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University of Michigan Law School

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Virginia

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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Pocahontas Exception: The Exemption Of American Indian Ancestry From Racial Purity Law, Kevin Noble Maillard Jan 2007

The Pocahontas Exception: The Exemption Of American Indian Ancestry From Racial Purity Law, Kevin Noble Maillard

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

"The Pocahontas Exception" confronts the legal existence and cultural fascination with the eponymous "Indian Grandmother." Laws existed in many states that prohibited marriage between Whites and non- Whites to prevent the "quagmire of mongrelization." Yet, this racial protectionism, as ingrained in law, blatantly exempted Indian blood from the threat to White racial purity. In Virginia, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 made exceptions for Whites of mixed descent who proudly claimed Native American ancestry from Pocahontas. This Paper questions the juridical exceptions made for Native American ancestry in antimiscegenation statutes, and analyzes the concomitant exemptions in contemporary social practice. With …


Reading, Writing, And Reparations: Systemic Reform Of Public Schools As A Matter Of Justice, Verna L. Williams Jan 2006

Reading, Writing, And Reparations: Systemic Reform Of Public Schools As A Matter Of Justice, Verna L. Williams

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article analyzes Virginia's effort to remedy massive resistance and posits that, under reparations theory, a broader remedy is necessary to redress the scope of the state's wrongdoing. To do this, Part I briefly examines reparations theory, which provides the tools to identify the proper scope of the injury to be addressed, and, in turn, informs the proper choice of remedy. With this background, Part II discusses the Brown Fund Act and the massive resistance it seeks to remedy. In this connection, the Article demonstrates that the school shutdowns were part of a statewide decision to defy Brown and maintain …