Anyone heard of the Melungeon peoples?

[2complex]

They are a people who live in the appalachian mountains (MD,VA,TN,Ga,Sc, etc) whose origins are thought to be from portugal.They came to america in the 1500s and later married with indian and african indentured servants (who later became slaves as you all know)


Heres a pic of what a Melungeon family looked like in the 1800s

http://mikenassau.freehomepage.com/images/ArchGoins.jpg

[2complex]

Not a single soul?

[Majestyx Saba]

they still up there kickin it in the mountains?

[2complex]

Originally posted by Majestyx Saba
they still up there kickin it in the mountains?

Yeah they are


In the past two hours Ive read a lot on them.For one thing they are what you could consider antipathys wetdream, meaning a group of racially mixed people who have historically rejected american societys rule of race.They were categorized as black/colored in the south during slavery, as a result of this they moved deeper into the appalacian mountains.From what Ive read they (and other fractions like them) seem to have a feeling of disgust towards blacks.A good portion of them married with whites to either keep their lands or to remove themselves from the taboo of being colored.There are certain indications of finding out if you have melungeon ancestry.If you have a bump on the back of your head near your neck, thats a usual indication of melungeon ancestry.Another is if you have a ridge on the back of your 4 top front teeth.I have one on one of my teeth but that can be attributed to the native american in my ancestry.From what Ive also read they tend to be a self hating people.

If you want me to put up more info on the I will.

[2complex]

Heres a few pics that are either actual melungeon peoples or those who look similar enough to them that they would have associated themselves to melungeons backs in the 17th,18th and 19th centuries



http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/bibby.GIF

http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/va2.jpg

http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Cook.jpg

http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Allmond.jpg

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/POCA/nanfam.gif

[2complex]

Heres an example of certain melungeons attempting to pass for indian or white and being punished for it by the virginia state government creca 1940

-------------------------------------------------------------------



Commonwealth of Virginia
Department of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Richmond

January 1943

Local Registrars, Physicians, Health
Officers, Nurses, School Superintendents
and Clerks of the Courts

Dear Co-workers:

Our December 1942 letter to local registrars, also mailed to the clerks, set forth the determined effort to escape from the negro race of groups of "free issues," or descendants of the "free mulattoes" of early days, so listed prior to 1865 in the United States census and various types of State records, as distinguished from slave negroes.

Now that these people are playing up the advantages gained by being permitted to give "Indian" as the race of the child's parents on birth certificates, we see the great mistake made in not stopping earlier the organized propagation of this racial falsehood. They have been using the advantage thus gained as an aid to intermarriage into the white race and to attend white schoools, and now for some time, they have been refusing to register with war draft boards as negroes, as required by the boards which are faithfully performing their duties. Three of these negroes from Caroline County were sentenced to prison on January 12 in the United States Court at Richmond for refusing to obey the draft law unless permitted to classify themselves as "Indians."

Some of these mongrels, finding that they have been able to sneak in their birth certificates unchallenged as Inidans are now making a rush to register as white. Upon investigation we find that a few local registrars have been permitting such certificates to pass through their hands unquestioned and without warning our office of the fraud. Those attempting this fraud should be warned that they are liable to a penalty of one year in the penitentiary (Section 5099 of the Code). Several clerks have likewise been actually granting them licenses to marry whites, or at least to marry amongst themselves as Indian or white. The danger of this error always confronts the clerk who does not inquire carefully as to the residence of the woman when he does not have positive information. The law is explicit that the license be issued by the clerk of the county or city in which the woman resides.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/1068.html




As a result of their dispise of blacks (seeing how associating with them would mean they would lose certain rights) and the fact that whites treat them as blacks theyve interbreed for the past 200+ years and you can see the results of that with Wesorts of southern maryland whove developed physical mutations (no joke).

[Antipathy]

Your obsession with me is unsettling. If your personal validation hinges on me turning my mind back far enough in time so you can fit in somewhere ... you're in for a rocky ride, sof' boy.

