Author: Tamara L. Stachowicz
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476631638
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 219
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Book Description
At a time when concepts of racial and ethnic identity increasingly define how we see ourselves and others, the ancestry of Melungeons--a Central Appalachian multiracial group believed to be of Native American, African and European origins--remains controversial. Who is Melungeon, how do we know and what does that mean? In a series of interviews with individuals who claim Melungeon heritage, the author finds common threads that point to shared history, appearance and values, and explores how we decide who we are and what kind of proof we need.
Author: Lisa Alther
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
ISBN: 9781559708326
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
In this dazzling, hilarious memoir, best-selling author ofKinflicks Lisa Alther chronicles her search for the missing--oftenmysterious--branches of her family tree.Most of us grow up thinking we know who we are and where we come from. LisaAlther's mother hailed from New York, her father from Virginia, and everyday they reenacted the Civil War at home in East Tennessee. Then one nighta grizzled babysitter with brown teeth told Lisa about the Melungeons:six-fingered child-snatchers who hid in cliff caves outside town.Forgetting about these creepy kidnappers until she had a daughter of herown, Lisa learned that the Melungeons were actually a group of dark-skinnedpeople--some with extra thumbs--living in isolated pockets in the South.But who were they? Where did they come from? Were they the descendants ofSir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony, or of shipwrecked Portuguese or Turkishsailors? Or were they the children of European frontiersmen, Africanslaves, and Native Americans? Theories abounded, but no one seemed to knowfor sure.Learning that a cousin had had his extra thumbs removed, Lisa set out todiscover who these mysterious Melungeons really were and why hergrandmother wouldn't let her visit their Virginia relatives. Were thereMelungeons in the family tree? Lisa assembled a hoard of clues over theyears, but DNA testing finally offered answers.Part sidesplitting travelogue, part how--and how not--to climb your familytree, Kinfolks shimmers with wicked humor, illustrating just howwacky and wonderful our human family really is.
Author: Bonnie Sage Ball
Publisher: The Overmountain Press
ISBN: 9780932807748
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132
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Book Description
The author explores the theories surrounding the people called Melungeon, perhaps from the French word, "mélange," meaning a mixture.
Author: Gigi Best
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692372081
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Wayne Winkler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
Walking toward the Sunset is a historical examination of the Melungeons, a mixed-race group predominantly in southern Appalachia. Author Wayne Winkler reviews theories about the Melungeons, compares the Melungeons with other mixed-race groups, and incorporates the latest scientific research to present a comprehensive portrait.In his telling portrait, Winkler examines the history of the Melungeons and the ongoing controversy surrounding their mysterious origins. Employing historical records, news reports over almost two centuries, and personal interviews, Winkler tells the fascinating story of a people who did not fit the rigid racial categories of American society. Along the way, Winkler recounts the legal and social restrictions suffered by Melungeons and other mixed-race groups, particularly Virginia's 1924 Racial Integrity Act, and he reviews the negative effects of nineteenth- and twentieth-century magazine and journal articles on these reclusive people. Walking toward the Sunset documents the changes in public and private attitudes toward the Melungeons, the current debates over "Melungeon" identity, and the recent genetic studies that have attempted to shed light on the subject. But most importantly, Winkler relates the lives of families who were outsiders in their own communities, who were shunned and shamed, but who created a better life for their children, descendants who are now reclaiming the heritage that was hidden from them for generations.
Author: N. Brent Kennedy
Publisher: IET
ISBN: 9780865545168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206
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Book Description
The author explores the theories surrounding the people called Melungeon, perhaps from the French word, "mélange," meaning a mixture. Includes lists of common surnames for Melungeons, Brass Ankles, Carmel Indians, Cubans, Guineas, Lumbee/Croatan Indians, Pamunkey/Powhatan Indians, and Redbones.
Author: Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865548619
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 202
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Book Description
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. To the contrary, Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman's research indicates the earliest settlers were of Mediterranean extraction, and of a Jewish or Muslim religious persuasion. Sometimes called "Melungeons," these early settlers were among the earliest nonnative "Americans" to live in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. For fear of discrimination-since Muslims, Jews, "Indians," and other "persons of color" were often disenfranchised and abused-the Melungeons were reticent regarding their heritage. In fact, over time, many of the Melungeons themselves "forgot" where they came from. Hence, today, the Melungeons remain the "last lost tribe in America," even to themselves. Yet, Hirschman, supported by DNA testing, genealogies, and a variety of historical documents, suggests that the Melungeons included such notable early Americans as Daniel Boone, John Sevier, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Andrew Jackson. Once lost, but now, forgotten no more.
