Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
In colonial times, they were known to be Appalachians, Portuguese, Turkish slaves or even Gypsies. Their dark skin and mixed, doubtful origin made them a target for the ridicule and hate of the white population.
During 1800s the Melungeons lived on the border between Virginia and Tennessee and the name was used as an insult. The truth however was revealed when the results of a DNA study were printed in the Journal of Genealogy. The results shocked a large part of the white population, as it showed that they were the off springs of sub-Saharan Africans and white, European women.
This proves that although on the surface discrimination was dominant but mixing of races was also endemic. This presents a totally different picture to what has been portrayed by historians. Some researchers claim that such incidents were very common in those times in America and some researchers have pointed out that these children were the product of relations between the white and African servants of the 1600s. It was later that intermingling was banned and restricted.
It is also thought that Melungeons themselves had...
This brought great benefits as a woman even won an inheritance case because her lawyer proved that she had come from Portugal.
The Melungeons are a classic case which shows that the American society of the colonial era was extremely racial, as any indication of the woman mentioned above would have lost her the inheritance. It also shows that racial discrimination stems from dislike of what is different and an inherent sense of superiority found in the white people. It also shows that despite deep seeded racial bias among the upper class, the lower class white people or servants did not find interaction with blacks to be a cause of humiliation, shame or degradation.
The study still continues and the word Melungeons is now meant to refer to those belonging to two races or of a mixed origin.
Bibliography
Alden T. Vaughan, Roots of American Racism (New York, Oxford University Press, 1995)
Travis Loller, "Melungeons Aren't Who They Thought They Were," the Tennessean, May 26, 2012.
Bibliography
Alden T. Vaughan, Roots of American Racism (New York, Oxford University Press, 1995)
Travis Loller, "Melungeons Aren't Who They Thought They Were," the Tennessean, May 26, 2012.
People who are guilty of personal attacks on Obama that challenge his birthplace, or equate him with Adolf Hitler, "…have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African-American" (CNN, p. 1). "It's a racist attitude," Carter asserted. And for this paper, it may be more like "modern racism" that does not embrace the "N-word" but does
Although it has often been seen as a production which exploits the racial prejudices of the American society, on the other hand it tries to deal with them and point them out through laughter. The question then arises, "does the charge of prejudice come from the fact that the movie laughs and pokes fun at it instead of excoriating it? Would it have been better if it had dealt
Essentially, those in the lower tiers of the urban socioeconomic hierarchy, rather than having been drawn out of despair, have been thrust to the periphery of America's 'revitalizing' cities. Question 2: One of the most important points raised by the course reading material would be that underscoring a clear proclivity toward urban design and planning in those who would first colonize the new lands. Though massive and ripe with natural resources and incredible frontiers, the new land
In order to increase inequality within my neighborhood, the first step would be to change leadership so that they are more heterogeneous and able to represent every facet of our community. In this way I believe we will be able to respond to the demands of everyone within a community that has a diverse ethnic background. Instead of my neighbors ignoring people of other ethnicities, I would want them
The fact that so many people believed that dependency of any kind was a serious threat to the development of the nation did develop into anti-racist sentiment as race seemed to be the defining character, in soc many situations of the labor force being utilized. One can definitely see this in the development of the early republican party, even though many call the rhetoric demonstrative of the dramatics that
Anti-Miscegenation Laws in the United States In order to understand what an anti-miscegenation law is, it is important to look at the definition of the term miscegenation. This term is derived from two Latin words miscere, which means to mix, and genus, which refers to type, family, or descent (Frederickson, 1971). This term has therefore been used to refer to the mixing of racial groups, ethnicities, and in rare circumstances different