diaryofamelungeon:

Who are we? Where did we come from? What does Melungeon even mean? I get these questions all the time from Melungeons that are trying to reconnect, and I have to tell ya’ll, I don’t think anyone today has the answer to that.  I can tell you what I have gathered through my research and studies though and you guys can take what you want from that. So “Who” are we? Well, it seems there were a couple melungeon communities, we called ourselves “Ridgeminites, Portaghee, Appalachee, Malungu, and Lakeminites.” The new european settlers called us Melungeon and Mestee. Melungeon is a French word that means blended, Malungu is an African word that means mate, shipmate, or friend.  By the time there was any documented history of us as Melungeon, we were a tri racial isolate group in the “Melungia” region of Appalachia, this refers to the small area that encompasses a portion east tn, east ky, west nc, and southern wv and va.  Where did we come from? It is believed that the Portaghee we claimed was actually Portugeuse, and this can mostly be assumed by the remnants of portugeuse language in Melungeon Dialect.  It is also believed that we have origins in Angola, as the Bunch line of Melugneons can be traced back to John Punch, the first Slave in the US, as well as the Johnson family who owned a farm also known as “angola”.  Our origins seem to be more nuanced than that though.  No two familes have the same origins, because the fact of it is we have many.  We descend from “free people of color” this included free african americans who were formerly indentured servants, outcast members of indigenous tribes, rromani refugees (g*psies, if you aren’t familiar with Rromani, however it is conisdered a slur by the Rrom), middle eastern immigrants who were too dark to pass as white and poor european immigrants who couldn’t afford to live anywhere else.  These “undesirable” communites down south were forced into the mountains, the “unihabitable” areas, expected to fend for ourselves or die. Their hope was for the latter.  Relying solely on each other, the community remained isolated and endogamous, resulting in a heavily mixed race group of people that outsiders called Melungeon.  You will see people argue that we descend from Turks, from the 10 lost tribes of Israel, from a crashed portuguese slave ship, from the Cherokee, the Sioux, the Creek, the Croatoan, that we are the lost Colony of Roanoke, the “moon eyed people” from local ingigenous lore, but I personally believe the truth is, they are all probably a little bit right and a little bit wrong. It’s likely some of our ancestors were in this country long before it was a country.  It’s likely people were forced into the melungeon umbrella simply by looking too dark to be white but too light to be black. DNA testing Melugneon descendants seem to reflect a pretty diverse background.  This is a huge reason why Melungeon communities do not recognize “blood quantum”, there is no “half melungeon”, if you are Melungeon you are Melungeon. Being all mixed up is what makes us so.  It’s not so much the origins that made melungeon that bring us together, we aren’t Angolan, we aren’t Portugeuse, we aren’t Indigenous, we are all that and more, it is the mix that makes us Melungeon, the culture, the experience, and the genetic memory.  Our origin is Appalachia, thats where this heavy mix was born, and where our culture was built, where our non ancient ancestors made their lives and tried to provide better futures for us, their desendants.

bean-na-farraige-agus-foraoise:

““Described by Richard Dorson as “folklore’s natural habitat,” the Appalachian region has been at the forefront of developments in the field of American folklore throughout the twentieth century…..The idea of folklore is complicated; it may be cast as antiquarian, antimodern, communitarian, traditional, vernacular, or resistant. These concepts are all linked to the idea of progress but nevertheless exhibit a profound ambivalence toward it. This ambivalence reflects two perspectives on Appalachian culture: a rational perspective that idolizes progress on one hand and a romantic perspective that fears it on the other. Viewed through the romantic lens, Appalachia glimmers as a region uncontaminated by commerce and its excesses, a place where people know their neighbors, value their elders, live close to the land, and preserve old-time craft, music, and stories. Through a rational lens, these views give way to images of inbred, feuding, superstitious, welfare-dependent hillbillies. Both lenses serve to “distress” Appalachia as a region set backward not only in time but also in space (the “hinterlands,” the “backcountry”), separated from the rest of America.“”

— Folklore and Folklife in Appalachia by Mary Hufford

mothernatureslonelyson:

(Link to tiktok screencapped above)

Hey guys I am up in the country for the weekend so my wifi is too slow for videos but here’s an update on the line three protests as of 07/30/2021

13 water protectors have been arrested. The cops used tear gas and pepperbombs/pepper balls.

The water protectors are in desperate need of funds for supplies including supplies for medical and for wash stations.

