Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Melungeon
Melungeon is a term used for a hypothetical population of uncertain origins in the southeastern United States, most likely a combination of European, African, and Native American origins. Prior to the late 1960s, the word "Melungeon" seems to have been a racial pejorative, not an ethnic identification.
Melungeons have been the subject of much debate about their ethnic, linguistic, cultural and geographic connections. While not officially recognized as an ethnic or racial group by the U.S. government, they often have a keen sense of self identity.
The extent to which Melungeons constitute a specific race or ethnicity is controversial, because members of this group are considered to be ethnically mixed rather than exhibiting characteristics which can be incontrovertibly classified as being of a single racial phenotype.
Even the origin of the term "Melungeon" is highly controversial.
Location
"Melungeon" is applied to group members living in:
- eastern Kentucky
- south-western Virginia
- eastern Tennessee
- southern West Virginia
- southern Ohio
- southern Indiana
Potentially related populations include:
- Carmel Indians of southern Ohio
- Brown People of Kentucky
- Guineas of West Virginia
- We-Sorts of Maryland
- Nanticoke-Moors of Delaware
- Lumbee of North Carolina
- Cubans and Portuguese in North Carolina
- Turks and Brass Ankles of South Carolina
- Creoles and Redbones of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Local customs and beliefs in Southwest Virginia where there were quite a few Melungeons living held that they were dark-skinned because they had Native American blood, but Brent Kennedy, a fund-raiser at University of Virginia's Clinch Valley College, in his book states that they did not intermarry with Native Americans at all. According to Kennedy their dark-skin color was derived from the historical fact that they were most likely from Turkey and North Africa. However, scholars such as David Henige and Virginia DeMarce have documented extensive research fraud by Kennedy, and Kennedy's conclusions have to be considered speculative at best.
Origin
Melungeons claim to be of the following origin:
External links
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