Melungeon: The Criminalization of Race

This sixth Freedom Stories discussion explores the history of a tri-racial ethnic group prevalent in Central Appalachia and the rural Southeastern United States known as Melungeons. Through performance and discussion with storyteller Lyn Ford, author and community scholar Wayne Winkler, and Anthony Mayle, Assistant Director, Marietta College Office of Diversity and Inclusion, we will examine the unique development of multiple racial identities and challenge the story of Appalachian monoculturalism.
To access resources from this and previous Freedom Stories discussions, including the opening presentation, please visit storytellingcenter.net/freedo....
For more information on this and other ISC projects, please sign up for our newsletter: visitor.r20.constantcontact.c...
Freedom Stories is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and with the support of our friends at the National Association of Black Storytellers - NABS, Green McAdoo Cultural Center, Appalachian African American Cultural Center, Black/White Dialogue, Black in Appalachia, ETSU Leadership and Civic Engagement, Heritage Alliance, Langston Centre, McKinney Center, Northeast Tennessee Tourism, and Historic Jonesborough.

Пікірлер: 309

  • @DavidWilliams-tr1yx
    @DavidWilliams-tr1yx Жыл бұрын

    I’m from the Appalachian area and we are made up of so many races, we are proud of who we are.

  • @rebeccamd7903
    @rebeccamd79032 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful!! 👏🥰 I am Melungeon based on records and DNA. My dad’s family are first Eastern Kentucky settlers and they’re all tri-racial & related to most of the Tennessee Melungeon. My family…Mullins, Jones, Brown, Owens, Reed, Collins, Gibson, Hall, Goins, Scott, Tate, Smith, Morgan. I remember my grandma showing me how she straightened her hair and bleaching her skin and telling me that someday I’ll have to do the same. She also told us daily that we were the dark Germans near the Italian border. My grandma definitely didn’t look even remotely German and none of us believed her. I am very proud of my heritage. They were very brave people who helped protect people during Trail of Tears and during slavery. Noble deeds that could have horrible consequences. As far as DNA, I show various European, African, but not Native. That’s because there is no Eastern Woodlands database for most companies. I have legal proof that I am descended from Powhatan, Chickahominy, Cheraw, & Cherokee. I also have been able to confirm dna connections to the Lakota, Dakota, & Canadian Natives through a project Cambridge is working on to sequence Eastern Woodlands Native DNA & create a viable database of each chromosome.

  • @flutes8

    @flutes8

    2 жыл бұрын

    We May Be Related My Dna Matches Jones, Brown, Smith My Surname Is Goins

  • @PubliusUSA

    @PubliusUSA

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hi. I love your stories. Are Ledford's Melungeon? My grandmother was born in Turtletown TN in 1926. She told me my 5x great grandmother was Cherokee (a Walker). There is a cemetery nearby on candy mountain from the late 1700s with Ledford's resting. Please tell me I am Melungeon! LOL. Thank you

  • @marthahenderson4808

    @marthahenderson4808

    2 жыл бұрын

    I am from Eastern Kentucky too

  • @klmullins65

    @klmullins65

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hi Rebecca, where were your Mullins, Collins, Goins, and Gibsons from? I have those families in my direct lines, and they came from Newman's Ridge in Hancock Co, TN

  • @jlynn8707

    @jlynn8707

    2 жыл бұрын

    I had the a similar DNA mix, my Great Grandfather was a Mullins and my Grandmother was a Brown. We are mainly WV/VA Melungeon but I know at least my Mullins family extends to TN and KY.

  • @donesecarr3570
    @donesecarr35702 жыл бұрын

    This also made me think of some Carribean & New Orlean mixes: Native, European & African mixes however different in subculture & histories. We are all connected.

  • @avjack2702

    @avjack2702

    2 жыл бұрын

    I’m related to the woman in the video

  • @herewegoagin4667

    @herewegoagin4667

    2 жыл бұрын

    These mixes are all over the USA

  • @kilvarockclan4806

    @kilvarockclan4806

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yes, Creole could be considered our long lost distant cousins/ relatives

  • @michaelberkley9267

    @michaelberkley9267

    Жыл бұрын

    There is no same part. The Caribbean is the creole race! We are Egypt(Ciro)!

  • @ninvarin2910

    @ninvarin2910

    Жыл бұрын

    My roots are here. My Grandmother used to say when asked and only when asked that we were like Hinze 57 sauce. We were a little bit of everything. I do remember that we had a certain set of rules we all never broke. Never take anything from the government no Indian Card no Specific race identification everyone just helped each other out and never asked anyone for anything. I miss family reunions. We don't do that anymore, we all say we are busy. I suppose in our busyness we all have forgotten that We Are All Family.

  • @malindawilczynski2774
    @malindawilczynski27743 жыл бұрын

    It was very important to my grandmother to keep her heritage hidden. My mother said family pictures were kept at the bottom of a trunk, and was told they had to keep them hidden because they were Indian, and people would not want them around if they knew. However mama said a lot of them looked african american. In my family you either have stick straight hair, or super kinky. 3 of my grandparents came from Harlan Co. Ky. We ended up south of Detroit during the "great migration". My sister always wondered why we had no sub-culture. When in second grade had to do a project on where our ancestors came from, my mother refused to tell me, and said just put an arrow around the world map. Later when she was elderly she let it slip she knew the migration of the family. My great grandfather never spoke of his people, either. However my GGM Malinda Thomas Vaughn's mother was Debby Brock descended from Jesse Brock. There are many other names in the family kept hidden and now know it was to keep from discrimination.

  • @kolin572

    @kolin572

    2 жыл бұрын

    very similar. my grandmother always said we were “black irish” until i discovered the term melungeon and the bump on then back of the head i’ve always had and everything else just made so much sense

  • @melodiepatton2651
    @melodiepatton26519 ай бұрын

    Im from Eastern Kentucky and I'm of Melungeon, African (Gowan-Goins), Native American (Terry) (Hicks) (Moore) (Gibson) (Collins) (Allen) (Chavis). My mother's DNA shows European, Native American, Sub Suharan Africa-Angola-Congo, and Portuguese

  • @enlightenmententertainment327

    @enlightenmententertainment327

    Ай бұрын

    I am Melungeon on my Popaw Goins side. ❤

  • @MaLiArtworks186
    @MaLiArtworks1862 жыл бұрын

    My mother always said "Don't let your Oppressors tell you who you are".

