Sometimes, they were listed as "white" or sometimes as "black" or "negro" but almost never as "Indian". J. Estes, Jack H. Goins, Penny Ferguson, Janet Lewis Crain, is After her death,the Doris Ulmann Foundation was formed and took over management of her vast portfolio. This pathfinder contains general history, cultural studies, linguistic studies, genetic studies, fiction, and nonfiction works about the Melungeons. The physical evidence may be the most telling. Given historical evidence of Native American settlement patterns, Cherokee Nation descent is highly unlikely for the original Melungeon ancestral families. The surnames Collins, Gibson, Goins, Mullins, Bowling, Bunch, Goodman, Minor, Mise, and Wise are all associated with the Melungeons, although plenty of people who do not belong to the group also bear these names. They also visit the Hindman Settlement School in Knott Co, KY. 1929: In the fall of 1929 Ulmann is in North Carolina photographing 'vanishing types'. Generally, specific lines within families have to be traced to document such identity. According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, in his 1950 dissertation, the cultural geographer Edward Price proposed that Melungeons were families descended from free people of color, who were of European and African ancestry, and mixed-race unions between persons of African ancestry and Native Americans in colonial Virginia,[9] whose territory included the modern-day states of Kentucky and West Virginia. If you suspect a Melungeon connection, start with your immediate family and work backward, collecting birth certificates and other documents that might hold clues to your familys heritage. What are the Common Melungeon Surnames? They appear to have been treated as social equals of the white members. . A number of myths surround the origins and history of the Melungeons, and it can be difficult to find verifiable information about them. Melungeons are descendants of people of mixed ethnic ancestry who, before the end of the eighteenth century, were discovered living in limited areas of what is now the southeastern United States, notably in the Appalachian Mountains near the point where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina converge. Melungeons were residents of the part of Hawkins that in 1844 was organized as Hancock County. With each writer, new elements were added to the mythology surrounding the group, and more surnames were added to the list of possible Melungeon ancestors. The Melungeons (1600s- ) are a mixed-race people in America who live in the Appalachian mountains where Tennessee meets Virginia meets Kentucky. They mostly had English names and commonly spoke English. Dromgoole, Will Allen (1890). 'Melungeon Boys' photograph is shown. Genealogist en.wikipedia.org. The Melungeon population data represent autosomal DNA samples detailing 15 loci STRs from 40 adult males, females and children self-identifying as having Melungeon ancestry primarily from Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. 1931: Probably travels to South Carolina to work with Julia Peterkin on their book 'Roll, Jordan, Roll', which was published in 1934. She criticized Kennedy for trying to include people who might have had other than Northern European ancestry and said that he did not properly take account of existing historical records or recognized genealogical practice in his research. check to see if you, like some descendants, including myself, With more research we are sure to find out. As a result of their self-imposed isolation, the Melungeons developed into a somewhat distinct and unique group, which some people refer to as a tri-racial isolate, in a reference to their mixed ancestry. They have tended to "marry white" since the 19th century. That etymology is also found in several dictionaries. Yes, arguably the two most famous Melungeons are kin! region of Turkey also have this bump.. In the 1980s he threatened action against the publishers and they settled out of court, making him a millionaire. [5], The original meaning of the word "Melungeon" is obscure. In 1894, the US Department of the Interior, in its "Report of Indians Taxed and Not Taxed," noted that the Melungeons in Hawkins County "claim to be Cherokee of mixed blood. The silver gelatin glass plate negatives are the only known remaining Ulmann negatives. Genetic testing has strongly supported the idea that Melungeons have a great deal of Southern European and Native American blood. felt, except my fathers. ", ""Bioethics in action" and human population genetics researMacon, GA: Mercer University Press.ch", "kindness our heroine shows Melungeon outcast Pearl (Erika Coleman)", Births of U.S. states and territories by race/ethnicity, Race and ethnicity