I’ve used a line from Faulkner’s 1951 novel Requiem for a Nun as my title for this essay. Before you get too impressed – I had a vague memory of reading this line somewhere. I googled it and found that it was from this book. I’ve never read the book, nor do I know very much about Faulkner except that his writing style was complex, requiring deep reading and serious decoding skills to figure out precisely what he was saying. That’s it from me about Faulkner this morning.
What’s important about the article I’m focusing on today is that it illustrates that the Native American population of Virginia is still around. When Americans tell their broad national narrative, it usually involves the idea that European settlement drove Native American populations west to reservations that shrank over time and that Native Americans were forced to become Europeanized in order to survive. This narrative overlooks what this article points out: some Native Americans didn’t go anywhere but are still living on tribal lands in Virginia.
I’m not going to talk about what it means to be a federally-recognized tribe versus a state-recognized tribe. There are two reasons for this: it’s pretty complicated, and, more importantly, I don’t know very much about it. If you’re curious, you can look it up.
The history matters. Within the past year, Colonial Williamsburg has implemented programming that emphasizes the significance of the local tribes to the economic life of the town. Contemporary accounts of 18th-century life in the town frequently reference the natives that took part in the economic and political events of the era. As the European nations that settled in what eventually became the United States – primarily the British, French, and Spanish – jockeyed for power and influence in their colonies, the native tribes often played a balancing act, maintaining their own sovereignty while using European treaties to benefit the needs of their communities.
A little more historical information will help here. In its desire to maintain segregation in the 20th century, the state of Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act in 1924, defining as “black” anyone with “one drop” of African blood. Because of intermarriage and the long history of Virginia Native Americans being removed from communal land, Aubry Plecker (the head of the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Firinig from 1912-1946) believed that there were few true “Indians” left, and supported racial coding in Virginia that was binary – it recognized only “white” and “colored” categories on official documents. Natives, because they were not “white,” were classified as “colored,” and their tribal identities were submerged. Later referred to as “paper genocide,” Pecker’s approach dominated state recordkeeping for more than two decades and destroyed much of the identification that had shown families identifying as Indian.
Interestingly, the law had a provision named (swear to God) the “Pocahontas Clause” or “the Pocahontas Exception.”
It shall thereafter 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".
This amended the otherwise unyielding “one-drop rule” for people with Native American heritage by allowing them to be considered “white” if they were less than 1/16 American Indian ancestry. What was up with that?
We all probably have some recollection of the relationship between Pocahontas (known more accurately as Matoaka. the daughter of Algonquian Chief Powhatan) and the settlers at Jamestown. We know the story of her “rescue” of John Smith, and we know that she married John Rolfe and went to England, where she had a son and then died before she could return to Virginia. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, returned to Virginia, where he had one daughter (Jane Rolfe), who married Robert Bolling. Jane and Robert had one son, John Fairfax Bolling (1676-1729), who married Mary Kennon and had six children. From this marriage emerged one of the great Virginia political dynasties, which included the Jefferson and Randolph families.
What to do, what to do? These FFVs (First Families of Virginia) were CLEARLY the elites of Virginia society – yet they had a native ancestor (Pocahontas) just a few generations back. So this amendment said you can’t be considered white if you have any African “blood,” but native “blood” was okay so long as it’s a few generations back – say, to your 4th great-grandmother or so.
People who study such things call the descendants of Jane Rolfe and Robert Bolling the “Red Bollings.” After Jane’s death, Robert remarried and had a boatload of children; their descendants are called the “White Bollings.” Other claims to Bolling ancestry over the years have arisen from supposedly “lost” children or undocumented relationships. Because these people show up “out of the blue” they are sometimes called the “Blue Bollings.” Some people have too much time on their hands.
Perversely, it is most desirable to be a “Red Bolling,” because they are deemed to have “royal blood.” They identify Pocahontas as an “Indian princess” (although this is not a concept that Native Americans generally embrace). Modern-day “Red Bollings” include two first ladies – Edith Bolling Wilson and Nancy Reagan – along with a whole slew of modern-day Virginians who proudly proclaim this relationship.
I have a very shaky connection to this lineage. I “think” my 7th great-grandmother was Elizabeth Kennon (1679-1751), whose sister Mary married John Fairfax Bolling, the great-grandson of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. This would make Pocahontas the great-grandmother of the husband of my 7th great-aunt, according to Ancestry.com. I say that I “think” this may be true, but it depends on an unsubstantiated connection to Elizabeth Kennon’s family through a marriage I haven’t been able to prove. So maybe, maybe not. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure I am not a red, white, or blue Bolling.
Meanwhile, the Upper Mattaponi celebrate their heritage and connections with colonial Virginia, recognized in exhibits at the Jamestown Settlement Museum.
Karen, you are such a gifted writer and educator. Your ability to offer us so much information is amazing and yet, at the same time, how you encourage us to “look up” some stuff, too, is just great! As usual, thank you! Enjoy your day!!😎