  • @uplandhunter1869

    @uplandhunter1869

    Жыл бұрын

    They don't need your permission to tell you who you are . . .

  • @MaLiArtworks186

    @MaLiArtworks186

    Жыл бұрын

    @Upland Hunter The Oppressors have lied from the beginning just like their father, Satan! My family knows who we are. Everyone should know their geneology!

  • @ulyssessebastian3498
    @ulyssessebastian34983 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for posting. As a mulegeon descendant it was insightful.

  • @lenr7068
    @lenr70686 ай бұрын

    As an immigrant, finding new stories about this country is amazing. Thank you for putting this together.

  • @targetedtruthergirl6726
    @targetedtruthergirl67263 жыл бұрын

    I have family who is Melungeon, Collins from E. TN were mixed but most are white my aunt has hair like black people and she was picked on, she wasn't accepted by the whites nor the blacks.My mama had olive skin small pug nose high cheekbones. My Grandfather was very handsome darker skin not black. I don't know what all Melungeon is. She had a DNA test and Africa showed up, I am proud to claim my African heritage. God bless all God's children, in God's kingdom, all of us will be able to be who God made us to be. This makes my heart sad, I'm so sorry for all who have been mistreated abused, and killed. When my mom went to visit Tn the Melungeons in Sneedville Tn they accepted my mama as soon as they saw her and they were very private from what I was told. I would like to find out more about them.

  • @michelegiammatteo8477

    @michelegiammatteo8477

    3 жыл бұрын

    That is really cool! What an interesting history.

  • @EldaMLopez
    @EldaMLopez3 жыл бұрын

    There is so much valuable information here, but the music takes away from concentrating on the words and their impact. It's a good song (I love Stevie Wonder), but it's too busy for this important presentation.

  • @AbbyBane.

    @AbbyBane.

    3 жыл бұрын

    Volume was a bit much as well. I muted to read the cards.

  • @StorytellingFestival

    @StorytellingFestival

    3 жыл бұрын

    Elda, you can now download this, and all other Freedom Stories slide shows, in our new Freedom Stories toolkit, available at www.StorytellingCenter.net/FreedomStories. Downloading the presentation also allows you to mute the music and peruse at your own speed.

  • @EldaMLopez

    @EldaMLopez

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@StorytellingFestival Thanks for the info. I appreciate it!

  • @dessaarnold7540

    @dessaarnold7540

    4 ай бұрын

    There wasn't enough time to read it either.

  • @dessaarnold7540

    @dessaarnold7540

    4 ай бұрын

    Ty

  • @kilvarockclan4806
    @kilvarockclan48062 жыл бұрын

    One more point that I personally still struggle with is identity and belonging. For much of my life, I personally felt that I was in a way lost or not fully fitting in with one community and culture over another. I still find folks trying to box us into one group over another group sometimes by skin color, sometimes by features aka your exotic looking or not fully one race, etc. Today, its really painful as folks seem to do this more often than the use to in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Some things that people say about one race against another is so hurtful sometimes as I feel like it is ripping me apart inside spiritually. I cannot hate one grandparent or parent over another, but the vicious words used sometimes feels like this and it hurts as bad as the time that a KKK person talked how he hated NAs, and how they were sorry, thieves and alcoholics. I stood up to him in the hotel restaurant and said do you hate me as a NA mix and he said yes. And, I told him off; but the pain of hearing him ripe apart my dad, grandparents, etc. still hurts and remembering the derogatory statements made at my grandfather when we went to the stores, and the insecurity and pain that my dad carried his entire life still haunts me especially today with folks boxing us into one color over the other. I just wish folks understood how hurtful they are when the do this as some don't care as they are a politician trying to win at all costs. Not sure if others understand this pain but I have to believe some do.

  • @LoriPark1111

    @LoriPark1111

    Жыл бұрын

    May GOD give you peace. ✝🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🙏🙏🙏🙏

  • @Candy.A.
    @Candy.A.2 жыл бұрын

    That Josephus story gave me chills. Bless his soul and every other of his kind 🙏🏾

  • @audrianna33
    @audrianna332 жыл бұрын

    My family is decended from the Moores, Gibson, Collins, and Coles that moved from Kentucky to Highland County Ohio. They called them "Carmel Indians" here. I didn't know any of this history until recently. I do remember the stories of hardship and how they were treated. Ancestry shows a lot of European and Scottish in my DNA. Then there is 4% African, and 2% Portugese. I remember my mom telling me that most of her moms siblings had "Negro" on their birth certificates. They were just "free people of color." Finding these roots were crucial in my healing process. I see so many people here I could possibly be related to. Tell me... how's your family now? Mine is dysfunctional and full of ancestral trauma. If anyone is interested in any information I may have, or would like to connect as family, let me know.

  • @josephhoover4542

    @josephhoover4542

    2 жыл бұрын

    My dads side of the family is also partially descended from the Carmel group a lot of them live around the Highland,Ross,Southren Pickaway and Faytte Counties (A couple also live in East Tennessee and other places like Columbus and Athens Ohio some even live Arizona and one even lives in Colarado but that’s beside the point )area my dads family is very mixed me personally tho I am mostly white (Primarly Welsh,Dutch,and Irish) with distant African and Saponi and Shawnee native

  • @josephhoover4542

    @josephhoover4542

    2 жыл бұрын

    My dads side of the family is also filled with some trauma my grandma who died before I was born was somewhat dark and when she would get pretty dark in the summer time alot of her co workers wouldn’t want to be around her as my dad put it my family is also somewhat dysfunctional with alot of health issues but there is alot of good in my family too some of us have excelled in school academically and athletically so it has kinda come close to balancing out.