in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Social and economic stratification in Appalachia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melungeon&oldid=1142367526, Multiracial ethnic groups in the United States, Pre-emancipation African-American history, Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters, Articles lacking reliable references from February 2023, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2017, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 1950s estimate 200,000; currently unknown, Cavender, Anthony P. "The Melungeons of Upper East Tennessee: Persisting Social Identity,". My ridge is quite People who live in the Anatolian Among the participants, only the Sizemore family is documented as having Native American DNA.[4]. The back of [23], During the period of segregation, a North Carolina statute barred "Portuguese" people, presumably Melungeons, as North Carolina does not have a large Portuguese American community, from whites-only schools. They will be deleted. Many of the local whites also claim Cherokee ancestry and appear to accept the Melungeon claim [27], In 1999, the historian C. S. Everett hypothesized that John Collins (recorded as a Sapony Indian who was expelled from Orange County, Virginia about January 1743), might be the same man as the Melungeon ancestor John Collins, who was classified as a "mulatto" in 1755 North Carolina records. Some researchers believe they descend from the lost colony of Roanoke, and ended up marrying into American Indian families. on the back of the HEAD of SOME descendants, that is located at This photo was first published in the 1929 issue of 'Pictorial Photography in America', 1997: KET (Kentucky Educational Television) Airs 'In Search of Origins, Melungeons' produced by. USA Another is a photo by Ulmann labeled Melungeon Girl, East, North Carolina. melungeon bump images . Most of these families claimed the Ridgetop Shawnee heritage to explain their dark skin and Indian features and to avoid racial persecution. features mark them as different from other mountaineer. They might accurately be described as a loose collection of families of diverse ethnic origins that migrated to frontier areas; settled near one another; and intermarried, mostly in Hancock and Hawkins Counties in Tennessee; nearby areas of Kentucky; and Lee County, Virginia. If you have a ridge, it will stop your . on up and across your head. In May 2012 "Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population" hits the news via the AP wire service, the story goes viral and appears in newspapers worldwide, and on numerous Internet News sites. Melungeon. If you cannot find the bump, [7], Scholars and commentators do not agree on who should be included under the term "Melungeon." When I met my distant cousin, Dr. Brent Kennedy, at a Melungeon Conference in 2004, he remarked to a Melungeon lady that I was talking to that every Melungeon mother wished their child had a face . Internet sites promote the anecdotal claim that Melungeons are more prone to certain diseases, such as sarcoidosis or familial Mediterranean fever. According to the historian Pat Elder, the earliest of those was that they were "Indian" (more specifically, "Cherokee"). In 1995, Paul Heinegg published Free African American Families in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware, and he has since published regular updates. As the drama portrayed Melungeons in a positive, romantic light, many individuals began for the first time to self-identify by that term. As in some other cases, racial status was chiefly determined by people testifying as to how the men were perceived by the community and whether they had "acted white" by voting, serving in the militia, or undertaking other common citizens' obligations available to white men:[23]. Winkler, Wayne (2004). The Melungeons' origins are still being debated. Why was the original focus on the State of. Later generations in Tennessee intermarried with descendants of Scotch-Irish immigrants who arrived in the mid-to-late 18th century and settled in the backcountry before the American Revolution. The mystery is beginning to unfold, thanks to genealogical DNA tests. mid-line, just ABOVE the juncture with the neck. According to Edward Price, "Because of them, Hawkins County had more free colored persons in the 1830 census than any other county in Tennessee except Davidson (which includes Nashville) and more free colored families named Collins than any other county in the United States. Many Indian descendants also have this type of teeth. There is a family of people in Turkey whose I see a pattern here, three photos, no names , no real locations and not a one taken in the historical area where the people who were called Melungin lived, that