Slippin' into whiteness: Melungeons and other 'almost white' groups

Arch Goins and family,
Melungeons from Graysville, Tennessee

"Whiteness" in the U.S. has value. It is no surprise that in a society that has historically oppressed, scorned and demonized "blackness" (as if blacks were almost an untouchable caste), some sub-cultural groups scattered across the nation sought refuge in elaborately constructed "not black" clusters. The United States government, mandated by the Constitution to collect census data that included "race" as a category, created much of the confusion, with shifting classifications over time, using terms like mulatto, octoroon, mestizo, and mixed. Some states also classified those people who were "not white" and not enslaved simply as "free people of color," which at times included Mexicans and Native Americans.

Clusters of people who were designated "not black," but historically "not white," were scattered across the U.S. All of these groups, dubbed by anthropologists and sociologists as "tri-racial isolates," or "maroons," are an interesting part of our troubled racialized history and current notions of "race," "ethnicity," ancestry, and genetics.  

One maroon group that has fascinated both social scientists and genealogists were named by outsiders (as a slur) and they now dub themselves with the same name: Melungeon. Their history and self-constructed folk mythology has been re-visited in recent years due to the advent of modern DNA research.  

I first encountered their stories when I came across a book called Almost White by Brewton Berry (1963, McMillan), when I was beginning to explore some of my own family history. Berry described maroon communities, which I pursued an interest in researching, who were given pejorative names like Jackson Whites, Pooles, Brass Ankles, Redbones, Gouldtowners, and Melungeons.

Some like the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina have forcefully rejected "othering" and "whiteness," and though many tribe members have visible African ancestry, they have fought for their identity as Native Americans.

There are now numerous websites dedicated to the exploration of "race," racialism, "mixed race" identity, and genetics'the most popular is historian Frank Sweet's Backintyme site. Sweet has also authored a series of computer animations for YouTube on "the study of racialism," which explores the data from his site.

The sub-cultures most written about are rural. The Melungeons are found in the hills and dales of the Cumberland Gap area of Appalachia. They have recently been in the news as a result of new DNA research. For example, Travis Loller at the Associated Press writes:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ' For years, varied and sometimes wild claims have been made about the origins of a group of dark-skinned Appalachian residents once known derisively as the Melungeons. Some speculated they were descended from Portuguese explorers, or perhaps from Turkish slaves or Gypsies.

Now a new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy attempts to separate truth from oral tradition and wishful thinking. The study found the truth to be somewhat less exotic: Genetic evidence shows that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin. And that report, which was published in April in the peer-reviewed journal, doesn't sit comfortably with some people who claim Melungeon ancestry. "There were a whole lot of people upset by this study," lead researcher Roberta Estes said. "They just knew they were Portuguese, or Native American."

Beginning in the early 1800s, or possibly before, the term Melungeon (meh-LUN'-jun) was applied as a slur to a group of about 40 families along the Tennessee-Virginia border. But it has since become a catch-all phrase for a number of groups of mysterious mixed-race ancestry. In recent decades, interest in the origin of the Melungeons has risen dramatically with advances both in DNA research and in the advent of Internet resources that allow individuals to trace their ancestry without digging through dusty archives.

With the advent of digitized and online genealogical data, the huge market for ancestral roots-seeking has grown by leaps and bounds. This explosion led to the founding of numerous Melungeon mailing lists, forums and websites, and people avidly investigating surnames associated with families claiming to be Melungeon. Books were published detailing and re-enforcing the myths, and websites popped up describing "Melungeon Health issues" as further "proof" that they were a distinct ethnic group.

The first major fly in the ointment of Melungeon identity as "not black" descendents came via the research of Paul Heinegg. I got to know Paul and his groundbreaking research because we are both forum managers at AfriGeneas, the largest black genealogy site on the web.

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