Walter Plecker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Walter Plecker
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Walter Plecker at the Bureau of Vital Statistics in 1935
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| Registrar for the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics | |
| In office 1912–1946 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | April 2, 1861 Augusta County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 2, 1947 (aged 86) Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
Walter Ashby Plecker (April 2, 1861 – August 2, 1947) was an American doctor and public health supporter. He was the first person to lead Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics, from 1912 to 1946. He was also a key figure in the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America. This was a group that believed in white supremacy, meaning they thought white people were superior. Plecker helped create a law called the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. This law made the "one-drop rule" official in Virginia. The "one-drop rule" meant that if a person had even a tiny bit of African ancestry, they were considered "colored" or Black.
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Early Life and Education
Walter Plecker was born in Augusta County, Virginia. His father had fought in the Civil War. Walter went to Hoover Military Academy and finished in 1880. He then studied medicine at the University of Maryland. He became a doctor in 1885.
Plecker was a very religious person. He supported a strict branch of the Presbyterian church. He believed that mixing different races was wrong.
Walter Plecker's Career and Beliefs
Plecker moved to Hampton, Virginia, in 1892. He worked as a doctor and cared for women of all backgrounds. He was especially interested in helping mothers and babies. He taught midwives and even invented a simple incubator for newborns. His efforts helped reduce the number of deaths for Black mothers during childbirth by almost half. In 1902, he became a public health officer for Elizabeth City County.
In 1912, Plecker became the first leader of Virginia's new Bureau of Vital Statistics. He held this job until 1946. He strongly believed in white supremacy and eugenics. Eugenics is a harmful idea that tries to "improve" the human race by controlling who can have children.
What Was the Racial Integrity Act?
Plecker wanted to stop people from different races from marrying. He also thought that fewer people were being identified as "mulatto" (a term once used for people of mixed Black and white ancestry). He believed they were trying to pass as white.
With help from others, Plecker wrote the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924". The state government passed this law. It said there were only two races: "white" and "colored" (Black). This law made the "one-drop rule" official. If someone had any African ancestry, they were classified as "colored." Before this, people with a small amount of Black ancestry could be considered white.
This law was later challenged. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court said the law was illegal. This happened in a famous case called Loving v. Virginia.
How Did Plecker Affect Native Americans?
Plecker was especially against African Americans who identified as Native Americans. He believed that Virginia's Native American groups had "mixed" with African Americans. After the Civil War, Native Americans were brought to the Hampton area for education, sometimes marrying Black people.
Plecker refused to accept that many mixed-race Virginia Indian people had kept their culture. He ordered state offices to reclassify most people who said they were Native American as "colored." This was even though many Virginia Native Americans continued to live in their communities. Their church records often still showed them as Native American. Plecker specifically targeted certain families by their last names. He thought they were trying to avoid segregation. These segregation laws were common in the South until the 1960s.
Plecker also pushed the U.S. Census Bureau to remove the "mulatto" category. This meant that mixed-race people could not officially recognize their identity. It also helped create a system where mixed-race people were often put into the group with lower social status.
Later Life and Death
Walter Plecker retired in 1946. Less than a year later, on August 2, 1947, he was hit by a car in Richmond and died. He is buried next to his wife in Hollywood Cemetery in Virginia. They did not have children. Plecker was known for being serious and rarely smiling.
The Richmond Afro-American newspaper wrote about his death. The headline called him a "Rabid Racist."
Plecker's policies still affect people today. Descendants of Virginia's Native American tribes sometimes struggle to get federal recognition. This is because federal laws require proof of their heritage through old documents. Plecker's actions changed or destroyed many of these records. In 2007, the House of Representatives passed a law to recognize these Virginia tribes. In 2018, the Senate passed the bill, and it became law.
Quotes
- "Let us turn a deaf ear to those who would interpret Christian brotherhood as racial equality." (1925)
- "...insanity, tendency to crime, and immorality are almost surely transmitted to their children, especially when both parents are of the same class. The worst forms of undesirables born amongst us are those whose parents are of different races."