being Newman Ridge in old Hawkins Co. TN, now Hancock Co. TN or the Blackwater TN/VA border area. I be was born with a short dick. From there they migrated south in the Appalachian Range to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where some are listed as "white" on the 1790 census. Sparks Morrison and the opinions in this page are strictly My great great maternal grandmother's name was Caroline . Call Us: (860) 961-3482 . Ancestors are hard to find before 1850. McGowan, Kathleen (2003). "[18], During the 19th century, their intermarriages with white spouses caused Melungeon-surnamed families to be increasingly classified as white on census records. Email: [emailprotected]. [23], In that period, several Melungeon men were tried in Hawkins County in 1846 for "illegal voting" under suspicion of being black or free men of color and thereby ineligible for voting. "Dr. Brent Kennedy Responds to Virginia DeMarce", "Kentucky General Assembly 2010 Regular Session HJR-16", "Kentucky General Assembly 2009 Regular Session HJR-15", "Looking at Legends Lumbee and Melungeon: Applied Genealogy and the Origins of Tri-Racial Isolate Settlements. He had a very indistinct definition of Melungeons although the group had been extensively studied and documented by other researchers. The internet offers a number of resources, as well. (2012), "Melungeons", pp. A few ancestors may have been of mixed Iberian (Spanish and/or Portuguese) and African origin. Actually, "shovel teeth" are found among Native Americans and people from Central Asia. 1971: Appalachian Photographs of Doris Ulmann is published by the Jargon Society of Highlands, NC. So are the two Melungeon Boys in fact descendents of Old Thomas Gibson ? These include the grandly named "Anatolian bump," an unusually large protrusion on the back of the head where the skull meets the neck; so-called "shovel teeth," which feature an indented hollow . your spine. Sexton Fields is mentioned as being in Letcher Co. KY. Mr. Caudill With the exception of Letcher Co., there in no evidence of Doris Ulmann being in or taking photographs in any of these Counties. [16] It had been designated as "mulattoes" in an earlier record of 1755. I searched for this on bing.com/images. [21], After Virginia passed its Racial Integrity Act of 1924, officials went so far as to alter existing birth and marriage records to reclassify as "colored" some mixed-race individuals or families who identified as and had been recorded as "Indian." The dark complexion, hair, and eyes of many Melungeons suggests that they may have a high proportion of Hispanic or Middle Eastern ancestors. The proof prints were mounted into albums, which were annotated by John Jacob Niles and Allen Eaton, chair of the foundation and another noted folklorist, to indicate names of the sitters and dates of capture. In the 1830 censuses of Hawkins and neighboring Grainger County, Tennessee, the Collins and Gibson families are listed as "free-colored." Mira states on the inside of the front dust jacket a photo of Melungeon man and boy(courtesy of Berea College and the Doris Ulmann Foundation). There is a bump on the back of the HEAD of SOME descendants, that is located at mid-line, just ABOVE the juncture with the neck. Who Are the Melungeons? Training and Certification. Melungeon is a term that first appeared in print in the 19th century, used in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina to describe people of mixed ancestry. Melungeons ( / mlndnz / m-LUN-jnz) are an ethnicity from the Southeastern United States who descend from Europeans, Native American, and sub-Saharan Africans brought to America as indentured servants and later as slaves. Subscribe to our newsletter and learn something new every day. The only real significance of these diseases in relation to Melungeons is that some people of Melungeon descent have been diagnosed with these diseases, many of which tend to affect people of Mediterranean ancestry, and are relatively rare among the Anglo-Saxon or Celtic people of Appalachia. The "Goins" surname is among the most well-documented surnames for Melungeon ancestry. lid. In the 19th and the early 20th centuries, they were sometimes identified as "Portuguese," Native American, or light-skinned African American. There is no genetic evidence to support the Turkish or Jewish ancestry theories.[4]. 