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.