[2complex]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/384502.stm

http://groups.msn.com/MelungeonFamilyPhotoAlbum/nancyhopkinskennedy.msnw

http://groups.msn.com/MelungeonFamilyPhotoAlbum/kinfolk.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=424

http://sc.groups.msn.com/tn/31/30/MelungeonFamilyPhotoAlbum/1/4e.jpg

[2complex]

The Melungeons usually have been peaceful, and while they are prone to shooting towards flatlanders snooping in the hills (suspected of being revenuers), these expert hunters who live on rabbits and squirrels rarely actually hit the person. They never served in the military (Jean Bible notes about 40 Melungeons served in the Union army in the Civil War, but out of a group of several thousand even then, that is very few) until the First World War, when they were finally allowed to serve in white units (only after presenting the army with affidavits from the county clerks in their home counties saying they were not considered black). In the Second World War, they learned to drive jeeps in the army, and when they returned to the hills, they could then deliver their moonshine to the towns and eliminate the white middlemen. This is their main danger to outsiders, since they frequently will be found driving the mountain roads of northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia at night at high speeds with their lights out.

In the Civil War, Melungeon sympathy certainly lay with the Union side, since the Southerners treated them with contempt as non-white and were the people who had stolen their valley land. However, they probably did more damage to the North than to the South, since the Union supply lines for Sherman's March to the Sea ran through their territory at Cumberland gap and supplied many a Melungeon with guns and food and even horses.


43

The vast majority of Melungeons will adamantly deny that they are Melungeon. They assert that they are simply white mountain people with a little Cherokee in them. However, their white neighbors know who they are. While their speech retained archaic forms longer than that of neighboring whites, today they are culturally indistinguishable from their white neighbors, except that they live on the poorest, least productive land with the poverty this implies. Melungeon graves sometimes have small wooden houses built over them (which has reminded some observers of a similar trait among Eskimo members of the Russian Orthodox church), but this is no longer done and no explanation has been given for the practice. Some Melungeons are easy to pick out, others are simply white in appearance. The group on High Knob in Virginia have had less white introduced in this century and show much more African ancestry than those in Tennessee. The Melungeon appearance is typically olive to white complexion (many men simply look dirty), gray or green eyes with a cloudy appearance to the iris, and brown or black wavy hair. They tend to be average height to tall, with small hands and feet, and perhaps heavier than other Appalachian Mountain people.


44

The small hands and feet are a point of special pride, connecting them to putative Indian ancestors and distancing them from blacks.



http://www.darkfiber.com/blackirish/melungeons.html

[Antipathy]

Originally posted by 2complex
Yeah they are

If you have a bump on the back of your head near your neck, thats a usual indication of melungeon ancestry.Another is if you have a ridge on the back of your 4 top front teeth.I have one on one of my teeth but that can be attributed to the native american in my ancestry.From what Ive also read they tend to be a self hating people. Well, that's the first interesting thing you've submitted in a long time. I have both of those things, but very little American heritage so obviously that applies to other peoples as well.

[2complex]

Originally posted by Antipathy
Well, that's the first interesting thing you've submitted in a long time. I have both of those things, but very little American heritage so obviously that applies to other peoples as well.

The Melungeon descendants have some rather unique physiological characteristics. There is a bump on the back of the head of some descendants, that is located at mid-line, just above the juncture with the neck. It is about the size of half a golf ball or smaller. If you cannot find the bump, check to see if you like some descendants, including myself, have a ridge, located at the base of the head where it joins the neck, rather than the Anatolian bump. My ridge is quite noticeable. It is larger than anyone else's that I have felt. I can lay one finger under it and the ridge is as deep as my finger is thick. Other ridges are smaller. To find a ridge, place your hand at the base of your neck where it joins your shoulders, and on the center line of your spine. Run your fingers straight up your neck toward your head. If you have a ridge, it will stop your fingers from going on up and across your head.
There is also a ridge on the back of the first four teeth (upper and lower) of some descendants. If you place your fingernail at the gum line and gently draw (up or down) you can feel it and it makes a slight clicking sound. The back of the teeth also curve outward rather than straight as the descendants of anglo-saxon parentage do. Teeth like these are called Asian Shovel Teeth.
Some descendants have what is called an Asian eyefold. This is rather difficult to describe. At the inner corner of the eye, the upper lid attaches slightly lower than the lower lid. That is to say that it overlaps the bottom lid. If you place your finger just under the inner corner of the eye and gently pull down, a wrinkle will form which makes the fold more visible. Some people call these eyes, "sleepy eyes, dreamy eyes, bedroom eyes."