  • @josephhoover4542

    @josephhoover4542

    2 жыл бұрын

    I didn’t know the history really till early last year I’m only 17 so this kinda new to me

  • @deegee8437
    @deegee843710 ай бұрын

    Lyn Ford is a phenomenal story-teller. I could listen to her all day.

  • @Macmadgram
    @Macmadgram5 ай бұрын

    A Canadian here. I found this fascinating. Thank you so much for the education!

  • @ChelseaHoffmancrime
    @ChelseaHoffmancrime3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the upload. I'm Melungeon and on the constant search for answers behind my ancestry.

  • @psychedelikat

    @psychedelikat

    3 жыл бұрын

    I was gonna tag you on a post of mine on FB, but it seems you already found it.

  • @tonibunch2380

    @tonibunch2380

    2 жыл бұрын

    I'm Melungeon my people are from sneedville Tennessee and because of my skin color I wasn't allowed in my mom's parents house because my grandpa said I was a little NI**ER baby because my dad's family is very dark to red bone color I have many stories of my grandmother perlie Collins on mom's side and Etter Trent/Collins on my dad's I'm kin to everyone overhome if interested message me Toni bunch.

  • @ChelseaHoffmancrime

    @ChelseaHoffmancrime

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@tonibunch2380 I am so sorry you experienced this. My skin isn't dark but my dad's side ofthe family always abused me for "looking black" (i.e, my facial features). People can be so cruel. I wonder if you and I are related as well?

  • @harriettannediger8772
    @harriettannediger87722 жыл бұрын

    Story of my family is they lived in Kentucky , were dark complexion and blue colored eyes. They self identified as Indian and White. Before the Civil War they felt threatened , packed the wagons in the middle of the night and left Kentucky for Illinois where they could be safe until they moved to Kansas. My great aunt researched and wrote a book on this migration. Later my sister and I took a DNA test for health and ancestry. We showed only 3% Native American but unexpectedly 5% West African. I guess I must be Melungeon too. Now I can't find that book and my sister and great aunt have passed on.

  • @hishers7980
    @hishers79803 жыл бұрын

    My mom maiden name is Bolen and her fathers side is direct decedent's of pocahontas in West Virginia.. They're also related to the lily family in West Virginia .. Proud of my heritage !! Proud to be melungeon !!

  • @raslg7775

    @raslg7775

    3 жыл бұрын

    @Lynda Entrekin my great-granfather Clarence Clinton Tustin from West Virginia said he was descended from Pocahontas ! seriously we might be cousins!

  • @andrewschnelwar666

    @andrewschnelwar666

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@raslg7775 My 4th great grandfather was John Bollin who married Mary Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's sister. John Bollin was the great grandson of John Rolfe who brought commercial tobacco farming to America and married Pocahontas. I'm melungeon.

  • @sentlioness7437

    @sentlioness7437

    2 жыл бұрын

    My family are from Pamplin Virginia area. We are from the tribe Pocahontas is from

  • @untidtung
    @untidtung5 ай бұрын

    This must be the end of time as we know it. this is a great think that came to light answering many questions that was shunned or lied about. bur grandma told me more than she was suppose to now, that things come back to mind. Yesterday i came across the topic and it grabbed me. Felt kinda alone whole life, and now i understand, why they tell me i'm not normal. honest to GOD i aint looking for nothing but a place to fit in. been looking for home since i was 15 for 45 years. they messed up the way i talked with speech therapy. ooops sorry for venting. told girl of 37 years i was going to Tennessee this spring and if she wasn't coming, then i'm making a sign Home bound Tennessee unless i get another direction before then . this is great and thanks for all involved

  • @dessaarnold7540

    @dessaarnold7540

    4 ай бұрын

    Good luck on your journey

  • @djspatriqt2290
    @djspatriqt22902 ай бұрын

    My grandparents on both sides of my family are Melungeon. My mommas daddy, Lloyd William Mullins is a grandson of Mahalia Mullins, the moonshine queen of the Appalachian mountains. We are British-Irish, Scottish, German, Cherokee/African American and Portuguese. Mullins family came over on the Mayflower in 1620.They settled in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee. The Keeleys and Tilley are also my Kin Folks.

  • @eliwahuhu
    @eliwahuhu Жыл бұрын

    This is reason you don't accuse people of Indigenous Descent of lying.

  • @eEdJones
    @eEdJones2 жыл бұрын

    Ms Lynette Ford, "time may take away my ability to remember the names and locations of your story, but I shall never forget the pride and dignity that your words made me feel - ib

  • @linnymaemullins3319
    @linnymaemullins33192 жыл бұрын

    Thank y'all for the acknowledgement!!!

  • @aljones2852
    @aljones28523 жыл бұрын

    Wayne: The Vinton County Ohio Melungeons, sometimes known as "Vinton County Indians", are a group of people who removed from Louisa County, Virginia after the Nat Turner Rebellion when free people of color were forced to leave the state. They were the mixed race families with names such as Thacker, Sprouse and others who's names now escape me. A Thacker was involved in Hawk v. Thacker, a landmark Ohio voting rights case.

  • @targetedtruthergirl6726

    @targetedtruthergirl6726

    3 жыл бұрын

    Collins that is my family def Melungeon, Dna show Africa

  • @CT-uv8os

    @CT-uv8os

    5 ай бұрын

    Graves in the names . Mine came from Vinton Co. Ohio. Thanks

  • @CT-uv8os

    @CT-uv8os

    5 ай бұрын

    P.S. my Mozingo family were FPC from Culpepper VA. They had to leave after Nat Turner also.

  • @marypatten9655
    @marypatten96552 жыл бұрын

    So it was the the British who passed inequality laws way back in the 1600's. Thank you for the history lesson.

  • @matthewirvin2268
    @matthewirvin22683 жыл бұрын

    Hello Alicestyne! It is Matthew Zip Irvin here. I am using this in my Appalachian Studies class..

