The University of Nebraska Press has just published a new study that I hope many of us will be reading and discussing in the weeks ahead.  Melissa Schrift is an associate professor of anthropology at East…

As of April 30, 2013 here are the top ten states ranked for searches over the last twelve months:

Justin Kennedy, formerly of Abingdon, VA, is a student at New York University whose current research involves Melungeon history. This flyer provides contact information and details.…

Those of us who have been fortunate to hear Dr. Smallwood's presentations at Melungeon Unions will find much familiar material in this article published by Oklahoma Humanities this summer, "A History Long Forgotten: Intersections of Race in Early America."  The events calendar has been update to include Dr. Smallwood's June 2013 trip to Canada as…

In 2002, Brent Kennedy issued a statement about the first Melungeon DNA study. Excerpt:

The long-awaited DNA results are in and as many of us have maintained, the Melungeons are indeed a mixture of all races and many ethnic groups.…

(Johnnie Rhea and Rose Trent at 16th Union-- photo courtesy of Julie Williams Dixon)

16^th Union at the Southwest Virginia Historical Museum State Park

Report by K. Paul Johnson

Every Melungeon Union combines an extended family reunion with a scholarly…

The vast database of Google Books allows for tracing the appearance of different words over time in literature.  The Ngram program as applied to Melungeon for the period from 1970 through 2008 shows a dramatic increase beginning in the mid-1990s.…

Years ago, I was reading a Parade Magazine article about Melungeons.  The writer was Brent Kennedy from Wise, Va.  I am from Grundy, Va originally.  I was fascinated about this.  Sometime later, I was browsing in a bookstore in Middlesboro, KY and came across the book "The Melungeons:  The Resurrection of a Proud People."  As I perused the book, I came across Brent's Osborne genealogy.  The names sure looked familiar; we were distant cousins.…

For Virginians wondering whether they might have a connection to Melungeon heritage, it is worth noting that in 1943 Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics Director Walter Plecker issued a list of surnames suspected of being  mulattoes trying to "pass" as white or Indian.  He estimated "One hundred and fifty thousand other mulattoes in Virginia are watching eagerly the attempt of their pseudo-Indian brethren, ready to follow in…

Proving I’m a Pell Meller descendant is impossible, by the standards some would apply to the word Melungeon.

Both of my father’s parents were born in central Bertie County, the area around present-day Askewville, traditionally known as the Pell Mell Pocosin.  My Johnsons, Dunlows, Whites, Hugheses, Millers, Willifords, and many other lines, all traceable to colonial times as living in that area.  The written record is abundant about where they lived, and the place name…

In today's article, Travis Loller of the Associated Press interviewed Roberta Estes and Jack Goins, two of the coauthors of the study's report, and Wayne Winkler, who will appear at this year's 16th Union. 

comment by K. Paul Johnson:

Having attended the last four Unions and met almost all MHA members, I can report that the African roots of Melungeons…

Questions about the Lost Colony continue to intrigue historians and archaeologists.  A conference this week in Chapel Hill explored newly discovered clues in a 16th century map.  Beginning in 2009, Arwin Smallwood has shared his research at MHA Unions, and suggested his native Bertie County as the likeliest place for the Lost Colonists to have resettled.  My own family research in Bertie County…

Preregistration is not required and onsite registration is $10 for the conference itself, with a free Friday afternoon preconference from 1 to 5 pm.  The Friday keynote address will be at 7 pm.  Saturday presentations will be from 9 am to 4 pm.  Other evening and Thursday event details are being finalized. Speaker order will be as follows:

Friday:

1 pm Johnnie Rhea, 2 pm Phyllis…

This study, released February 16, has generated a considerable amount of news coverage, which is justified by the major changes it reports.  Of special interest to readers in the Upper South is this finding: "And the top states for white/black intermarried couples are Virginia (3.3%), North Carolina (3.2%) and Kansas (3.0%)."

The first paragraph of the Executive Summary gives a thumbnail…

Frank Stasio interiewed Lisa Alther for The State of Things yesterday, February 1, and the interview is now up on the WUNC website:

http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/Washed_In_The_Blood.mp3/view

A lot has changed since our little listserv started back in the 90's.  I think the last Union I attended was at Berea.  Since then a lot has happened with my health, but I did return to graduate school and finished my PhD.  My dissertation

Transcultural Transformation: African American and Native American Relations does not deal directly with Melungeons as my…

  Several years ago I was researching physical characteristics of Native Americans based on my Dad's affirmation of Amerindian heritage.  During the process I found information about Melungeons.

  I have the Anatolian bump (forgive me if I'm not quite up to date on this, but I distinctly remember this!).  In…

Every year it seems a new window opens into the relationships among mixed ancestry groups of the southern and eastern United States.  In 2007 when I first met MHA officers in Richmond at the annual conference of NGS, (the National Genealogical Society) they were joined at the conference booth by…

The Apalachicola River Indian Community Conference will be held on Saturday, March 17^th at 6 pm at the W.T. Neal Civic Center in Blountstown Florida, and everyone is welcome to attend. Since 1996, the Annual Apalachicola River Indian Community Conference has worked to document the…

Yesterday I drove down to Magnolia for the unveiling of a marker honoring Parker D. Robbins, born in Gates County, representative of Bertie in the NC General Assembly, postmaster of Harrellsville in Hertford County before relocating to Duplin County.  Although the event was framed in terms of African American history, Robbins had a tri-racial background and is an ancestor of MHA Consultant Marvin T. Jones, who was interviewed by Carolina 14.…