"There is a clan of partly-colored people in Barbour County often called Guineas, under the erroneous presumption that they are Guinea negroes," observed WV historian Hu Maxwell in the 1890s. In the Thirteen Colonies and the United States at times during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, "mulatto" could mean a mixture of African and European, African and Native American, European and Native American, or all three. Melungeons are an ethnic mix, and each family and individual receives different genetic markers from their various ancestors. [32] However, Janet Crain notes that there is no written documentation to support that theory. 1930s is an unforgettable image. The Melungeons have lived for years in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Western North Carolina. There are many hypotheses about the etymology of the term Melungeon. [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. Last Modified Date: February 03, 2023. Keep in mind, though, that colour was often in the eye of the beholder, and lack of a non-white designation is not an indicator that an ancestor was NOT Melungeon. Because of the loose terminology and social attitudes to mixed-race persons, the remaining non-reservation American Indians in the Upper South were generally not recorded separately as Indians. As the drama portrayed Melungeons in a positive, romantic light, many individuals began for the first time to self-identify by that term. 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. Home; melungeon bump images A number of myths surround the origins and history of the Melungeons, and it can be difficult to find verifiable . It was used by Edmund Spenser as the name of a trickster figure in his epic poem, The Faerie Queene (15901596), which was popular in Elizabethan England. Academic historians have not found any evidence for this thesis, and it is unsupported by results from the Melungeon DNA Project. ", ""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,". Those actions destroyed the documented continuity of identity of several Indian communities. I searched for this on bing.com/images, Luther Collins 1887-1948 Married Rosa V Fugate Hawkins county TN. Sparks Morrison and the opinions in this page are strictly On page 48 there is a photograph titled: Monday, Melungeon Woman, Probably North Carolina Before 1929. Although there is no consensus on how many such groups exist, estimates range as high as 200,000.[1][2]. 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. You Have To Be This Tall To Go On This Ride: The Melungeon YDNA Study Findings & Vardy Collins Ironic "Viking Blood". Who is the most famous melungeon? What is a Melungeon bump? [41] (Lee County, Virginia borders Hancock County, Tennessee.) spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors. USA Gibson and Valentine Collins both have the same Y-DNA Haplogroup, 1934: On a trip lasting from April to August, Ulmann and Niles work in Berea, Harlan, Lexington and Pine Mountain KY, Brasstown, NC and Gatlinburg, TN. In early censuses, many were listed as FPCs (Free Persons of Color), blacks or mulattos. Discovering your possible Melungeon heritage all boils down to simple research trying to find out as much about your ancestors as possible One strong indicator of Melungeon ancestry is ancestors who were in the Clinch River region of southwest Virginia/northeast Tennessee about 1800; this area seems to be the focal point of migration to other areas later (although it is important to remember that not all Melungeon families passed through this area). The following common Melungeon surnames occurring in North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia were noted by Dr. N. Brent Kennedy during his research for The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America. Others say the Melungeons descend from the legendary Welsh explorer Madoc, who supposedly explored the southern Appalachian region in the 1100s. Roanoke, Virginia 24015 The journalist Will Allen Dromgoole wrote several articles on the Melungeons in the 1890s. The tests DO show some interesting things about our individual families, but dont tell us much about Melungeons as a whole. [3] Secondary sources disagree as to their ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and geographic origins and identity. In 2010, the Kentucky General Assembly passed resolutions that acknowledged the civic contributions of the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians to the state.[53][54]. Since the late 1960s, "Melungeon" has been increasingly adopted by individuals who identify with the ethnic group. Big Stone Gap, VA Collins family history. [30][31], In the late 20th century, amateur researchers suggested that the Melungeons' ethnic identity may include ancestors who were Turks and Sephardi (Iberian) Jews. they were a mixed race group that settled in southern appalachia in the late 1700s. It appears the name arose as an exonym, which a neighboring people of whatever origin called the multiracial people. 1882: Doris Ulmann is born May 29, 1882, on New York Citys Upper East Side. Melungeon traits include: dark hair and skin with light-colored eyes. [44][irrelevant citation] The play was first presented in 1969 in Sneedville, the county seat of Hancock County. Nodular melanomas also form in the deepest layer of the skin. Yes, arguably the two most famous Melungeons are kin! After her death,the Doris Ulmann Foundation was formed and took over management of her vast portfolio. in others as Red Bones, Ramps, Wooly-boogers, and [8] Jack Goins, an identified Melungeon descendant and researcher, states that the Melungeons claimed to be both Indian and Portuguese. Genetic testing cannot establish a Melungeon heritage because the Melungeons are of mixed ethnic ancestry, and all of us show different results on various tests. The photo surfaces for a second time in 1997 on the KET (Kentucky Educational Television) 'In Search of Origins, Melungeons' produced by Ernie Lee Martin. Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community. [4], From the Virginia and North Carolina frontiers, the families migrated west into frontier Tennessee and Kentucky. [26] The majority of Melungeon early ancestors, who had migrated from Virginia over time, are of northern European and African ancestry given the history of settlement in late-17th- and early-18th-century eastern Virginia. published. An image entitled "A typical malungeon", published in August 1890 in the Nashville Sunday American. According to the historian Pat Elder, the earliest of those was that they were "Indian" (more specifically, "Cherokee"). [48] After an unsubstantiated hypothesis, popularized by N. Brent Kennedy, that Melungeons are of Turkish origin, some people have identified as having an enlarged external occipital protuberance, dubbed an "Anatolian bump".[47][49]. Are there still Melungeons? Still others theorize that . size of half a golf ball or smaller. Researchers have stated that this unique group has often been associated with either or all of the following cultures: Turkish Arabic Portuguese American Indian African Moorish some stayed in those communities as late as the mid-20th . As time permits my intention is to research as many of these families as I can. Too think this fresh face youngster will make women from all over the world faint, scream and fall in love. In the 19th century, free people of color sometimes identified as Portuguese or Native American to avoid being classified as black in the segregated slave societies. Gallery 0:04 1:11 For years, varied and sometimes wild claims have been made about the origins of a group of dark-skinned Appalachian residents once known derisively as the Melungeons. Most of these families claimed the Ridgetop Shawnee heritage to explain their dark skin and Indian features and to avoid racial persecution. There is a bump On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. makes a slight clicking sound. Hi,Based on eastern North Carolina, I would guess the labeled Melungeon people might be Lumbee.Also for Monday, well Monday is washday according to the children's rhyme and she is doing wash.KDD. [20] Definitions of racial categories were often imprecise and ambiguous, especially for "mulatto" and "free person of color." called by many names. There were differences between how people identified themselves and how others identified them. On October 7, 1840, the polemical Brownlow's Whig, of Jonesborough, Tennessee, published an article entitled "Negro Speaking!" Their appearance is quite distinctive, causing Melungeons to stand out from their neighbors. Learn more. 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. This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 00:52. (Lifshey also developed the 2,000 exposed negatives from Ulmann's last expedition, and produced the prints for Eaton's book.) In Tennessee they travel to Gatlinburg (Sevier Co.) and Norris (Anderson Co.), in North Carolina ,Murphy (Cherokee Co.), Brasstown (Cherokee and Clay Co.'s), in Virginia, Richmond. mid-line, just ABOVE the juncture with the neck. Allen Eaton, John Jacob Niles, Olive Dame Campbell (of the Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina), Ulmann's brother-in-law Henry L. Necarsulmer, and Berea schoolteacher Helen Dingman were named trustees. Some, such as the Gibsons, owned slaves as early as the 18th century. paper, to at least give researchers something to look at. Since the mid-1990s, popular interest in the Melungeons has grown tremendously although many descendants have left the region of historical concentration. "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. Some speculated they were descended from Portuguese explorers, or perhaps from Turkish slaves or Gypsies. A B C D E F G H I J K L M 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 . your spine. Melungeons were residents of the part of Hawkins that in 1844 was organized as Hancock County. There really is no 'Melungeon bump." The "anatolian bump" is actually a. reported over the years. There may also be "Native American features," as well as "a particular type of bump or ridge at the back of the head (usually just above the neck) known at the Melungeon bump." 18 The earliest documented use of the term "Melungeon" is found in the minutes of that church (see Etymology below). The publisher referred to a rival Democratic politician with a party in Sullivan County as "an impudent Malungeon from Washington City a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian," [sic] then as a "free negroe". The shift in meaning may have resulted from the popularity of Walk Toward the Sunset, a drama written by the playwright Kermit Hunter and produced outdoors. The group has been a topic of widespread interest and discussion since the mid-1800s, and in the late 20th century, many genealogists became interested in tracing the genetic and cultural history of the Melungeons. Call Us: (860) 961-3482 . Melungeon traits include: The Melungeons origins are still being debated. Within the Appalachian Mountains, from the mountainous regions of Tennessee and Virginia, to parts of Kentucky, there has traditionally been a group of people known as the Melungeons. Many Melungeons have these traits, others do not. 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. surname translated into English is Six Fingered Ones.. He directed the offices to reclassify members of certain families as black, which caused the loss for numerous families of documentation in records that showed their continued identification as Native American. Over the generations, most individuals of the group called Melungeon were persons of mixed European and African descent, sometimes also with Native American ancestry, whose ancestors had been free in colonial Virginia.