  • @Mimi73161
    @Mimi731615 ай бұрын

    Thank you so much for shaing your important history with us!! These stories are heartbreaking and beautiful and bittersweet all wrapped in one...they are important and must be shared!!!! side note i watched a doc saying that Abe Lincoln was Meloungeon, and it made sense to me!!!!

  • @Mimi73161

    @Mimi73161

    5 ай бұрын

    sorry if i spelled Melungeon wrong, i could not figure out how to edit my comment, no disrespect!! much love

  • @gaudylady7
    @gaudylady7 Жыл бұрын

    I was arguing with an old friend that there are more groups of people in America then he knows about. I was trying to say whether you like/dislike a certain race of people they are possibly part of your bloodline. I wish I could share this with him! I try to tell people that you can be racist/prejudice but that's your bloodline!

  • @AbbyBane.
    @AbbyBane.3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this! I always heard stories and saw (now lost) pics of Native but rumors of Melungeons but until recently, did not have much information. I have started doing geneaology and will be sending off my DNA after the holidays.

  • @klmullins65
    @klmullins652 жыл бұрын

    Three of my direct ancestors, all with the surname Collins, were prosecuted for illegal voting during the 1844 elections in Hawkins Co, TN, and faced accusations that they were ineligible to vote, having African blood...even though the Collins, and associated "free colored" families, had been voting, owning land, and suing in courts for generation up to that point. During the trial, the men were asked to take their shoes off and display their feet... charges were dropped because these men weren't FLAT-FOOTED!! It was actually believed at that time that people with a certain amount of African blood were flat-footed! I believe the suit came about because these men were all patriarchs of large families, and the family patriarch had a considerable amount of political persuasion, because the family would vote however the patriarch voted. Nullifying their votes could've definitely affected the outcome of the regional elections (hmm, sounds familiar...). Thanks for the video...shout out to Wayne Winkler...hey buddy!

  • @kolin572
    @kolin5722 жыл бұрын

    born and raised in columbus. my whole family is from appalachia. so intrigued to getting closer to my roots i can’t believe the bump on my head is explained finally wow

  • @audrianna33

    @audrianna33

    2 жыл бұрын

    I was raised in CBus also. Moore/Gibson/Cole/Nichols and Collins are in my ancestry.

  • @josephhoover4542

    @josephhoover4542

    2 жыл бұрын

    I was born in Columbus too I only spent a very breif time living their tho I’m part melungeon as well I do have family members from both sides that live there tho

  • @songlyon7795

    @songlyon7795

    Жыл бұрын

    I am a descendant of the Melungeon people. My grandfather and grandmother came to Ohio from Buckhannon, WV.

  • @kevinpoole4323
    @kevinpoole43232 жыл бұрын

    A Great Pennsylvanian a Beautiful Family ,I was the Only Black in My Class in School,I Love your Stories. Cross the River Josephus Free us All.

  • @InTruthNLove
    @InTruthNLove3 жыл бұрын

    The music is highly distracting

  • @axeljackson7957

    @axeljackson7957

    3 жыл бұрын

    I Know!

  • @shahee6579

    @shahee6579

    3 жыл бұрын

    Wth was that trash

  • @brandielewis4623

    @brandielewis4623

    3 жыл бұрын

    Mute it

  • @6689wonderfullyblessed

    @6689wonderfullyblessed

    2 жыл бұрын

    You weren't forced to look or listen to this. Simply keep moving if you are that distracted.

  • @genemartinelli5645

    @genemartinelli5645

    3 ай бұрын

    Just say it, the music sucks. It ruins the story they are trying to portray. Hurts my ears!

  • @justinshades6652
    @justinshades6652 Жыл бұрын

    Magnificent Storyteller! 🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👏

  • @aychtuoanderson4144
    @aychtuoanderson41443 жыл бұрын

    So interesting, my thanks to all of you for your work. I wonder how my grandfather's family photo got included in your opening and by whom. I really liked the stories because they remind me of the stories I grew up hearing.

  • @kitskivich

    @kitskivich

    2 жыл бұрын

    It's worth reaching out to them about your grandfather's family photo for any history they might be able to share with you. Additionally, I would hope they might have additional photos.

  • @zeros-gy7bl
    @zeros-gy7bl8 ай бұрын

    I'm glad to have watched this whole stream, great information... If you're also on the Melungeon Surnames list, hello cousin! :)

  • @kilvarockclan4806
    @kilvarockclan48062 жыл бұрын

    Good video as it hit upon many things that I witnessed with my father's side of the family. Our families were in Southeastern KY and upper East TN/ KY border. My dad and some of his siblings, his grandparents showed more of the African American features while I and some of my father's other family members passed as more NA. I always knew our people were different as our culture didn't fit in the community where my mom's family lived and were raised. We didn't cook like whites, my dad and his people didn't go to a doctor or stay at a hospital until the 1960s. My paternal grandfather was treated horribly as his skin was extremely dark and folks knew about my dad's people and whites were not always accepting, but overtime they accepted us into the community. We have a lot of mix race history that has been traced to the 1600s and as recent to my grandparents. 2 of my great great great grandfathers Jesse Powers (Ridgetop Shawnee) and Hutson Collins were Black and NA mix, and served in the Union Army as Spies to track and report the movements of the Confederates because they knew the mountains and were known in the community to hunt in the TN/ KY border. Sadly, the Confederates after a while were found out and executed as they were considered freed African Americans which meant immediate execution when you were caught. I liked the question posted by the chairperson about key areas where focus is missing in the Melungeon community and history. One definite shortfall is Healthcare as autoimmune disease is rampant, GI related cancers, blood disorders as I battle like my dad's people rare forms of anemia, GI cancers namely Esophageal cancer, Liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon, Lupus, MS, Dystonia, etc. The other gap is education as many Melungeons in SE KY and Campbell County TN who remained like my dad's people had limited opportunities for education and advancement. Example, many of my cousins dropped out of HS as they saw no future and felt trapped. My family surnames in Southeast KY and Campbell and Claiborne County TN included Gibson, Chavis, Collins, Powers, Bennett, Collins, Osborne, Hatfield, and Hurst. Many Hurst of Bell County including my dad, his siblings, his father and aunts lived in an areas known as little South America which is were the mixed race and Melungeon families lived away from the whites. My Powers, Bennetts, Collins mostly lived in Whitley, Knox, Bell, Harlan, and Campbell. Pine Mtn KY/ TN was a very prominent area of my dad's family and where many Melungeons lived. Our mix is Choctaw, Cherokee, Shawnee, Lumbee, African American, French and Scottish.

