Researchers Discuss Melungeon Heritage at Annual Event

[carolinayellowdog]

Now it can be told-- I was very distressed by the media coverage of a 2012 DNA study that suggested Melungeons and descendants were racists in denial of their mixed ancestry. Having known and loved these people for seven years I know that these are the ONLY "white folks" I've ever encountered who embrace-- enthusiastically-- our mixed ancestry. Just look at us in this clip! But the prejudicial coverage a couple of years ago generated a firestorm of nasty commentary from white and black Yankees along the lines of "those ignorant Appalachian racists can't stand the truth"-- and we felt helpless in the face of hundreds of snarky online comments.

See and hear the truth about us in this clip.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Two minutes well worth it.

Putting this link here for reference - Lisa Alther.

http://www.lisaalther.com/


I want to read her books.

Thank you for sharing this. I'm fascinated by this group of Americans.

[carolinayellowdog]

2. Thank YOU Gen and I will take this opportunity to announce

Last edited Thu Jul 3, 2014, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

that the 2015 Melungeon Union will be our first at a HBCU-- NC A&T in Greensboro NC-- where our MHA consultant Dr. Smallwood is now head of the history department. No one I've known in all these years through MHA is the least bit in denial of our African heritage. But the Native American and Iberian claims in Melungeon folklore are not mere "African denial" but attested by a lot of DNA evidence. Personally all my DNA results suggest that the "Portuguese" claim is no kind of denial, but some possibly distorted version of truth. "Portuguese" possibly including both Africans from Portuguese colonies, Jews expelled to England, Holland, and the New World in the wake of the Inquisition, and "white" Portuguese who were part of the Juan Pardo expedition into the Carolinas, hundreds of Iberian males who seem to have left their DNA in Carolinian Native populations.

I have come to recognize that black-identified as well as white-identified people are subjected to scornful denialism when we talk about our Native American or Iberian heritage, yet it is REAL and connects us all.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. This makes sense

"Portuguese" possibly including both Africans from Portuguese colonies, Jews expelled to England, Holland, and the New World in the wake of the Inquisition, and "white" Portuguese who were part of the Juan Pardo expedition into the Carolinas, hundreds of Iberian males who seem to have left their DNA in Carolinian Native populations.

A different direction here - but it's very similar to the Calabrese people in Italy and their frustrations. So I greatly empathize with your perspective.

We tend to want put people in boxes with pretty bows but that's not reality.

[Number23]

3. Utterly fascinating. Thanks so much for posting about the Melungeons. I hope you'll continue

to do so.

[carolinayellowdog]

10. They are the only tri-racial isolate group that has resisted assimilation

Thanks, I will continue, by explaining that my immediate family is biracial in the "yours, mine, and ours" sense-- but the triracial ancestry on the white side is remote, in the colonial era. Demographers have estimated that there were at one time 200 such tri-racial isolate communities, not accepted as white or Indian but not defined as black, and often called derisive names. The one I descend from was assimilated into whiteness back in the 1770s, as a reward for fighting on the American side in the Revolution it seems. 1760s-- lots of "mulatto" families in the area-- 1780s-- families still there, now all "white."

Most of these groups were assimilated into whiteness, some into Indian tribes that are very triracial in terms of DNA and history but long since self-defined as not-white, not-black, and not-mixed with either one. And some became pockets self-defined as mulatto, or black, but with triracial history and DNA. One such group only ten miles up the road from my "white" progenitors, very light complexions but never defined as white. Ten miles down the road the other direction, a community always defined as black but thoroughly tri-racial too, and that is where Dr. Smallwood in the TV clip comes from.

While most of the people involved in the Melungeon Heritage events are from the VA/TN border community that is the only one to remain isolated and "mysterious," others of us come from communities that long ago fell on one or the other side of the color line rather than straddling it as the Melungeons have. They might be ambivalent and confused about their heritage as they have been subjected to scorn from all directions because "you don't know WHAT you are." But I love them, they are warm and welcoming and open hearted. And all us white and black distant cousins feel that when we join them in their annual celebration. They deserve neither credit nor blame for "self-imposed isolation" because it was forced upon them by circumstances and environment in the 19th century. And in the mid-20th there was massive outmigration, so they are still triracial but no longer isolated-- scattered. The fact that the remaining core group and the diaspora descendants have embraced triracial heritage in the 20th/21st century makes them unique. Uniquely contemptible alas in some people's view,including white racists especially, but uniquely admirable in my estimation.

[HoosierRadical]

5. Why did you post in this forum? I for one have no interest in a group of people who reluctantly

"admit" their African heritage, if not for DNA, these people would still be spewing their fairytales. My paternal Great Grandmother who was darker than the other members of her "melungeon" family, was disowned when she married my Great Grandfather. Why would a "proud" mixed race people be against their daughter marrying a Black man?