Come to the Line — Stop Line 3

decolonize-the-left:

decolonize-the-left:

discopanicflu-deactivated202108:

decolonize-the-left:

If you live in America and you care about people’s water supply then this video is for you.

There is a proposed pipeline expansion that will bring nearly 1 million tar sands per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. It’s known as the Line 3 Pipeline. The pipeline will be carrying several kinds of tar sands crude. which is a carbon intensive oil which contains 37% more carbon than conventional oil, giving it a far greater impact on climate change.

To illustrate the pipeline would have the climate cost equivalent to 50 coal power plants!

When tar sands spilled the heavy oil mixes with the sediment and sinks to the bottom of the river or lake making it very difficult to clean up.

And the company Enbridge has a long history of spills, averaging one oil spill per week for the last 15 years.

Pipeline three also violates several treaties with the Ojibwe people.

All of this and not a cent of that pipeline will go to the American economy. There are links in my bio to help educate you further as well as where to show up for protests in Minnesota.

Please join us in protesting pipeline 3.

StopLine3

Resources In the Bio are here

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Fyi, there are protests going on over this RIGHT NOW.

This what they are fighting to protect:

And all the wildlife that lives there. The millions of people & ecosystems that rely on the freshwater of the Mississippi, Red Lake, and every other body of natural water that Line 3 crosses.

They’re protesting for you. So you can keep having a world to live in, so you can continue to have access to clean water. You should join them. Share this post. Spread awareness. Contact your congressppl, senators, and popular influencers. Demand they call for a stop of Line 3’s construction.

Realized I hadn’t posted the map with the treaty lines, yet

This is how blatant their disregard is for the treaties. For us. For water.

siumerghe:

In China, yellow has long been associated with the Center – one of the five directions, along with the four cardinal points. Yellow was first perceived as the Emperor’s color during the Tang era (618-907), but not any yellow – only one particular hue: 赤黄, literally “reddish-yellow”. This rich and bright color was associated with the sun, and the sun was the symbol of the Emperor.

Initially, under the Tang, “reddish-yellow” was not forbidden for ordinary people to wear, and was not set by law as the Emperor’s color: wearing it was just the personal choice of some emperors. Then, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong,

“reddish-yellow”

was forbidden to be worn by commoners. In the Tianbao era (the second half of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong), the Emperor’s bedding, formerly purple, was replaced with

“reddish-yellow”, and the officials were forbidden to wear this color. It’s can be said that

in China

the perception of yellow as the Emperor’s color began from that period.

However, figurines and frescoes from the Tang era show that yellow

(just not the “reddish-yellow”)

was still very popular among the people of the Tang empire.

Also, during the Tang era, yellow, together with white, was one of the colors assigned by law to the lowest-level officials, soldiers, commoners and the like. Most yellow dyes are cheap, easy to produce and easy to apply to fabric, so in general yellow was considered a commoners’ color.

The Emperor’s yellow (“reddish-yellow”) vs the commoners’ yellow:

Still, the color of the Emperor’s ceremonial dress under the Tang was not “reddish-yellow” – it was, as in antiquity, deep black, combined with scarlet.

Tang Emperor with his retinue, a mural from Dunhuang:

Only in the Ming era (1368-1644) another variant of yellow – ocher 赭黄 – became the official color of the Emperor’s ceremonial dress, and both officials and commoners were forbidden to wear any shade of yellow. 

Under the Manchurian Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), ocher in the Emperor’s costume was replaced by a lighter and brighter hue – 明黃 “bright yellow”. 

Now this particular hue is still the one most strongly associated with the Emperor. In many dramas and movies, Emperors of the pre-Qing dynasties wear “bright yellow”, however, this is historically incorrect.

I’d like to add that the fact that some color was considered the Emperor’s color didn’t mean that the Emperor was doomed to wear only it. While the Emperor’s ceremonial dress had to conform to the color regulations (Tang – black with scarlet, Ming – ocher, Qing – bright-yellow), in their daily life Emperors were free to wear any color they liked.

diaryofanangryasianguy:

07/09/21

Illinois now first to require Asian Am history in schools

Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker signed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act on Friday, the first law of its kind. The TEAACH Act would require Illinois public schools to include a unit of Asian American history starting in the 2022-2023 school year.

The unit should include, “the history of Asian Americans in Illinois and the Midwest, as well as the contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward.” The lessons will require more than glossing over to landmark events in Asian American history; they will dive deeper into events like the Japanese incarceration camps and Chinese Exclusion Act.