http://sparksgenealogy.com/melungeons.html

[2complex]

There has also been talks of Abraham Lincolon being one

(he was born in the same area in the same type of houses theyve historically built)

http://www.150.si.edu/150trav/remember/r313a.jpg

compare that to this Melugeon

http://sc.groups.msn.com/tn/31/30/MelungeonFamilyPhotoAlbum/1/23.jpg

[2complex]

Melungeon Secret Solved, Sort Of



KINGSPORT, Tennessee -- A small population from Appalachia may be linked to an ancient tribe in India, according to a long-awaited DNA study.

Kevin Jones, a biologist at the University of Virginia College at Wise, announced the findings Thursday at the Fourth Union of the Melungeons in Kingsport, Tennessee, after two years of work.

Gathered under a tent at a public park, about 150 Melungeons had come from around the country (a show of hands indicated that about 70 percent came from states other than Tennessee) to hear results they hoped would tell them something about their heritage.

Those who were looking for black-and-white answers didn't get them. Jones' rather vague results showed that about 5 percent of the DNA indicated African descent, 5 percent was Native American, and the rest was "Euroasian," a group defined by clumping together Europe, the Middle East and India.

The most surprising finding was evidence of a rare DNA sequence common to a Northern Indian tribe called the Siddis.

The Siddis are descendants of African slaves, sailors and merchants who ended up in India as a result of trade with East Africa, starting in the 12th century and lasting into the 19th. Some of the people were stolen from their homelands and taken as slaves.

They became part of the Indian population known as the "untouchables," and are still marginalized in northwest India.

Brent Kennedy, author of The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People: An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America, had previously discovered his genes contained this sequence through a private DNA analysis company.

"I'm amazed and pleased to see that duplicated here," he said.

The study has not been through the peer-review process but Jones hopes to publish by the end of the year.

The Melungeons have suffered discrimination throughout history because their neighbors perceived them to be darker-skinned, and somehow less entitled to good land and to money.

Jones never intended to jump into the middle of a debate on racial and ethnic identity, but, alas, the Melungeons gave him no choice.

"I am not a Melungeon," Jones said, in a posh British accent rarely heard in Tennessee.

"Some of the antipathy I've run into is because they remember how bad it was to be labeled a Melungeon," Jones said. "They don't want some twit like me coming along and saying: 'You look sort of Melungeon to me.'"

The Melungeons involved in the study have been impatient for their results, and still have not gotten the individual DNA analyses they're eager for. They should see them within a few weeks, Jones said.

Several audience members wanted more specific breakdowns of ethnicities, but Jones said the study was not large enough (120 women and 30 men) to narrow it any further.

"Studying DNA hits a personal chord," Jones said. "I think in the case of the Melungeons, the complexity of the phenomenon drives that on because whether you regard yourself as a Melungeon or not might depend on whether you managed to escape the things that were associated with that."

Jones began the study to gain insight into diseases that seem to occur more frequently in the Melungeons than in other populations, such as Familial Mediterranean Fever, sarcoidosis and thalessemia.

"I didn't really care where you came from. Sorry," Jones joked.

Most of the Melungeons in the audience on Thursday did not look like people who would need to escape discrimination. Some had an olive skin tone, but the majority had fair complexions and looked quite Caucasian.

"That's part of the beauty of the story," Kennedy said. "All of these people are suddenly coming forward."

After a history of doing what they could to "pass" for white, Melungeons are now doing just the opposite and staking claim to the identity. The lighter complexions are at least in part due to Melungeons mixing with fairer-skinned people.



http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,53383,00.html

[2complex]

Notice any similarities?

http://mikenassau.freehomepage.com/images/ArchGoins.jpg

http://www.karuna.org/slideshow/image8.jpg

http://www.innerhappiness.com/images/untouchables.jpg

[2complex]

Do any of you understand the significance of this in regards to american history?

seriously

[cbrezi]

Originally posted by 2complex


If you have a bump on the back of your head near your neck, thats a usual indication of melungeon ancestry.

an occipetal bulge? i may be a melnougniana? lets hear some more.

[Imamic]

Originally posted by 2complex
Do any of you understand the significance of this in regards to american history?

seriously

what is that?