From my understanding today's melungeon have very little African ancestry due to decades upon decades of purposely trying to ethnic cleanse the Black out of them, well too bad, one can't erase DNA.

[carolinayellowdog]

7. Because others have shown sympathetic interest here before, sorry to offend you

This whole "reluctant admission" business has to do with people who were subjected to legal discrimination, and since that ended in VA in 1971 there has been a "coming out" process that might have gone more smoothly were they not subjected to relentless disdain from white and black northerners. How can you blame people in 2014 for what happened to your great-grandparents? You seem to be at the ready to blame descendants of the "racist Melungeons in denial" of the 19th century without a whit of sympathy for how they are embracing and celebrating their mixed ancestry in the 21st. Well, for every bit of snark from a black person there are a hundred from whites who don't like that celebration and embracing of mixed ancestry. Plus, a fair amount of Indian racism that goes in three directions-- you're nothing but white wannabes, nothing but mulattoes who imagine your Native ancestry, or nothing but Indians who are confused about their real identity!

Your understanding of "purposely trying to ethnic cleanse the black out of them" is not accurate any more than if they were accused of trying to avoid marrying Indians! The options were limited to fellow Melungeons, or whites, at least in the "core" area along the TN/VA border. As these people moved further and further northwest from their origins along the VA/NC/SC coast, they got more and more diluted but never escaped being discriminated against for racial and class reasons. Even now, the poorest county in TN is Hancock, the poorest in VA is Lee, and those are the two with the greatest concentrations of Melungeons.

DNA testing to confirm mixed ancestry was not forced on the reluctant Melungeons, but avidly sought by them many years before the misleading coverage of the 2012 Y study-- also inaugurated by Melungeons themselves:
http://melungeon.ning.com/profiles/blogs/2002-and-2010-dna-studies-confirmed-tri-racial-roots-of-melungeon

[HoosierRadical]

8. I seriously doubt you are sorry for your offensive post.

I'm not interested in the plight of the melungeon, please do not dare compare their self-imposed isolation, with the oppression my ancestors dealt with.

[JustAnotherGen]

9. I don't have that "Melungeon History"

So I guess to me it's not offensive . Knowing your family member experienced that - I 'get it'. I get why you are offended.

But I think perhaps because of my Jewish heritage - and not having any idea what happened to the people left behind in Germany when the Weiss family emigrated here - I'm fascinated and would encourage all black Americans to be aware of our rich history.

It took genetic testing prior to assistive reproductive assistance to take a deep dive into my genetic make up - who knew I carried Sickle Cell (no record of anyone ill with it in my dad's family) and no records a disease I carry on the Hexa Gene - that is quite common among Ashkenazi jews.

But know what? I'm a black woman. I don't think my great grandmother Von Bargerstock (Nee Weiss) had any idea about this.

And my dad's entire family is shocked at that Sickle Cell gene. And now - we other 'carriers' thanks to test I went through last year.


Science still treats black American's health as a 'side line' - I'm sorry - but it's true. And because of our varied racial make up - the only way to understand our story - is if we tell all of our stories.

The melungeon people - they are part of our story. There but for the grace of god goes a male melungeon college sweetheart and his african american future wife. They have a right to know what genetic disease land mines they might be stepping into.

[busterdouglasUSA]

6. wo

Texas Board of Education Revises Textbooks: Slaves were ‘Unpaid Interns’- http://www.newslo.com/texas-board-of-education-revises-textbooks-slaves-were-unpaid-interns/

[MADem]

11. Who was America's first black president?

That reply title might not seem like it has anything to do with this thread, until you read the article at the link....

http://open.salon.com/blog/christopher_hapka/2008/11/10/who_was_americas_first_black_president

...Racial mixing has also been part of American history for a long time. Henry Louis Gates proved this dramatically in his PBS program, African American Lives, in which he used DNA testing to trace the ancestry of prominent African-Americans, many of whom were surprised to learn how much European ancestry they had.

Given this history of African-Americans in the South, it is likely that at least one of the many American presidents who had deep roots in slave states in the South had at least "one drop" of black ancestry. Warren Harding, when asked by a reporter about rumors of his own black ancestry, supposedly replied, "How do I know, Jim? One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence." And as four of the first five presidents were born in Virginia, it is possible that America's first "black" president, by the "one drop rule," was elected early in the country's history.

In the absence of genetic testing, most presidents' racial ancestry will probably remain a guessing game, and there are plenty of ill-informed guesses out there, as a Google search will show (especially as whispering campaigns about racial "impurities" were common back in the bad old days of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century attack politics).

However, there is one candidate that stands out. Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, has long been said to have been a member of the Melungeon community of Appalachian Tennessee and Kentucky. The Melungeons are what used to be called a "tri-racial isolate," a community of people of mixed European, African, and possibly American Indian ancestry living together, often with a common origin myth that disguised their black ancestry. At various times, people inside and outside the Melungeon community have claimed that the group was purely Native American, Turkish, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Spanish or Portugese, and it is often said they were discovered already living in Appalachia by the first European settlers.

