Melungeons!
If your family has been in the Appalachian region for any long amount of time (like mine), you probably have some Melungeon in you. If you’re not sure what that is, let me explain.
Melungeons were originally of the Cumberland Gap area (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia tri-state area). These people were tri-racial, usually being a mixture of European white, Native American, and sub-Saharan African. The mixture came into being when free people of color and Native Americans mixed with colonial Virginia settlers in the Cumberland area. It is estimated that some 200 Melungeon families were dispersed from this original group across Appalachia.
This racial group did not represent a phenotype of (that is, they didn’t LOOK like) any particular race. Today, most modern-day descendants of Appalachian families traditionally regarded as Melungeon are generally European American in appearance with dark hair and eyes and an olive complexion. Though this is most common, any appearance can result from a Melungeon heritage.
It is not known where the term Melungeon directly came from, but it is a popular theory that the French settlers in Virginia gave the name from the french word mélange, or mixture. The original Melungeon families did face some discrimination in the Cumberland region, though most were able to assimilate easily into early American culture and “marry white” to dilute appearances further.
The drawing pictured is courtesy of Will Allen Dromgoole, circa 1890.
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