[Majestyx Saba]

that ridge sh1t is weird. i got it but my folk is from jamaica. those muffukers could be part of some alien conspiracy.

[2complex]

Originally posted by cbrezi
an occipetal bulge? i may be a melnougniana? lets hear some more.


Physical Characteristics of the Melungeons

Many Melungeons have physical characteristics that indicate their descent:

Asian Shovel Teeth. The upper and lower four front teeth have a ridge on the back. The back of these teeth also curve rather than being straight and flat as European teeth are. To check for the ridge, place your fingernail at the gum line and gently draw it up or down along the tooth. If you have the ridge, you will feel it. It will also make a slight clicking sound. Many Native Americans also have this type of teeth.
Anatolian Head Bump. This bump is on the back of the head, located at mid-line, just above the juncture with the neck. It is about the size and shape of half a golf ball or smaller. This bump is unique to the people who lived in the Anatolian region of Turkey or in Central Asia.
Central Asian Cranial Ridge. A ridge located at the base of the skull where it joins the neck. This ridge is an enlargement of the base of the skull. To find a ridge, place your hand at the base of your neck where it joins your shoulders, and on the center line of your spine. Run your fingers straight up your neck toward your head. If you have a ridge, it will stop your fingers from going on up and across your head.
Asian eye fold. At the inner corner of the eye, the upper lid attaches slightly lower than the lower lid, thus causing the upper lid to overlap the bottom lid. Place your finger just under the inner corner of the eye and gently pull down. If you have the fold, a wrinkle will form which makes the fold more visible. Some people call these eyes, "sleepy eyes, dreamy eyes, bedroom eyes." Many Indian descendants also have these kinds of eyes.
Erythema nodosum sarcoidosis. This disease is common among Mediterranean people.
Vitiligo. This condition is characterized by a loss of pigmentation, leaving the skin blotched with white patches.
Six fingers or toes.


http://www.stromsborg.com/genealogy/robertson/melungeons.html

[Amari]

I know about the Melungeons, because I am a Melungeon.

[2complex]

Originally posted by Amari
I know about the Melungeons, because I am a Melungeon.

Where were you born?

[Amari]

Originally posted by 2complex
Where were you born?

North Carolina.

[2complex]

Originally posted by Amari
North Carolina.


A few questions


#1.What part of north carolina (meaning town/city)?
#2.Did you grow up with other Melungeons?
#3.In your opinion why do you feel melungeons feel so musch hatred toward african americans?
#4.In your opinion why do you feel melungeons feel the need to whiten their culture out of existance?
#5.How did you make the social transformation from a melungeon to an african amwerican?
#6.Was inbreeding normal amoung melungeons?
#7.Do you have any of the mention physical characteristics of the melungeons?
#8.Are you aware of your peoples origins?

[2complex]

Originally posted by Imamic
what is that?


For one, it introduces an entirely new untold part of american history that contradicts what has been historiccally told throughout classrooms in the us.

The concept of tiny pocket societies that operate under no societal rules in regards to race is unheard of in american history.


DNA usually never lies, which also means that some of the early settlers of this country were of afro-indian (from india) ancestry.

[Amari]

Originally posted by 2complex
A few questions


#1.What part of north carolina (meaning town/city)?
#2.Did you grow up with other Melungeons?
#3.In your opinion why do you feel melungeons feel so musch hatred toward african americans?
#4.In your opinion why do you feel melungeons feel the need to whiten their culture out of existance?
#5.How did you make the social transformation from a melungeon to an african amwerican?
#6.Was inbreeding normal amoung melungeons?
#7.Do you have any of the mention physical characteristics of the melungeons?
#8.Are you aware of your peoples origins?

1. Gastonia.
2. No.
3. It was a defense mechanism.
4. See #3.
5. Originally, I just considered myself white, this was how my parents had raised me (see #3 once again), but after constantly getting called "******" and "halfbreed" by white kids in school, I got the point that they didn't see me as one of them.
6. I really don't know.
7. I have both the bump and the teeth.
8. There are many different theories, the majority of which are just attempts by self-hating Melungeons to distance our people from Blacks. I don't believe we're Turks or East Indians, I believe we're Portugese, Black, and Indian.