In reality, as genetic testing has now shown, the Melungeons were almost certainly simply another haven of mixed African slave and European settler ancestry who had found a way of living free (and some Melungeons later owned slaves themselves).....

[JustAnotherGen]

12. I kind of knew that

From referencing previous posts by carolina! Carolinayellow is also the reason I began to understand why as a little girl I was fascinated with Heather Locklear. Look at her - it's right there to see. But a bi-racial child with a very blonde green eyed mom could "see" it.

Now not melungeon - but have you ever seen a picture of Jefferson Davis' second wife? It's interesting.

[MADem]

13. Well ain't she something!

I found a blog discussing the topic. A good read: http://robotsinmasquerade.blogspot.com/2011/05/ethnic-origins-of-confederate-first.html

One of the respondents opined that she looked a bit like Sade!




It's entirely possible that there was a "smooth operator" somewhere in Miz Davis's family! The pure irony of the situation, though...!

Hmmm--if Sade could act, she could play her in a film...her, or Lisa Bonet!

[kwassa]

14. Varina looks African-American to my eyes.

The article is indeed interesting.

Sally Hemmings probably has a similar look. My recollection is that she was 1/8th black, an octaroon, as it were, and also bore a strong resemblance to Thomas Jefferson's deceased wife, as they were half-sisters.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. I'll check out that blog

I guess her maternal blood line has some ambiguity in it - but I know I have seen somewhere that she may have had melungeon heritage.

The fact that melungeon was a racially charged insult as an "identifier" tells me something about their experience - how these folks have experienced America.

[JustAnotherGen]

16. I'm kicking this up because wasn't Elvis Melungeon?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/melungeon-dna-study-origin_n_1544489.html

carolinayellowdog is deeply invested in exploring his heritage and right now this thread is quite relevant.

[carolinayellowdog]

17. Elvis, Ava, and Abraham no; Steve and Heather yes

From what I've seen, there is no evidence for the assertions about Elvis Presley and Ava Gardner and people came up with this idea just because of their appearance. As for Lincoln, no one knows who his maternal grandfather was and speculation on that subject seems to be the foundation of any assertions about mixed ancestry.

But Steve Martin definitely has triracial heritage, descendant of a Texan Confederate soldier who was defined as a "quadroon Indian." (Somehow I had gotten the impression he was a Jewish northerner, but he's a part-Indian part-African Texan.) And Heather Locklear carries one of the most common surnames of the Lumbee of southeastern NC, and identifies with that heritage. The term Melungeon was applied occasionally to people now called Lumbee, back in the late 19thc.

[JustAnotherGen]

19. Thank you for clarifying

I figured I'd ask here than take you to a just awful thread. . . you don't need to read that.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. I really need to do some research on my DNA and family line.

I don't think I am truly/classically Melungeon but, it is very possible because family is from this area and I do have American Indian, African American and English/Scotch-Irish and German ancestors. Because my father is half German therefore I am one quarter German and the blond/blue eye and fair skin came out strongest but, there are physical attributes especially on my father's side that are distinctly African American. I think somewhere back (four generations ago) a Melungeon married a Scotch-Irish on my father's side and then my paternal grandfather married a German (my grandmother) whose family had newly immigrated by way of Canada escaping from the Germany that Hitler was building. My great-grandfather was not Jewish but, he was far seeing and did not like the direction politics was taking in Germany at the time.

Never was really curious about all this til now ... just accepted it.

But, all this recent discussion has piqued my interest.

Thanks for this OP.

[JustAnotherGen]

20. Try and read the Lisa Alther books he suggested up thread

Very eye opening.

You'll notice a few days ago I listed many groups that I would like to see participate in AA more. I didn't mention "melungeon" because I consider that to be a lost branch of the African American family. The participation of someone who is melungeon is a given as much as someone who does not have 8 great grandparents whose parents were not black. <---- Me.

When you understand the financial stakes and extent of freedom involved to deny any black heritage 150 years ago - it becomes clear how these people became disconnected.


Considering what this country was just 50 years ago - I don't fault anyone for that.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. Thanks for replying and I will look for the Alther books ...

a couple of points came to my mind from this thread ...

1) The Cajun's history and the possibility that I might have some Cajun blood from my Mother's line while also the possibility of having the Melungeon blood from my Father's line.

2) Also, here in the south (and Deep South) it is pretty much a given there was "a _____________ in the woodpile." I know some may find that phrase offensive and really, no one uses it any more because it is such a given down here

3) I am accepted here in the south because of #2 but, when I travel out of the South I have been met with everything from the subtle stare to comments about my looks and questions about my lineage/ancestry. This is easily laughed off by me. But, it goes to show the bigotry/racism elsewhere in the US.

4) This may sound odd but, #3 is one reason why I hate to see South Bashing on DU.