Melungeon - Modern Identity

Modern Identity

The term Melungeon was traditionally considered an insult, a label applied to Appalachian whites who were by appearance or reputation of mixed-race ancestry, though who were not clearly either "black" or "Indian". In Southwest Virginia, the term Ramp was similarly applied to people of mixed race. This term has never shed its pejorative character.

From the late 1960s, Melungeon became a self-identified designation of ethnicity. This shift in meaning was probably due to the popularity of Walk Toward the Sunset, a drama written by playwright Kermit Hunter and produced outdoors. The play was first presented in 1969 in Sneedville, the county seat of Hancock County. Making no claim to historical accuracy, Hunter portrayed the Melungeons as indigenous people of uncertain race who were mistakenly perceived as black by neighboring white settlers. As the drama portrayed Melungeons in a positive, romantic light, many individuals began for the first time to self-identify by that term. Hunter intended for his drama "to improve the socio-economic climate" of Hancock County, and to "lift the Melungeon name 'from shame to the hall of fame'." The play helped revive interest in the history of Melungeons, and some worked to use the facts rather than speculation. The social changes of the 1960s contributed to wider acceptance of minority groups.

Interest in the Melungeons has grown tremendously since the mid-1990s. They were featured in a chapter of the writer Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent as well as N. Brent Kennedy's book on his claimed Melungeon roots, The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People (1994). With the Internet, many people are doing research in family history. The number of individuals claiming Melungeon heritage has increased rapidly, according to Kennedy.

Some individuals begin to self-identify as Melungeons after reading about the group on a website and discovering their surname on the expanding list of "Melungeon-associated" surnames. Others believe they have certain "characteristic" physical traits or conditions. For example, some Melungeons are allegedly identifiable by shovel-shaped incisors, a dental feature more commonly found among, but not restricted to, Native Americans and Northeast Asians. A second feature attributed by some to Melungeons is an enlarged external occipital protuberance, dubbed an "Anatolian bump", after an unsubstantiated hypothesis, popularized by N. Brent Kennedy, that Melungeons are of Turkish origin. Academic historians have not found any evidence for this thesis, nor is it supported by results from the Melungeon DNA Project, which shows overwhelming northern European and sub-Saharan African ancestry of Melungeon lines.

Internet sites promote the anecdotal claim that Melungeons are more prone to certain diseases, such as sarcoidosis or familial Mediterranean fever, although academic centers have noted that neither of the diseases is confined to a single population. No scientific research supports claims that certain physical traits and conditions are more prevalent among Melungeon families.

Kennedy's claims of ancestral connections to this group have been strongly disputed. The genealogist and historian Dr. Virginia E. DeMarce reviewed his 1994 book: she found that Kennedy's documentation of his Melungeon ancestry was seriously flawed, he had a very indistinct definition of Melungeons, although other researchers have studied them extensively. She criticized him for reaching to include people who might have had other than northern European ancestry; and said that he did not properly take account of existing historical records or recognized genealogical practice in his research. He claimed to have ancestors who were persecuted for racial reasons; she found that his named ancestors were all classified as white in records, held various political offices (which showed they could vote and were supported by their community), and held land. Kennedy responded to her critique in this article.

The Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians in Kentucky claims that most families commonly identified as Melungeon are of Native American descent and migrated to the region in the late 18th and early to mid-19th centuries. Most families claimed this alternative heritage to explain their dark skin and Indian features and to avoid racial persecution. The Kentucky General Assembly acknowledged the Ridgetop Shawnee’s historical claims by passing resolutions that acknowledged their civic contributions to the state. (Note: The resolutions were not official recognition of tribal status.)