October 13, 1923 – Anglo-Saxon Clubs of Virginia Convene & Adopt a Constitution to Fight for White Supremacy

On this day in history, representatives from a number of branches of “the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America” met in Richmond, Virginia. Their purpose was “to preserve and maintain Anglo-Saxon ideals in America by ‘the strengthening of Anglo-Saxon instincts, traditions and principles,” “the intelligent selection and exclusion of immigrants,” and most importantly, the implementation of “fundamental and final solutions of our racial problems in general, most especially of the Negro problem.” [Richard B. Sherman, “‘The Last Stand’: The Fight for Racial Integrity in Virginia in the 1920s,” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Feb., 1988), pp. 69-92]

John Powell, the moving spirit behind the Anglo-Saxon Clubs

The group produced effective lobbyists, Sherman observes, who were able to push through a bill in Virginia ensuring “racial integrity.” Although the final measure was watered down a bit from what the Anglo-Saxon Club adherents proposed, the support from those in the eugenics movement as well as the press helped raise enough alarm about “racial intermingling” that the Racial Integrity Act was passed in 1924. As Sherman reports:

Virginia’s 1924 Racial Integrity Act, with its ‘no trace’ definition of a white person [before, needless to point out, the widespread use of DNA testing would call that particular definition into question], and its accompanying ban on intermarriage, was possibly the most strict in the nation.”

The act not only banned anyone with black blood from marrying a white person, but also forbad “Orientals or other nonwhites” from marrying Caucasians.

The act also required the registration of all Virginia residents with the State Bureau of Vital Statistics, noting their status as either white or “colored.” All doctors, midwives, and other health or county officials were required to fill out birth registration forms that clearly identified children they delivered as “colored” or “white.” The racial criteria strictly adhered to the “one-drop rule.”

Virginia’s governor was so pleased with the passage of the bill that he sent a copy to the other governors of each state requesting that they try to get similar acts passed. (Sherman, p. 79)

The law was the most notorious ban on miscegenation in the United States. It was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1967, in Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1)

You can read the entire act here.