents, and then institutionalized and sterilized.

In all, roughly four thousand white women were sterilized in Virginia for being from an economic class different from that of the ruling class, and untold numbers of women of color. It is “mind boggling“, to say the least.

Here is the entry:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_Integrity_Act_of_1924 -

PS. Enjoying your blog, as always!