[2complex]

How did you discover that you were a Melungeon?

and

Have you met a fellow Melugeon?

[Amari]

Originally posted by 2complex
How did you discover that you were a Melungeon?

and

Have you met a fellow Melugeon?

1. Geneology.

2. Other than members of my family, no.

[2complex]

Originally posted by Amari
1. Geneology.

2. Other than members of my family, no.

So your family never mentioned their heritage?

[2complex]

Originally posted by 2complex
So your family never mentioned their heritage?

[almost there]

I've never heard of these people before, the situation reminds me of what Napoleon said, "History is a set of lies agreed upon."

[df46]

Originally posted by 2complex
So your family never mentioned their heritage? LOL, you are speaking to a Woggle alias. he's whiter than vanilla ice cream.

i can't believe im the only one to pick up on this.

[Amari]

Originally posted by 2complex
So your family never mentioned their heritage?

Not much.

P.S. df46, I'm not a woggle alias. I don't know where you got that from, since I don't talk about white men having sex with black women constantly (I'm also consistent with my info, woggle aliases change race, sex, age and marital status rapidly). You don't think there are multiracial people on this site who aren't just woggle aliases?

[2complex]

Originally posted by Amari
Not much.


From what Ive read thats understandable

btw, DNA evidence does link the original melungeons to the siddi indians of india .

[alybaba]

the sidi's ..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1035389.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1077982.stm

[2complex]

Originally posted by alybaba
the sidi's ..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1035389.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1077982.stm


you should read this theory that was presented before the DNA research (which later confirmerd the theory to be true)


-------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINS OF THE MELUNGEON APPALACHIAN SUB-CULTURE


Along the Atlantic coastal region of the United States, and in various locations in Appalachia, there is a remnant group of people that are tentatively identified as having the mixed racial heritage Native American, African American and European American. Following the American tradition of labeling people by the color of their skin color, people that obviously are not descendants of purely northern European heritage, but instead seem to have a mixed racial heritage have been variously called; [WIN- White, Indian, Negro], Carmel Indians, Mustees, Brass Ankles, Nanacokes, Jersey Whites, Moors, Tri-Racial Isolates, Melungeons and some other names.

The skin colors of various individuals within these groups, range from brown to almost white; hair structure varies from curly to straight; and eye colors also may vary from dark brown to pale blue. In other words these physical characteristics have made the heritage of these people the subject to much speculation over the course of U.S. History. Different theories about the origins of these groups are common. Some of these theories seem to offer logical explanations and some seem to be highly speculative.

After reading the book - MELUNGEONS- The Resurrection of a Proud People -, by Dr. Brent N. Kennedy, my long held curiosity about this subject drew me into some research about their possible origins. There are a number of people who more or less fit the description of Melungeons living in southeastern Ohio, and over the years many of them have been my friends and associates. Very frankly, their heritage and customs have always been of interest to me.

Therefore I would like to add my conclusions about the origin of the Melungeons to the considerable amount of research data already available on the subject of the origins of the Melungeons as defined by Dr. Kennedy, but some or all of my conclusions may apply to other groups mentioned above. Generally speaking, people of Melungeon heritage are slightly darker than typical European people. While Melungeons may have some slight physical resemblance with African characteristics, these traits may very well have originated hundreds of years ago and thousands of miles from America.

At first glance, and considering the amount of miscegenation that took place in the English Colonies of North America, it seems reasonable to assume that Melungeons are the descendants of slave owners and slave women, with perhaps some Native American blood mixed in. To be sure, there are African-American families and family groups that do have this genetic makeup, but careful consideration suggests to me that the Melungeon culture may have originated from quite a different source. Incidentally, it was the observance of Melungeon tradition and culture, rather than their physical traits the are the clues from which my theory is based.

Any researcher will readily notice, that while Melungeons freely associate with other ethnic groups, it is an established Melungeon custom to marry within their respective ethnic group whenever possible. Research on Melungeon genealogy proves this point. But if the Melungeon ethnic culture didn't originate in the Americas, then where in the World did it originate?