  • @AliRoseVinifera

    @AliRoseVinifera

    Жыл бұрын

    Hmmm my people on my dad side are Chavis.

  • @tinarobinson8855

    @tinarobinson8855

    Жыл бұрын

    my ancestors consist of nichols, collins, cole, bennett, barnett and perkins and they were from Salyersville KY and their census says mulatto and indian

  • @williamwestbrook-rosales6508
    @williamwestbrook-rosales6508 Жыл бұрын

    For me I'm certainly appreciative of People exposing the truth behind Melungia and the Melungeon Race it's hard to explain why your Sephardic, English Seferati, European Asian and Low amounts of Sub Saharan African over all genetically I'm similar to North Africans because between both my parents I have 24% African Genetics of which only 1

  • @deegee8437
    @deegee843710 ай бұрын

    Didn’t Elvis Presley have a Melungeon background?

  • @kolin572
    @kolin5722 жыл бұрын

    totally subscribed. next episode is the day before my birthday 🥳

  • @coopsevy5664
    @coopsevy56642 жыл бұрын

    Omg Lynn make me cry. Thank you

  • @linnieb6226
    @linnieb62262 жыл бұрын

    I'm more than likely Melungeon. Mullins, Brown, Morgan are my all in my immediate family and were from Murfreesboro, TN.

  • @stevent8314
    @stevent8314 Жыл бұрын

    I made a previous comment on a thread. Can’t seem to find right now. Many Melungeons migrated to other areas and described themselves as either White or “ Cherokee”. They “passed” and entered the larger White community. Many Southern families with a family tradition of Cherokee ancestry actually have Melungeon ancestry. Most remained in Appalachia and ended up intermarrying with the later Scots-Irish, German & Anglo-American settlers in the area. The intermarriage has made most of these descendants appear White. Most all White Southerners (with roots back to the 1700’s) have some African Heritage. Much of this is thru a Melungeon (“Cherokee”) ancestor. It is sort of like Neanderthal Ancestry. Did the Neanderthals die out? No. Although you do not see any Neanderthals walking around today, Most Europeans possess 2% to 5% Neanderthal ancestry. Among East Asians, the percentage is a little higher. So in one sense there are more Neanderthals around today than there was in their heyday. There certainly is more existing Neanderthal DNA around today. Melungeons survived & thrived. Their DNA is flowing through Southerners, Mid-Westerners & Westerners. Melungeons are the backbone of America. The African & Native American markers in DNA are the clues. But a lot of European DNA was passed down, too. I imagine that identifying Melungeon ancestry in predominantly Black families might be a little harder. Most all Blacks in America with roots back to slavery have a significant amount of White ancestry. Maybe more dependence on family histories is required there.

  • @normbograham
    @normbograhamАй бұрын

    Piedmont Melungeon here 97% European, 3% African. But, I've felt a little alone, as most people do not see the transition over generations, from darker to lighter. Making it weirder, I ended up going into foster care, and eventually got adopted So, I had my piedmont relatives that kept giving up their children for adoption. My mother had to straighten her hair, but not me.

  • @taralockwood5035
    @taralockwood5035 Жыл бұрын

    I was honored to care for a Tuskegee airman during his final days.

  • @kevinpoole4323
    @kevinpoole43234 ай бұрын

    Pictures Are All We Have of our History ❤

  • @NFTeve
    @NFTeve Жыл бұрын

    Fascinating. I think we have melugeon in our family.

  • @MattGoings
    @MattGoingsАй бұрын

    Thank you for this, this was beautiful and healing for me.

  • @user-ny1pl4zv7k
    @user-ny1pl4zv7k5 ай бұрын

    Thank you for you informative lesson! I believe my husband has Mulengeon heritage. His DNA shows African and European but not indigenous. However he is a decent of John Moore and they were in Eastern Ken, Rowan and Carter counties. I've watched them on census record go from FC, Mulatto, Black and then finally White.

  • @incoco2
    @incoco22 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for sharing your story

  • @pamalawyerick2004
    @pamalawyerick20043 жыл бұрын

    I would love to find my ancestry. I know it's Melungeon but I don't currently have the means to research. Would anyone here be able to help?

  • @susanm8016
    @susanm80163 жыл бұрын

    The information is fantastic and I am very interested in it. The slides go by too fast and I have to keep going back. It would be great if the progression through the slides could be controlled by the viewer. The music makes reading the slides very difficult since it has lyrics and I had to turn it off.

  • @StorytellingFestival

    @StorytellingFestival

    3 жыл бұрын

    Susan, you can now download this, and all other Freedom Stories slide shows, in our new Freedom Stories toolkit, available at www.StorytellingCenter.net/FreedomStories. Downloading the presentation also allows you to mute the music and peruse at your own speed.

  • @WhispersFromTheDark

    @WhispersFromTheDark

    2 жыл бұрын

    I agree, Susan. I had to turn down the music 3 times and couldn't catch everything on the slides before they quickly moved to the next. It was very frustrating and I almost clicked out and moved on to another video.

  • @catherinecrow5662

    @catherinecrow5662

    8 ай бұрын

    me too ! I love Dtevie Wonder just not in this context

  • @vickyrussell1672
    @vickyrussell1672 Жыл бұрын

    I recommend that people watch the movie with Ashley Judd about Big Stone Gap it can give you a better perspective of the life of how things were back in the 50's or so

  • @LostNFoundASMR
    @LostNFoundASMR Жыл бұрын

    My mama and I were both adopted at birth. I found mama and she then got her DNA done when I got mine done. It made us scratch our heads for sure. It wasn’t until we found out our family came from West Virginia that we understood who we really are. I’m now learning about my ancestry the best I can, the hardest part is not have a full family tree.

