What race is a Melungeon?
Melungeons are descendants of people of mixed ethnic ancestry who, before the end of the eighteenth century, were discovered living in limited areas of what is now the southeastern United States, notably in the Appalachian Mountains near the point where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina converge.
What is a tri-racial isolate?
Locklear’s family, at least on her father’s side, once belonged to a segment of the population which in academic terminology is referred to as a tri-racial isolate – a community of individuals whose ancestry is a mixture of European, Indian and Black and who intermarried only with each other.
What is Melungeon culture?
Melungeons are considered a tri-racial isolate, meaning they are a combination of traits from multiple ethnic backgrounds, thus, creating their own unique culture. Today we know the Melungeon are African, white European and Native American.
What are Melungeons mixed with?
Over the generations, most individuals of the group called Melungeon were persons of mixed European and African descent, sometimes also with Native American ancestry, whose ancestors had been free in colonial Virginia.
What does DNA tell us about Melungeons?
The DNA test shows the regional origin of the original ancestors of direct male or female lines, but not which culture their descendants may have identified with in succeeding years. Neither does it indicate how far back the admixture occurred.
What are lumbees mixed with?
The Lumbee are the descendants of a mix of Siouan-, Algonquian-, and Iroquoian-speaking peoples who, in the 1700s, settled in the swamps along the Lumber River in southeastern North Carolina, intermarrying with whites and with blacks, both free and enslaved.
How do I know if I am melungeon?
Physical characteristics of Melungeons
- dark hair and skin with light-colored eyes.
- stark contrasts in skin and hair color within a single family.
- American Indian features.
- a particular type of bump or ridge at the back of the head (usually just above the neck) known at the Melungeon bump.