My first clue came when I noticed that in some important ways the Melungeon culture resembles that of the Gypsy, or Rom culture, as it should properly be called. Rom were a migratory people who originated in the northwestern part of the Indian sub-continent (Asia). They began to move westward at the beginning of the 11th century, and are now found intermingled with native populations in many parts of the world. Many of them, but not all, speak Rom, a language closely related to Hindi, and some, but not all, are dark-skinned or swarthy. About 80% of the Rom are now sedentary. Their number is now estimated at 8-10 million worldwide, with an estimated 1 million living in the United States.

Like the origins of Melungeons in Appalachia, the origins of the Rom in Europe, was subject of much speculation for many hundreds of years. Various commentators erroneously claimed that the Rom culture was linked to Egypt; hence the word Gypsy. Other commentators claimed that they were Turks, Jews, or even Africans. At least this may have some basis in fact, for the long journey of the Rom did take them through Turkey, they also had some associations with Sephardim Jews, and may have had some ancient connections with Africans mercenaries.

By using linguistic and physical anthropological criteria, modern researchers have found strong indications that the Rom very likely are descendants from a composite population of non-Aryan Indians, such as the Dravidians, the Pratihara, and the Siddhi. The Siddhi was a group of African mercenaries assembled in India during the 11th century as a military force, to help India repel the Islamic invasion led by Mahmud of Ghazni.

Moving farther and farther west in a long succession of conflicts with the Muslims, the Rom passed through the Byzantine Empire in the 13th century, where they remained for some time before being pushed into eastern Europe where they acquired the name Gypsies. Arriving in Europe at the same time as the Turkish incursions into the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the 14th century, the Rom were initially thought to be part of the Islamic tide. Some groups of Rom became enslaved by people native to the Balkans, while other groups moved farther west, reaching every country in Europe by 1500.

Wherever the Gypsies went in Europe, they were either shunned or enslaved. They were forbidden to attend schools or otherwise participate in national life, at best they were only allowed to existed on the fringes of European society. Because of their relatively dark skin, Rom people became the social outcasts of Europe. Their isolation from the mainstream of the many cultures they encountered on their journeys, reinforced their own culture as a survival tactic. From an early time in their travels, the Rom evolved laws which did not permit their members to become involved with the non-Rom world beyond the minimum required for business. One of the legacies among the Rom, inherited from India and rigorously maintained was the belief in ritual pollution, which regulates interactions between sexes. A modified version of this tendency may have existed right up to recent times among Melungeon groups living in Appalachia.

The discovery of the Americas and the establishment of European colonies in the Americas provided a useful dumping ground for Europe's Rom. The Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British began transporting Rom as undesirables from Europe. In the 17th century, Britain exported them to work as slaves on plantations in Barbados, Jamaica, and Virginia. Portugal sent them to Brazil, France transported them to Louisiana, and Germany transported them to Pennsylvania. Even Sweden had a policy of banishment to its short-lived colony on Delaware Bay. The first Rom to set foot on American soil accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1498. Additional small numbers from western Europe arrived in America during the 17th century.

These immigrants established pockets of a diverse population of Rom in North America. Small groups of Rom that later became known as Melungeons were established in Virginia during the very early English colonial period. They were indentured servants on the early tobacco plantations in Tidewater Virginia. As their terms of indenture expired, they moved from the Tidewater region into Appalachia.

Melungeon culture shares so many characteristics with the Rom culture, that it suggests, to me at least, that the two cultures share a common heritage. Some history documents describe Melungeons in the early English colonies as "living separate" from other colonists, yet speaking perfect "Queen's English". Some Melungeons had a penchant for metal working, a skill acquired from their Rom ancestor, acquired during their long stay in the Byzantine Empire, and then carried westward across Europe and eventually into the English Colony of Virginia in the 17th Century. Physical and cultural traits of Melungeons are so similar to Rom that it strongly suggests a possible link between Rom and Melungeons. Perhaps some day, DNA comparative analysis will confirm this hypothesis.

[2complex]

On the surface, modern Melungeon culture appears to have significantly diverged from the earlier Rom culture. This is also true for other divergent Rom cultures around the World, but certain aspects of the Rom culture may still be present in Melungeon culture, particularly in their marriage customs. These marriage customs alone may be the single thread that still binds Melungeons to their ancient Rom culture.