  • @tammymorrow391
    @tammymorrow3913 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much for this wonderful discussion!

  • @rhainaweissehexe3899
    @rhainaweissehexe3899 Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. Amazing how this Country was settled. My Family came from Northern Europe in the 1940's and 50"s. We all had it hard too. Whites were not entited either, but I am proud of my Prussian, German, Nordic Heritage too.

  • @marianaya5824
    @marianaya58243 ай бұрын

    For both my mother and father's families, which actually overlap, the evidence that triggered me into believing we were part of the Melungeon people is that both sides of my family are mixed race black people, MOSTLY listed on all Census records as being Mulatto. Also, according to my DNA Summary, one of the people areas we descend from is the Eastern Bluegrass African Americans. Then the further breakdown shows which areas of the country are evident in each of my parents, including Appalachian settlers, which to me SCREAMS the fact. The Native American tribe that was passed down through oral history is Creek. And I have found through my DNA Matches two Creek women from an early North Carolina County named after another tribe called the Pentatauck (sp?) but also where the Sawyer family settlers were tracked which is where we get our Surname Sawyer. I also found several Cherokee women, again from the 1700s, in an area of Tennessee where they were clearly fighting with settlers and had been either traded or kidnapped. The last evidence for me is that, I saw a video of the racial break up of the appalachian people, which honestly showed there was African and NA but I have every single European ethnicity in my DNA except for Dutch, with a whopping 21% Scottish. That was my final confirmation.

  • @kevinpoole4323
    @kevinpoole43234 ай бұрын

    Harlan County is Abraham Lincoln Country. Hodgenville Kentucky

  • @avjack2702
    @avjack27022 жыл бұрын

    Zilpha Bulls was a family member, many of them come out of North Carolina & Virginia

  • @Melungeonpeople
    @Melungeonpeople3 жыл бұрын

    DNA Consultants have a Melungeon DNA test and we took it and we show up in the category Melungeon.

  • @brandielewis4623

    @brandielewis4623

    3 жыл бұрын

    How do you take it? Where do you go?

  • @rainbowunicornprincessandt7796
    @rainbowunicornprincessandt77963 жыл бұрын

    Hi. I descend from the Cooper, Clark and Brooks family in Lincoln, Gaston. Cleveland and Rutherford Co NC. They were mixed blood. The Clarks and Coopers were Portuguese/Croatan. Other families that lived in the same community or married into our lined are ancestors the Revels, Oxendine, Hunt, Hunter, Reeves, Slade, Goins, Lockett, Richardson, Collins.

  • @reginaann7792

    @reginaann7792

    2 жыл бұрын

    That's interesting. My grandma's side is Clark. They are from Lee county Virginia, then they moved to Casar NC in the 30s. Then to Gastonia. Her grandparents, aunts and mother are buried up in Casar.

  • @avjack2702

    @avjack2702

    2 жыл бұрын

    I’m related to Zilpha Bulls Melungeons a tribe from North Carolina

  • @sarahMuahahaha
    @sarahMuahahaha2 жыл бұрын

    My ancestry test had me at European.. I took another test through 23&me and it gave me North African/ Western Asian along with West African. To be honest, at first I thought they did it on purpose. I went back on ancestry and looked at close cousins and they were showing small percentages of Native, African, West Asian.. looked into 3rd and 4th cousins who to my surprise were pretty mixed. Then started looking at more cousins ( 3rd to distant) had some that ranged from fairly mixed to 70% African. I figured it was because after the 60s people married who they wanted.. My major connections are through the Carolinas. Followed by Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri ( Midwest). When I research my ancestors.. I GET LIES!! I try to reach out to people to tell me the truth.. they don't!! I want the truth. They are my ancestors too and they deserve to be acknowledged. I just did FTDNA and hopefully I can connect the dots. Just waiting for my results.

  • @sunshinepatsoph4219

    @sunshinepatsoph4219

    2 жыл бұрын

    I don't trust the DBA thing.

  • @sarahMuahahaha

    @sarahMuahahaha

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@sunshinepatsoph4219 DBA?

  • @rld1278

    @rld1278

    11 ай бұрын

    I partially think the DNA companies refuse to report NA heritage because they don't want to give them free education. Many many times I've heard of courthouse fires destroying birth certificates which help prove Indian heritage, and DNA testing won't help either. (Happened to my family, unable to get birth certificate due to fire, and DNA results show no indian at all while the one tested should have shown ⅛ Cherokee)

  • @sarahMuahahaha

    @sarahMuahahaha

    11 ай бұрын

    @robindartt1278 A lot of times I will come across bios on sites like Geni, Wiki tree that say the same "courthouse fire" or burned county.

  • @bensneed4043
    @bensneed40433 жыл бұрын

    I pretty sure I’m a descendent of melangeon. My dna came back 8% African and traces of Native American , my 4th great grandfather was married to a Native American according to the 1800s census. I’m from the mountains of North Carolina. My family has lived in the area for 250 years. The area im from is called Quaker Gap. I can’t find any where my family owned slave or black household memebers listed on the census.

  • @mollylowe4291

    @mollylowe4291

    3 жыл бұрын

    I am as well. My last original last name is Goins

  • @shaffy856

    @shaffy856

    2 жыл бұрын

    Most Melugeouns were descendants of free blacks, they usually were a mixture that predated the colonies and slavery.

  • @dono509
    @dono50910 ай бұрын

    Thankful able to mute the "music" at the start,

  • @theman61384
    @theman613843 жыл бұрын

    Interesting story

  • @fonosmith1930s
    @fonosmith1930s2 жыл бұрын

    Others have commented about how the music you put with this presentation is distracting from reading and thinking about the information. Comments about this error in your production have been posted as long ago as 8 months ago. Doesn't anyone at ISC read comments and care about correcting the presentation by deleting the music? So what if it's Stevie Wonder?--it's inappropriate for this.

