Comments on: Did You Know? Ancestry is Not So Black and White

By: Fiftysix

Fiftysix — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:29:07 +0000

The “one drop rule” is meaningless. A person can identify themself with just part of their ancestry or all of it if they choose. To tell another person how they should self-indentify is boorish and an example of bullying.

By: Tommie

Tommie — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:41:02 +0000

Hi, pls. It’s not a law, just an insidious practice in the Southern states. If you “google” the name Walter Ashby Plecker, you will see that this first registrar of the Virginia state Bureau of Vital Statistics (1912-1946) was a proponent of eugenics and a strong supporter of Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act (1924) which created two racial categories –Pure White and Everything Else (those with one-sixteenth or more of African American, Native American, Asian, or southern European heritage). Southern racists redefined this to any traceable African ancestry at all, unto “one drop” of African blood. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act in 1967 and declared that Americans may identify themselves however they choose. Our census forms now provide for that, hence the rise of “mixed blood” statistics and the decline of Black/Negro/African American statistics. Oregon, when becoming a state, declared that children should identify with their father’s race no matter what the mother’s race was. This was mostly aimed at Native American women, however, since Blacks were forbidden to live in the state. But that’s another story….

By: pls

pls — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:40:11 +0000

What is the “one drop” law? I’ve never heard of it and am curious.

By: GW

GW — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:31:55 +0000

60 years ago??? The one drop law still applies in the United States. One drop of African blood from 100 years ago, means you African American.

By: AA

AA — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:30:23 +0000

A lot of how one self identifies comes from external factors like the laws that were in place at the time and how one’s family members look. A person with a small percentage of African ancestry can have parents whose features lean towards the small percentage of African, which would have made them black 60 years ago by law. Therefore, regardless of how you come out and what percentage you are, you would self identify as African American as well.