2003: January, Native Kentuckians Cleland Thorpe and Author Pat Spurlock have a discussion with Brent Kennedy about Doris Ulmann's 'Melungeon Boys' photograph, on the Rootsweb Melungeon List. straight and flat. knowing who these boys are, what their names are, who their families Roanoke, Virginia 24015 One family described as "Indian" was the Ridley (Riddle) family, as was noted on a 1767 Pittsylvania County, Virginia, tax list. If you have a ridge, it will stop your fingers from going Law was involved not only in recognizing race, but in creating it; the state itself helped make people white. Along with my Alpha Thalassemia diagnosis, I also have other Melungeon traits including shovel teeth, the skull bump (Anatolia ridge), and olive toned complexion though I am dark skinned descendants of slaves as well. However, prior to shipping the collection the Foundation made the decision to reduce the weight of materials being shipped by selecting and destroying some 7,000 glass plate negatives. a particular type of bump or ridge at the back of the head (usually just above the neck) known at the Melungeon bump. As noted before, the analysis shows that Melungeon descendants overwhelmingly have Northern European and African DNA ancestry. Modern anthropological and sociological studies of Melungeon descendants in Appalachia have demonstrated that they have become culturally indistinguishable from their "non-Melungeon" white neighbors by sharing a Baptist religious affiliation and other community features. Standards were not then as strict as under the 20th-century "one-drop rule" laws. The Melungeon DNA Project is a genetic study started in 2005 by the private company Family Tree DNA of people with identified Melungeon ancestors (according to historic records), mostly residing in Hancock County, Tennessee and people with ancestors identified as Carmel Indians who lived in nearby areas of Kentucky.The Melungeon people are a mixed-race group who married within the group up . In 1929, Ulmann published a photo named Monday , in the final issue of 'Pictoral Phototograpy in America' (an image of a woman at her laundry). How They Shine: Melungeon Characters in the Fiction of Appalachia. 1933:Ulmann and Niles travel to Hazard (Perry Co.), Quicksand (Breathitt Co.), and Berea (Madison Co.), KY. While a racial Melungeon is someone from a historically mixed community, Isom explains, a cultural Melungeon is "poor folks who make up the bulk of people in Appalachia who might not have racial disparities to deal with, but share a cultural and economic identity. BUY NOW. There are some physiological characteristics which are not entirely documented, but seem to be passed on through the lines of some Melungeon descendants. Those families were formed during the colonial era in the Virginia Tidewater areas, which were not Cherokee territory. eyes, dreamy eyes, bedroom eyes. Many Indian descendants The journalist Will Allen Dromgoole wrote several articles on the Melungeons in the 1890s. The Melungeon Story: Part 3 Abraham Lincoln, Tom Hanks, and Elvis Presley are Melungeons, melungeons pictures | Lincoln descended from a Melungeon family via his mother, Nancy Hanks, On this date in 1953, Elvis Presley graduates from L.C. He suggests that at the time, that was a term used by Turks for Muslims who had been captured and enslaved aboard Spanish galleons.[38]. Most of us probably think of America as being settled by British, Protestant colonists who fought the Indians, tamed the wilderness, and brought "democracy"-or at least a representative republic-to North America. Their features are copper-skinned, dark eyed, and dark haired. [7] In 1935, a Nevada newspaper anecdotally described Melungeons as "mulattoes" with "straight hair."[19]. Those actions destroyed the documented continuity of identity of several Indian communities. 'Melungeon Boys' photograph is shown. The writer Bill Bryson devoted the better part of a chapter to them in his The Lost Continent (1989). This photograph was first published in 1971 in the book The Appalachian Photographs of Doris Ulmann by John Jacob Niles, Plate 40, named Two Melungeon Boys. The earliest documented use of the term "Melungeon" is found in the minutes of that church (see Etymology below). Some of their descendants may have later intermarried with isolated individuals of Cherokee or other Native American ancestry in East Tennessee. DONNIE LAWS 138K subscribers Subscribe 38K Share 1.2M views 1 year ago NOTE: This Video is my. A second feature attributed to Melungeons is an enlarged external occipital protuberance, dubbed an "Anatolian bump", after the unsubstantiated claim that this feature appears among Anatolian Turks with higher frequency than in other populations. - original pinner is a descendant of one of her brothers. Conference paper. In April of 2012 the peer reviewed The study was published in a North Carolina academic regional history journal in December 2010. Learn more. [32] However, Janet Crain notes that there is no written documentation to support that theory. The act stated: "And for preventing all doubts and scruples that may arise what ought to be rated on mustees, mulattoes, etc. By the mid-to-late 