[7]. A young George Clooney, left, with dad Nick, sister Ada and mother Nina, 1967. The following are other multi-racial groups that at one time were classified as tri-racial isolates. which are not entirely documented, but seem to be passed on 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. They were acquitted, presumably by demonstrating to the court's satisfaction that they had no appreciable black ancestry. See more ideas about appalachia, american history, appalachian people. Whats more, today, some Melungeon groups and individuals have totally assimilated into the American mainstream, while others cling to, variously, predominantly Turkish or Portugese or Native American or African or European roots, according to the MHA. Again, however, these traits do not necessarily indicate Melungeon ancestry. The Powhatan were an Algonquian-speaking tribe who inhabited eastern Virginia during the initial period of European colonization. With the exception of Letcher Co., there in no evidence of Doris Ulmann being in or taking photographs in any of these Counties. The historical documentation of continuity of self-identified Native American families was lost. The silver gelatin glass plate negatives are the only known remaining Ulmann negatives. [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. E1b1a. It provides a means for this site to earn advertising fees, by advertising and linking to Amazon and affiliated websites. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and [6], Other Melungeon individuals and families are accepted and identify as white, particularly since the mid-20th century. outward rather than straight as the descendants of anglo-saxon In southwest Virginia, the term Ramp was similarly applied to people of mixed race. The numbering system used is that devised by the trustees, based on the order the proof prints were placed in the albums.. only document where I've seen it usedin Kentuckyis in Harry M. Caudill's Book For example, they held property, voted, and served in the army. 1928: Doris Ulmann and John Jacob Niles take their first of at least seven summer road trips to the South. The Melungeons' origins are still being debated. 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. They resided in a part that became Ashe County, where they are designated as "other free" in 1800. People who live in the Anatolian the gum line and gently draw (up or down) you can feel it and it For example, DeMarce (1992) listed Hale as a Melungeon surname.[42]. Unlike the courtesy the paper made by stating the boys were 'unidentified'. For instance, the Collins, Gibson, and Ridley (Riddle) families owned land adjacent to one another in Orange County, North Carolina, where they and the Bunch family were listed in 1755 as "free Molatas (mulattoes)" subject to taxation on tithes. But Melungeons have not always been identified as such. FamilyTreeMagazine.com is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. On page 89 the Ulmann photo is published again, labeled Photo of two unidentified Melungeon boys taken about 1934, used with special permission from the Doris Ulmann Foundation and Berea College, Berea, KY. Young men identified as the descendants of Thomas Gibson (row 38 in Patriarch's Table) by Johnnie Rhea, 2011. Others say the Melungeons descend from the legendary Welsh explorer Madoc, who supposedly explored the southern Appalachian region in the 1100s. 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. Among the participants, only the Sizemore family is documented as having Native American DNA.[4]. Clinch River. Conference paper. they lived in their own communities, separate from their white neighbors. 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 . Genealogists believe that the Melungeons were the natural result of ethnic intermarriages in the early colonies, and that they may have moved into Appalachia to avoid discrimination, a common problem for ethnically mixed individuals in the Americas. Records show that on the whole, they enjoyed the same rights as whites. An inventory of Ulmann photos at the University of Oregon Library Please be aware that the information available is limited to notes made years after the images were taken, by Ulmann's trustees, and therefore much is inaccurate. Free Five Generation Ancestor Chart Download, Mountain Climbing: Tips for Appalachian Genealogy Research, 8 Tips for Finding Ancestors Prior to 1850, Best UK, Irish and Commonwealth Genealogy Websites, Family Tree Templates and Relationship Charts, How to Find Your Ancestors US Military Records, Preserving Old Photos of Your Family History, Surnames: Family Search Tips and Surname Origins, The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People, dark hair and skin with light-colored eyes, stark contrasts in skin and hair color within a single family, a particular type of bump or ridge at the back of the head (usually just above the neck) known at the Melungeon bump. The general consensus among many researchers and amateur historians today is that Melungeons are triracial, with European, African, and Native American ancestry. On Page 94, The Life and Photography of Doris Ulmann by Phillip Walker Jacobs, The Appalachian Photographs of Doris Ulmann The Jagon Society, In Focus Doris Ulmann Photography from the J. Paul Getty Museum, The Forgotten Portuguese, The Melungeons, and other Groups, The Portuguese Making of America, The Mountain the Miner and the Lord by In April of 2012 the peer reviewed Genetic testing has strongly supported the idea that Melungeons have a great deal of Southern European and Native American blood. straight and flat. men identified as the descendants of Thomas Gibson (row 38 in Another is a photo by Ulmann labeled Melungeon Girl, East, North Carolina. Melungeon Characteristics | Melungeon Definition - What Is A Melungeon? paper Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Local "knowledge" or myths soon began to arise about them. 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