In addition, the Rom share a similar history of being discriminated against, just as Jews, African-Americans, and other dark skinned people of the World have been discriminated against by Europeans. While most Melungeons rarely married outside their culture, those in Appalachia have traditionally had stronger ties with the African American and Native American cultures, than with mainstream American culture. There is even evidence that Rom music has influenced African-American "Soul" music. Severe assimilation policies were enacted by some countries in Europe, most notably in Hungary and Spain, where it was illegal to speak Rom or even call oneself Rom, yet Rom identity and culture continued to survive by the continuation of strong familial bonds and marriage practices evolved from the need for protection against discrimination and violence. Again, perhaps for the same reasons, some of these same practices in modified forms are noticeable in the study of the Melungeon culture in Appalachia.

As the Rom populations diversified and spread out across Europe, various groups acquired local characteristics just as the Melungeons in Appalachia appear to have done. Rom groups became associated with different countries and some of them intermingled with native populations. For example, Rom that settled in Britain came to differ in appearance and to some extent in the degree of retained culture. Some Rom even came to regard themselves as Britons or Spaniards or Hungarians, although most simply passed themselves as such for purposes of escaping discrimination.

For many centuries Europe's Rom were able to sustain a livelihood by providing many services to the non-Rom population. Metalworking, horse shoeing, horse trading, repair of cookware, sharpening of tools are but a sampling of the kind of service that sustained the Rom economically. One occupation, that of fortune-telling has survived unimpaired, but while this profession still enjoys prestige in India, from which it came, it was regarded with skepticism and hostility in Europe and North America often leading Rom fortune-tellers into conflicts with the law.

In Europe, numerous attempts have been made either to exterminate the Rom or to assimilate them by force. The most horrific example took place in 20th century Europe, when Gypsies, together with the all Jews, were singled out for annihilation as part of the "Final Solution" undertaken by Nazi Germany. One in four victims of the Holocaust, approximately the same ratio of Rom as of Jews, were exterminated during World War II.

After World War II the Rom of Eastern Europe who survived the Holocaust were protected to some extent by the Communist governments of the Soviet bloc, but loyalty to the state was required over ethnic identity. With the collapse of European communism in 1989, nationalistic passions reappeared in eastern Europe, and the Rom, easily the largest and most widely distributed ethnic minority in Europe, again became the target of ethnic discrimination especially in regions of eastern Europe. Now a new migration to western countries is in progress.

A second significant wave of Rom immigrants came from Britain in the mid-1800s. Then with the abolition of serfdom (slavery) in Romania in1864 the third major influx of Rom occurred during the latter half of the19th century. Recently, a fourth wave of Rom have followed with the collapse of European communism and the advent of "Ethnic Cleansing" in eastern Europe. Today, Rom live in all parts of America pursue a wide variety of occupations, and share much of the common American culture. Deep down, the Melungeons of Appalachia still retain the element of mystic along with their Rom cousins.

A possible scenario is that a relative small number of "Anglicized" Rom indentured servants sent to the early English colony of Virginia, were able to remain together because of their common language and traditions. Of course mixture with Native Americans and African slaves occurred, but the early Rom were able to hold on to a few of their original customs in Virginia, especially those customs that had protected them from discrimination in Europe for centuries. Not having strong ties with mainstream European customs, the Melungeons, who were after all not slaves, tended to move to the fringes of advancing European settlements until they reached the difficult to access regions of Appalachia, where they more or less found a peaceful place to settle.

Once in Appalachia, it is reasonable to assume that major Rom intermingling with Native Americans and possible limited intermingling with runaway African slaves affected their original culture. In the United States, groups such as the Nanacokes, Moors and Saponi, that reached the English colonies at an early time, the Rom influence has all but been obliterated.

Other groups that came to the U.S. later, have had less time to intermingle allowing them to retain more of their Rom traditions. Rom customs have been held together by the oral tradition, since they left northern India a thousand years ago. Gypsies were oppressed and persecuted along with Jews in Europe; likewise oppressed and persecuted with along Native Americans and Negro people in North America.

In summary, my point is that the Rom culture of Europe was changed into the Melungeon culture in America. I freely admit that the "melting pot syndrome" in America has most certainly influenced the Melungeon culture, but deep down I have the hope and feeling that some element of the "free spirited" culture of the Rom-Gypsies will always survive in the Melungeons of Appalachia!


http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/hrb_mel.htm