19th century, the term Melungeon appeared to have been used most frequently to refer to the biracial families of Hancock County and neighboring areas. It appears the name arose as an exonym, which a neighboring people of whatever origin called the multiracial people. Who is the most famous melungeon? The precise definition of what a Melungeon is, precisely, varies widely, depending on who one talks to and what their views about the origins of the group are. Its ironic that our families went to such pains to cover up their heritage and now, 150 years later, were going to such pains to uncover it, says Carol Huff, a Kentucky native who discovered her Melungeon heritage a few years ago. Kennedy wrote the ground breaking The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People: An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America. Are there still Melungeons? Forbes said that at the time, "mustees" and "mulattoes" were terms for persons of partly Native American ancestry. Although there is no consensus on how many such groups exist, estimates range as high as 200,000.[1][2]. On page 230, same photo as on cover , states photo was taken by Ulmann in the1920's. The Research in social history and genealogy has documented new facts about people identified as Melungeons. Who labeled these photos ? [4], From the Virginia and North Carolina frontiers, the families migrated west into frontier Tennessee and Kentucky. The English surname Gibson and Irish surname Collins appear frequently, and the genealogist Pat Elder calls them "core" surnames. University of KY PHD dissertation, 1982. [39], The term Melungeon was historically considered an insult, a label applied to Appalachians who were by appearance or reputation of mixed-race ancestry. Shovel teeth, bumps on the back of the head, polydactylism (extra fingers), and other characteristics have likewise been often misrepresented as being "Melungeon" traits. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. According to FamilySearch.org, some common Melungeon last names may include: N. Brent Kennedy, founder of the Melungeon Research Committee and author of The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People, 2nd edition (Mercer University Press), says the Melungeons are a people of apparent Mediterranean descent who may have settled the Appalachian wilderness before 1567, 40 years before Jamestown. Those of any known African ancestry were to be classified as black, regardless of their appearance and how they self-identified or were known in the community. [43] The spelling of the term varied widely, as was common for words and names at the time. In early censuses, many were listed as FPCs (Free Persons of Color), blacks or mulattos. The writers David Beers Quinn and Ivor Noel Hume theorize that the Melungeons were descended from Sephardi Jews who fled the Inquisition and came as sailors to North America. The numbering system used is that devised by the trustees, based on the order the proof prints were placed in the albums.. Local "knowledge" or myths soon began to arise about them. The following are other multi-racial groups that at one time were classified as tri-racial isolates. They also say that Francis Drake did not repatriate all of the Turks he saved from the sack of Cartagena, but some came to the colonies. The organization says their ancestors migrated to the region in the late 18th and the early-to-mid-19th centuries. [44][irrelevant citation] The play was first presented in 1969 in Sneedville, the county seat of Hancock County. This pathfinder contains materials pertaining to the Melungeon ethnic group. by Nancy Sparks Morrison April/May 2001. . This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 00:52. Isom asserts that there are actually two kinds of Melungeons: racial Melungeons and cultural Melungeons. I have added links to certain names that I have more information to share. The Anatolian bump (also known as the Inion, and protuberantia occipitalis externa) is a bump at the back of your cranium . On your return, if you desire to pass through the lands where I am chieftain, you have my, Sovine, Melanie L. "The Mysterious Melungeons: a Critique of the Mythical Image." There is also a ridge on the back of the first Instantly download research guides for all 50 U.S. states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., for less than $1 each! Hunter intended for his drama "to improve the socio-economic climate" of Hancock County, and to "lift the Melungeon name 'from shame to the hall of fame'. The ancestry and identity of Melungeons has been a highly controversial subject. Are more prone to certain diseases, such as sarcoidosis or familial Mediterranean fever they. 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