Mollie Holmes Adams

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Mollie Wade Holmes Adams (October 8, 1881 – December 14, 1973) was an Upper Mattaponi tribal elder and advocate of tribal culture in Virginia. She advocated for recognition of the tribe and worked to preserve traditional skills and knowledge. She was selected for the Virginia Women in History program by the Library of Virginia.

Biography

Mollie Wade Holmes was born in 1881, into the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, or Adamstown Band of Mattaponi, and grew up in great poverty in Adamstown. In 1900 she married Jasper Lewis Adams, who served as chief of the tribe for five decades, from 1923 to 1973. She joined him as a tribal leader; he was involved in the purchase and construction of the Sharon Indian School in 1919 and the Indian View Baptist Church in 1942. The couple had twelve children.^[1]

Adams was of mixed-race, partial European ancestry, and she and her husband shared some common lineage.^[2] Beginning in the 1920s, the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, led by Walter Plecker, attempted to classify Indians such as Adams and her children as "colored", under the new Racial Integrity Act of 1924. It required classification of all residents as white or colored (black), and Plecker was convinced that some families identified as Native American just to hide African ancestry. He insisted on a one-drop rule: if a person had any African ancestry, they should be classified as black (colored). He ignored how people identified culturally.

To counter the efforts to classify her as colored, Adams was required to provide a statement signed by eight white men certifying her Indian ancestry; the document still exists.^[1] During this period, many people did lose their classification as Indian, resulting in later problems when tribes tried to gain recognition, as state records did not affirm their historical continuity as Indians.

In her role as tribal elder, Adams played a pivotal role in preservation of feather weaving, an art which had almost been lost and which she passed on to others. She assisted anthropologists with a variety of studies, including discussing herbal remedies with them. Her activism provided a strong base of support for tribal life.^[1]

In addition, she was the mother of Andrew Washington Adams, who served as chief from 1974 to 1985; her grandson, Kenneth Adams, has served as chief of the tribe as well.^[1]^[3] Her husband died in 1971.^[4]

Adams was honored in 2010 as one of the Virginia Women in History.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The Library of Virginia – Virginia Women in History 2010". virginia.gov. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
^ "RESERVATION INDIANS AND THEIR "FRINGE" – Pamunkey Blogger". Pamunkey Blogger. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
^ "Meet Native America: Chief Ken Adams, Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe". si.edu. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
^ Helen C. Rountree (1990). Pocahontas's People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 359–. ISBN 978-0-8061-2849-8.

Virginia Women in History

2000–2009

2000	Ella Graham Agnew Mary Julia Baldwin Margaret Brent Willa Cather Jennie Dean Sarah Lee Fain Ellen Glasgow Dolley Madison Pocahontas Clementina Rind Lila Meade Valentine Maggie L. Walker
2001	Rosa Dixon Bowser Elizabeth Campbell Thomasina Jordan Elizabeth Keckley Theresa Pollak Sally Louisa Tompkins Elizabeth Van Lew Edith Wilson
2002	Rebecca Adamson Janie Porter Barrett Patsy Cline Hannah Lee Corbin Christine Darden Lillian Ward McDaniel Mary-Cooke Branch Munford Jessie M. Rattley
2003	Nancy Astor Pearl Bailey Anna Whitehead Bodeker Mary Ann Elliott Annabelle Ravenscroft Gibson Jenkins Frances Benjamin Johnston Anne Dobie Peebles Annie Bannister Spencer
2004	Grace Arents Cockacoeske Katie Couric Anne Makemie Holden Mary Draper Ingles Sarah Garland Boyd Jones Annie Snyder Martha Washington
2005	Clara Leach Adams-Ender Caitlyn Day Bessie Blount Griffin Mary Johnston Barbara Johns Powell Lee Smith Mary Belvin Wade
2006	Kate Waller Barrett Marie Majella Berg John-Geline MacDonald Bowman Benita Fitzgerald-Brown Grace Hopper Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan G. Anne Richardson Mary Virginia Terhune
2007	Mary Willing Byrd Maybelle Carter Laura Lu Scherer Copenhaver Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell Mary Jeffery Galt Sheila Crump Johnson Opossunoquonuske Camilla Williams
2008	Frances Culpeper Berkeley Lucy Goode Brooks Providencia Velazquez Gonzalez Elizabeth B. Lacy Sharyn McCrumb P. Buckley Moss Isabel Wood Rogers Edith Turner
2009	Pauline Adams Caroline Bradby Cook Claudia Emerson Drew Gilpin Faust Joann Hess Grayson Mary Randolph Virginia Randolph Mary Sue Terry

2010–2019

2010	Mollie Holmes Adams Ethel Furman Edythe C. Harrison Janis Martin Kate Mason Rowland Jean Miller Skipwith Queena Stovall Marian Van Landingham
2011	Lucy Addison Eleanor Bontecou Emily White Fleming Pearl Fu Lillian Lincoln Bessie Niemeyer Marshall Felicia Warburg Rogan Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell
2012	Susie May Ames Monica Beltran Christiana Burdett Campbell Betty Sams Christian Elizabeth Peet McIntosh Orelena Hawks Puckett Judith Shatin Alice Jackson Stuart
2013	Mary C. Alexander Louise Archer Elizabeth Ambler Brent Carrington Ann Compton JoAnn Falletta Cleo Powell Inez Pruitt Eva Mae Fleming Scott
2014	Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford Naomi Silverman Cohn Elizabeth Ashburn Duke Rachel Findlay Christine Herter Kendall Mildred Loving Debbie Ryan Stoner Winslett
2015	Nancy Melvina Caldwell Nikki Giovanni Ruth Coles Harris Dorothy Shoemaker McDiarmid Rebekah Dulaney Peterkin Vivian Pinn Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith Karenne Wood
2016	Flora D. Crittenden Mary Elizabeth Nottingham Day Sarah A. Gray Edwilda Gustava Allen Isaac Katherine Johnson Ana Ines Barragan King Betty Masters Meyera Oberndorf
2017	Doris Crouse-Mays Corazon Sandoval Foley Nora Houston Cynthia Eppes Hudson Mary Virginia Jones Louise Harrison McCraw Undine Smith Moore Martha Rollins
2018	Gaye Todd Adegbalola Rita Dove Isabella Gibbons Marii Kyogoku Hasegawa Kay Coles James Barbara Kingsolver Mary Aydelotte Rice Marshall Temperance Flowerdew Yeardley
2019	Sharifa Alkhateeb Queen Ann Claudia Lane Dodson India Hamilton Georgeanna Seegar Jones Ona Maria Judge Lucy Randolph Mason Kate Peters Sturgill

2020–2029

2020	Pauline Adams Fannie Bayly King Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis Sophie G. Meredith Josephine Mathes Norcom Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon Ora Brown Stokes Lila Meade Valentine Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker
2021	Krista N. Jones Lerla G. Joseph Lillie Louise Boone Lucas Evelyn Reid Syphax

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