Anglo Saxon Club Analysis

Although the early efforts of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs focused on managing the threat posed by “near-white” mulattoes, Plecker and his associates soon turned their attention to the state’s native population. Spurred by the belief that “there [were] no native-born Virginians unmixed with Negro blood,” Plecker spearheaded a new phase of the ASCOA’s racial integrity campaign, which now aimed at policing the “Negroid-Indians” they feared were using the “Indian” label as a way-station to whiteness. Virginia’s Indian population provided a readily identifiable population toward which Powell and his associates could spew their vitriol. The ASCOA framed the hardships that befell these communities as proof of the biological dangers of racial mixing, thereby justifying the racial integrity legislation. Ironically, attempts to bring these communities in line with the Clubs’ ideals of racial purity served to highlight the various

As reservation Indians, the Pamunkey held what was perhaps the highest socioeconomic status amongst the Virginia Indians. Not only did they farm a portion of the reservation, but they also opened their reservation to game hunters. Additionally, the Pamunkey operated a store that sold the tribe’s goods throughout the state. Their ingenuity proved remarkable to researchers studying the tribe in the early part of the century. Scientists discussed the tribe in generally positive terms, noting their achievement of a level of civilization worthy of emulation by other native groups. James Mooney, an ethnologist with the Smithsonian Institute, described the Pamunkey as “self-supporting, industrious, law-abiding, and hospitable, with no paupers or criminals, and [they] constitute in every way a worthy factor in the