Melungeons: Difference between revisions

Melungeons (view source)

Revision as of 07:48, 30 March 2011

767 bytes added , 30 March 2011

no edit summary

VisualWikitext

Melungeon

2,830

edits

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 === History and Tidbits  ===
-Melungeons are a group of several hundred families from the Cumberland Gap area of the Appalachians, and surrounding counties of Virgina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina with generally Caucasian features but with olive or swarthy skin color. The ethnic background and mix of these families is contested. Many seem to have American Indian in their background. Some researchers believe Portuguese from as early as the time of Columbus are part of their history. Others say sub-Saharan black Africans are also in the mix, but many insist otherwise. Melungeons are often called a "tri-racial isolate" but some Melungeons object to and deny this terminology.
+The term "Melungeon" has generally been applied to a widely distributed group of people associated with the general region of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky in the United States, but perhaps concentrated in the general area of Eastern Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Northwest North Carolina. Although definitions of what exactly constitute a Melungeon differ, these are a mixed-race people.
-It is even difficult to pin down exactly which family names can be included in a list of Melungeon names. Candidates include Bowling (Bolin), Bunch, Chavis (Chavez), Collins, Francisco, Gibson, Gill, Goins, Goodman, Minor, Mise, Moore, Mullins, Ridley (Riddle), Rodrigues, Stowers, Williams, and Wise.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Melungeon," ''Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon (accessed January 31, 2009).</ref>
+Some have been described as being "swarthy" or at least somewhat dark-skinned appearance, but the physical characteristics of Melungeons differ greatly. Because this is a mixed race group of people, and because the exact racial characteristics vary, it is impossible to pin down a precise Melungeon appearance.
+Melungeon identity is assumed to involve a mixture of some combination of Western European, Native American, and African ancestry, with early claims of "Portuguese" or "Portuguese Indian" background being widely claimed. The term "tri-racial isolate" has been academically applied to this group, but this term is problematic in that not all Melungeons claim a tri-racial identity and, in many cases, these families appear to be anything but "isolates."
+Stories and claims abound as to how this group of people descend from Portuguese, or Turks and/or Moors who navigated to the American shores with the Portuguese, and who intermarried with Native Americans prior to English settlement.
+Some of the most prominent surnames that have been claimed as potentially associated with a Melungeon identity include&nbsp;Bowling (Bolin), Bunch, Chavis (Chavez), Collins, Francisco, Gibson, Gill, Goins, Goodman, Minor, Mise, Moore, Mullins, Ridley (Riddle), Rodrigues, Stowers, Williams, and Wise.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Melungeon," ''Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon (accessed January 31, 2009).</ref>
 === Resources  ===