  • @linnymaemullins3319

    @linnymaemullins3319

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ikr

  • @johnmoyer5515
    @johnmoyer5515 Жыл бұрын

    I love the story of Josephus

  • @ashleycappelletty6659
    @ashleycappelletty66592 жыл бұрын

    Descendant of Mayle and Culberson right here.

  • @starquality5774
    @starquality57746 ай бұрын

    Ive heard other historians speak on the Moors that were expelled from Spain and Portugal during the Spanish Inquisitions and they came over here or were sent over here. A lot of them mixed in with various groups and thats where the Spanish and Portuguese is coming in at

  • @kevinpoole4323
    @kevinpoole43234 ай бұрын

    A Great Family Story.

  • @nancygibson4380
    @nancygibson438011 ай бұрын

    My former deceased fiancee wrote a book on this group of tri-racial people in Ohio. His name was Donald B. Ball and Co-author was John Kessler. Don wrote the book but it was about relatives of John Kessler.

  • @coachb20
    @coachb20 Жыл бұрын

    Is this slide show available?

  • @StorytellingFestival

    @StorytellingFestival

    Жыл бұрын

    You can access the slides at this link, toward the bottom of the page. www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/melungeon-the-criminalization-of-race/

  • @coachb20

    @coachb20

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much !

  • @onepaint2002
    @onepaint2002 Жыл бұрын

    some of my ancestors on my mother side were Collins from Hancock co Tn. and some other around that area.

  • @sassymessmess9110
    @sassymessmess91103 жыл бұрын

    Much respect for choosing this Stevie Wonder song. I can't remember the last time I heard this.

  • @jonathanmays1235
    @jonathanmays123511 ай бұрын

    Now they was way more thin just black oh my falt WE WAS WAY MORE THIN JUST BLACK . You people

  • @ironmen808
    @ironmen80811 ай бұрын

    Ma’am what do you know about the Cole’s, Morris, goins and tan of Indiana and Illinois. I believe my father was a melungeon

  • @vickyrussell1672
    @vickyrussell1672 Жыл бұрын

    I've told My girls that we are Multiracial and that is what we put on the census

  • @raslg7775
    @raslg77753 жыл бұрын

    Does anyone know any common Melungeon surnames in Pennsylvania and West Virginia?

  • @saylorgirl799

    @saylorgirl799

    3 жыл бұрын

    I’m from a Melungeon family that originated from Person County, NC & Halifax County, VA, many of whom migrated to Philadelphia, PA, and remained there. Family names were Epps/Epes, Stewart/Stuart, Martin, Shepherd/Sheppherd, & Coleman.

  • @raslg7775

    @raslg7775

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@saylorgirl799 do you know of the Tustins of Penn. and West VA.?

  • @mikenorris5656
    @mikenorris5656 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for talking bout me and mine.....

  • @patrickfeatherman3279
    @patrickfeatherman32792 жыл бұрын

    Looking for the name Dodd or Gossett. Married in Virginia than moved to Pulaski County Kentucky. Ann or Anna Dodd is listed as 'Mulatto' in a birth record, can find no other records. I am a Sickle Cell carrier, got it from someone.

  • @Hr-dy1xv

    @Hr-dy1xv

    2 жыл бұрын

    Lol

  • @JavierFernandez01
    @JavierFernandez01 Жыл бұрын

    Jaw dropping.

  • @WandaJ21
    @WandaJ213 жыл бұрын

    My family are melungeon and hid their heritage. My great great grandmother maiden name was Malugin . My middle name is Jean

  • @childofthegoddess4207
    @childofthegoddess4207 Жыл бұрын

    How do I found if I’m mulungeon? I just found my Métis ancestry.

  • @NeetchianQueen
    @NeetchianQueen2 жыл бұрын

    I love these histories! Are there any Jones in the melungian society? I was born in Jackson, Michigan, we have the safe house in the Wesley Mansion, and tunnels they say go under the new JHS building. My childrens' granny was from I think Danville? tennessee She was a Jones as am I (from Michigan) and her son their daddy was a true Redbone lol (fine as wine) but from his hair skin he was redbone, but if he wore shorts he looked white on his legs lol Myself I was raised in white society but didn't always feel comfortable, but my daddys history is a blank, though I did a dna with CRI genetics and omg I am MANY nations, I believe we all are though. (spanish, english, irish, welsh, dutch, german, n africa, w africa, nigeria, persia, Turkey, peru, alabama, puerto rico, N India, S India, W japan, Bejing, and S china) MTC Dna It tracked 35000 years. Need to research my brother to find the Nuclear line of my dad.

  • @jennleidig9062
    @jennleidig90622 жыл бұрын

    I have to say I disagree with the feelings about the dna testing. Yes no one should depend on dna alone but my biological father is a stranger and was a stranger from his father it was through dna I found my family and through building my family tree I was able to identify my family as melungeons which explains my dna that otherwise wouldn't make since. I am related to the Kennewick man clovis, have Africa connection and Jewish I was shocked being blonde hair blue eyed as both my bio parents. However my ancestors were north carolina melungeon. Andersons, Sizemore, Goins, Moores and a good 100 members where listed as mulatto and free people of color. I around not be prouder of my family history. We didn't focus on racial differences we wanted to blend us all back to where we originated from all humans are equal. Let's celebrate our inclusion and not focus on how the outside world responded to us.

  • @missylearned9821

    @missylearned9821

    Жыл бұрын

    I always wonder about the “percentage” dna companies assign because when you go back 6 generations (roughly 180 years) you have 64 grandparents and each makes up 1.5% of something or another. When you get to 10 generations (300 years ago), you have 1,024 grandparents and if one of them was something other than the homogenous group you mostly come from, it’s indiscernible. I also see people with clearly European features, blonde hair and blue eyes that have a black grandparent which is only a couple of generations back and see how quickly you can jump from one “race” to another. I agree with Tony and Louis Gates, but the show does make for good entertainment.

  • @PrettyGoodLookin
    @PrettyGoodLookin4 ай бұрын

    I am Melungeon from Hancock County...Sneedville. My Ancestors are noted on the research that Mr. Goins did. My DNA showns no indeigenous ( Native American ) blood. I do not think the lady in the top left corner is Melungeon.

