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The
Melungeons
By Bonnie
Ball; published in Historical
Sketches of Southwest Virginia (Bulletin
of the Historical
Society of Southwest Virginia), #2, 1966; pages 47-52.
A generation
ago census records of certain mountainous counties of Virginia,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Carolina, and others proved somewhat confusing.
This was due to the presence of a strange group of people whose
origin was, and has remained, one of the deepest and most fascinating
mysteries of American ethnology.
The "Melungeons"
who were called "ramps" in certain areas by their neighbors,
have characteristics that range from those of the whites and American
Indians to Orientals or Negroes. This variation prevented a definite
race classification, and has also given rise to numerous theories
concerning their origin.
Some
had dark, oily skin, kinky hair, upturned noses and dark stoic eyes.
Others, even in the same family had coarse bronzed skin, with straight
black hair. Still others, close relatives, differed little from
their white neighbors, perhaps having brown or light, fuzzy hair,
fair or medium skin, and dark blue or gray eyes. Then there were
others among them that had smooth, yellowish skin, curly brown or
black hair, and dreamy, almost Oriental eyes.
It would
be impossible to make any accurate estimate of how many such people
were scattered throughout the mountains of the Southern Appalachians,
but it can be assumed that their number fifty years ago would have
run into at least five digits.
According
to Bruce Crawford, a former newspaperman, and leading student of
ethnology of the Appalachian area, the Melungeons were officially
recognized about 1887 and given a separate legal existence under
the title of "Croatan Indians" on the theory of their
descent from Raleigh's Lost Colony of Roanoke Island (North Carolina),
a convenient means of disposal, but hardly satisfying to the inquisitive
historian.
The older
Melungeons insisted that they were Portuguese. I have known the
Melungeons from childhood, when three families lived as tenants
on my father's farm in Southwestern Virginia. Their children have
been my pupils, and I have done first-hand research on their traits,
customs, and past, but can give here only the proposed theories
of their origin.
Mr. Crawford's
research revealed that when John Sevier organized the state of Franklin
(Tennessee) there was a colony of "dark-skinned, reddish-brown
complexioned people supposed to be of Moorish descent." They
were neither Indians nor Negroes, but claimed to be Portuguese.
There
is a doubtful theory that the Melungeon was a product of frontier
warfare when white blood was fused with the Indian captor's and
that of the Negro slave.
There
also persist stories (that are recorded in history) that DeSoto
visited Southwestern Virginia in the sixteenth century by way of
a long chain of mountain leading into Tennessee. One ridge known
as "Newman's Ridge" (which could have been "New Man's
Ridge") was once the home of a teeming colony of Melungeons
who were strongly believed to have descended from members of DeSoto's
party lost or captured there.
In both
Carolinas Melungeons were denied privileges usually granted to white
people. For that reason many migrated to Tennessee where the courts
ruled that they were not Negroes.
Traditions
still persist that the Melungeons were descendants of the ancient
Phoenicians who migrated from Carthage to Morocco, whenced they
crossed the Atlantic before the American Revolution and settled
in North Carolina. If this theory can be accepted, they were pure
Carthaginians, and not a mixed race.
In weighing
this last statement it is interesting to note that the Moors of
Tennessee called themselves Portuguese, that the Moors of North
Carolina came from Portugal, and that a generation ago the Melungeons
called themselves Portuguese.
Yet there
are factors that are puzzling in these assumptions. Such common
surnames among them as Collins, Gipson (Gibson), Sexton, Bolen,
Goins, and Mullens suggest no Phoenician background. And there is
nothing about the word "ramp" to suggest a shy, usually
inoffensive race of people. Neither is there any known reason for
usage of the word "Melungeon" which is believed to have
been derived from the French word "melange," meaning mixture.
The Melungeons
were sometimes shy and reticent toward outlanders, but amiable with
neighbors. They were loyal to their kin and employers. While they
were fond of whiskey few were boisterous or malicious. I recall
a story often told by my father, who was reared only a few miles
from Newman's Ridge, about "Big Mahala Mullens" who lived
on the Virginia-Tennessee state line. She grew so obese that she
was unable to leave her house, and sat at the door all day selling
whiskey to travelers. When she discovered the approach of revenue
officials she waddled over to the Virginia side of her house if
they approached from the Tennessee side, and vice versa if from
Virginia. The act was probably unnecessary, since the authorities
could not have removed her from the house. When Mahala died the
chimney was torn away in order that she could be removed for burial.
Practically
all Melungeons preferred a care-free existence with members of their
own clan. For many generations they seldom married outsiders, and
virtually all families in each area were related. Nearly all Melungeons,
young and old chewed tobacco. They lived largely on bacon, corn
pone, mush, and strong coffee. In early spring they gathered "crow's
foot" from the woodlands, and "bear's lettuce" from
spring branches, and ate them raw with salt. They liked wild fruits
and berries to eat from the bush, but cared nothing for canning
and preserving them. The holiday for Melungeon men was a week in
late summer, after the crops were laid by, to be used for a ginseng
expedition. No camping equipment was taken along except a water
pail, knives, and a frying pan. They slept under the cliffs.
No fisherman
could compete with the Melungeons. He simply waded into the stream,
shoes and all, and searched with his fingers for fish hiding under
stones. It no time he emerged with a nice string of fish.
Theirs
was a hardy race, and seldom did they rely on a doctor. They applied
many home remedies for injuries and brewed herb teas. Childbirth
was a casual matter, usually attended by mountain midwife. Babies,
as a rule, grew and thrived without any pretense of comfort or sanitation.
Their
religion was of the simple Protestant type. They often attended
their neighbors' churches, and occasionally had a patriarch-preacher
in their group. They learned some of the old ballads and gospel
songs from memory, for few of them could read or write. They accepted
attendance at school, in most cases, an "unnecessary evil."
Church picnics were always attended by Melungeon boys, but my mother
once had a difficult time persuading young Willie that he must have
a bath and wear a suit in order to participate in a children's day
program. So he appeared, grinning broadly, in my brother's hand-me-down.
Then
came industry to the Appalachians - coal, timbering, and railroads.
The change was slow. World War I drew Melungeons into industry as
well as military service. Coal towns grew up rapidly, and the Melungeon,
like other tenant farmers, loaded up his few belongings on a wagon
and headed for the "public works." A few remained behind
and bought little hillside farms. For some reason their number appears
to have decreased sharply in the past three decades, probably a
result of long intermarriage, or perhaps many have been lost in
white blood. Soon they may become just a legend - a lost race.
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