Author: Pat Spurlock Elder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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Book Description
The Melungeons were a mixed-race group which lived in the mountains in the southeastern United States. This work contains an explanation of their origins as well as an examination of myths and legends about them. Also contains information about Melungeon and Melungeon-related surnames.
Author: Joseph Mendelsohn Scolnick
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865547513
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152
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Book Description
Turkic people have been migrating to America for many centuries, but this significant influx has been largely unrecognized. In "From Anatolia to Appalachia, Scolnick and Kennedy initiate a dialogue regarding this neglected area of American history and culture. This volume begins the communication with an essay reviewing existing evidence followed by interviews with knowledgeable persons about selected aspects of the population movements. An introduction and conclusion give focus and unity to the various elements of the dialogue. It is anticipated that this and subsequent volumes will(1) give information regarding studies of the movements of Turkic peoples to America; (2) broaden understanding of American history and society; (3) allow many, especially in the Southeast Atlantic region of the US, to better appreciate their background and place in American society; (4) stimulate interest in the main subject or aspects of it, both in the US and abroad; (5) tie together disparate aspects of the subject as well as the persons studying them; and(6) add to the general knowledge regarding migrations of peoples over many centuries. In sum, this dialogue intends not only to inform and interest others, but also to pull together available research on the subject and stimulate new research in this and related areas of study.
Author: Tim Hashaw
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780881460742
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
Some oppressed groups fought with guns, some fought in court, some exercised civil disobedience; the Melungeons, however, fought by telling folktales. Whites and blacks gave the name "children of perdition" to mixed Americans during the 300 years that marriage between whites and nonwhites was outlawed. Mixed communities ranked socially below communities of freed slaves although they had lighter skin. To escape persecution caused by the stigma of having African blood, these groups invented fantastic stories of their origins, known generally as "lost colony" legends. From the founding of America, through the American Revolution, the Civil War and World War II, the author documents the histories of several related mixed communities that began in Virginia in 1619 and still exist today, and shows how they responded to racism over four centuries. Conflicts led to imprisonment, whippings, slavery, lynching, gun battles, forced sterilization, and exile--but they survived. America's view of mixing became increasingly intolerant and led to a twentieth-century scheme to forcibly exile U.S. citizens, with as little as ?one drop? of black blood, to Africa even though their ancestors arrived before the Mayflower. Evidence documents the collaboration between American race purists and leading Nazi Germans who perpetrated the Holocaust. The author examines theories of ethnic purity and ethnic superiority, and reveals how mixed people responded to "pure race" myths with origin myths of their own as Nazi sympa-thizers in state and federal government segregated mixed Americans, citing the myth of Aryan supremacy. Finally, Children of Perdition explains why many Americans view mixing as unnatural and shows how mixed people continue to confront the Jim Crow "one drop" standard today. Some oppressed groups fought with guns, some fought in court, some exercised civil disobedience; the Melungeons, however, fought by telling folktales. Whites and blacks gave the name "children of perdition" to mixed Americans during the 300 years that marriage between whites and nonwhites was outlawed. Mixed communities ranked socially below communities of freed slaves although they had lighter skin. To escape persecution caused by the stigma of having African blood, these groups invented fantastic stories of their origins, known generally as "lost colony" legends. From the founding of America, through the American Revolution, the Civil War and World War II, the author documents the histories of several related mixed communities that began in Virginia in 1619 and still exist today, and shows how they responded to racism over four centuries. Conflicts led to imprisonment, whippings, slavery, lynching, gun battles, forced sterilization, and exile--but they survived. America's view of mixing became increasingly intolerant and led to a twentieth-century scheme to forcibly exile U.S. citizens, with as little as ?one drop? of black blood, to Africa even though their ancestors arrived before the Mayflower. Evidence documents the collaboration between American race purists and leading Nazi Germans who perpetrated the Holocaust. The author examines theories of ethnic purity and ethnic superiority, and reveals how mixed people responded to "pure race" myths with origin myths of their own as Nazi sympa-thizers in state and federal government segregated mixed Americans, citing the myth of Aryan supremacy. Finally, Children of Perdition explains why many Americans view mixing as unnatural and shows how mixed people continue to confront the Jim Crow "one drop" standard today.