  • @WhispersFromTheDark
    @WhispersFromTheDark2 жыл бұрын

    I have a question that perhaps someone will be able to answer. Is the term 'black dutch' also used for Melungeons?

  • @audrianna33

    @audrianna33

    2 жыл бұрын

    I heard that a lot growing up.

  • @Hr-dy1xv

    @Hr-dy1xv

    2 жыл бұрын

    This guy..

  • @P.O.T.E.
    @P.O.T.E.3 жыл бұрын

    What happened to the 300

  • @brucecollins6800
    @brucecollins68008 ай бұрын

    We can find out different stories about Malunjeon at State Library North Carolina. I grew up in the heart of Malunjeon country, close to my frequently visiting New Man's Ridge, which was the heart of Malunjeon settlement. A Collins man, my ancestors, Scot Irish led the Scot Irish came across Virginia. The Phonesians and Nigerians came with them. Malunjeon means mixed tribe. I could tell stories about a large population of Irish slaves over the worker slaves in all 3 of the Americas in the East 200 years before Nigerian slaves. It wasn't unusual for a black man to be over Irish slaves at one time in the deeper south as there is some history for that. I've got through family marriage that that have Spanish bloodline. Different people's through different countries had settlements the whole East coast at beginning of countries claiming parts of the America's. I think all that led to the Malunjeon people's was a mixture of the slaves, shipwrecked and different peoples seeking new rich land, kinda like a Virgin land. The Cherokee which did populate all Tennessee controlled Tennessee West of New Man's Ridge, even before it was North Carolina. My Grandmaw Collins was a Green and part Cherokee, born about 1891. My Paw Collins born in 1889. My 3rd Great grandparents was registered Free Persons of Color and his Wife was an Aitken, So I'm from an Aitken Clan Collins, from som Ed of the first people that were called Malunjeon. There was 3 Collins Chieftain, one Gibson and one Mullins traded that became e Chieftain. The Malunjeon had an Irish type Clan system, kinda like the Cherokee. About a third of the Eastern tribe men showed the Celtic, Scott Irish Y, the farthest back DNA. O yes: The People's that followed the Collins and Scott Irish through Virginia to New Man's ridge, now part of it is Newmans Ridge, well they took different Scott Irish Irish last names. I could go on and on but State Library North Carolina has got many stories that do tie together from what the stories that was told through different families families. Enough studying will give us an idea of who we are.

  • @JCGible

    @JCGible

    6 ай бұрын

    Im pretty sure you were told untrue stories when you were a kid. As historian and public librarian Liam Hogan wrote: “There is unanimous agreement, based on overwhelming evidence, that the Irish were never subjected to perpetual, hereditary slavery in the colonies, based on notions of ‘race’.” The enduring myth of Irish slavery, which most often surfaces today in service of Irish nationalist and white supremacist causes.

  • @beAlightshineitbright
    @beAlightshineitbright11 ай бұрын

    About that lost of names. With today's technology you don't really have to send it to anyone. Anyone who wants the list can stop the video where the list is showing and take a screen shot. Send it to a printer or just copy them and write them down. The whole document could be given the same way.

  • @kevinpoole4323
    @kevinpoole43234 ай бұрын

    Beautiful

  • @MsNooneinparticular
    @MsNooneinparticular Жыл бұрын

    Have a few of these folks in my family tree on several branches. Amazing how America has obscured racial truths (usually Blackness) with exotic names like Melungeon, Black Dutch, Black Irish, White Russian & Black German. And by "amazing" I mean sad. Thank you for this.

  • @kristindavis7416
    @kristindavis74162 жыл бұрын

    I’m mahala Mullins grandchild also mulegwn

  • @DD-wx3ho

    @DD-wx3ho

    2 жыл бұрын

    I have 11 distant cousin Mullins I am related to from Kentucky, NC, Tenn and I have a Mahala I found yesterday in my tree but can’t seem to locate her today. I am 12% Native and 1% Portuguese and Italian, no African. Who knows, small world, maybe we are related! God Bless you and yours!

  • @bullpuppy689
    @bullpuppy6893 жыл бұрын

    Melungeons peoples of appalachia hello from west by god virginia

  • @rhainaweissehexe3899
    @rhainaweissehexe3899 Жыл бұрын

    The Jungle Music is very distracting.

  • @granny_hack795
    @granny_hack7953 жыл бұрын

    I just discovered who I am through DNA! A couple years ago My 2 times grandma was Alice B Male

  • @granny_hack795

    @granny_hack795

    3 жыл бұрын

    I’m Rebecca Long on ancestry.com & 23 and me

  • @dawnlove1014

    @dawnlove1014

    3 жыл бұрын

    My great grandma is a Mayle:)

  • @dawnlove1014

    @dawnlove1014

    3 жыл бұрын

    Would you mind sharing what you're DNA test showed?

  • @granny_hack795

    @granny_hack795

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@dawnlove1014 you.23andme.com/published/reports/b934dd3ceb744c6988840db67efce761/?share_id=32c92f4ddea44792

  • @granny_hack795

    @granny_hack795

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@dawnlove1014 you will have to make a free account to see it

  • @OpaLockaOutlaw305
    @OpaLockaOutlaw3055 ай бұрын

    Wasn’t Abraham Lincoln’s mother Melungeon?

  • @claudiakramer4516
    @claudiakramer45163 жыл бұрын

    Being a "melungeon" in the 21 century made my life a living nightmare

  • @hishers7980

    @hishers7980

    3 жыл бұрын

    People can kiss it if they don't like it!!

  • @donesecarr3570

    @donesecarr3570

    2 жыл бұрын

    Are you willing to share your experience?

  • @13piratesrunninwild49
    @13piratesrunninwild492 жыл бұрын

    Some were very light.. some were dark skin. My Family is Melungeon...

  • @danceshadowmoon1
    @danceshadowmoon1 Жыл бұрын

    20:15