1924 RACIAL INTEGRITY ACT1 [* \6 K5 d: Q
The 1924 Racial Integrity Act was part of a series of laws designed to prevent racial intermixing. Under the direction of Dr. Walter Plecker, the Bureau of Vital Statistics divided Virginians into strictly defined racial categories of "white" and "colored" and banned marriages between people of different races. Many Virginians filed lawsuits disputing their racial classification and claiming their right to get married. - Z: a+ i" X$ P/ n# r) D) \- g/ ?) x$ D2 j. k& r2 \7 n
It shall hereafter be unlawful for any white person in this State to marry any save a white person, or a person with no other admixture of blood than white and American Indian. For the purpose of this act, the term "white person" shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian; but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian and have no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed to be white persons. All laws heretofore passed and now in effect regarding the intermarriage of white and colored persons shall apply to marriages prohibited by this act.