Historians studying Appalachian culture have uncovered a good bit of
evidence regarding the origins of a complicated people known as the
Melungeons.

The simple definition of the Melungeons is that they are a group of
attractive dark-complected people with Mediterranean features, who have
lived in Appalachia for more than 200 years. A good many people
indigenous to the Appalachian region can trace their histories back to
Scotch-Irish or German ancestry - note the resemblance of clogging to
Irish step-dancing as celebrated in ‘Riverdance’, and the English and
Irish ballads imported by settlers that are still sung in the ‘hills’.
But tracing their heritage is often difficult for Melungeon descendants.

Interestingly, the word ‘Melungeon’ means ‘cursed soul’ in both Turkish
and Portuguese. Yet some historians believe that both Abraham Lincoln
and Elvis Presley had Melungeon heritage from their maternal lines.

Today there are Melungeons living in western Virginia, east Tennessee,
western North Carolina, and southeastern Kentucky. But who are they, and
how did they arrive in America originally? There’s where the
long-abiding mystery begins.

Dr. N. Brent Kennedy, in his book ‘The Melungeons, the Resurrection of a
Proud People: A Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America’ (Mercer University
Press, 1994), suggests that when early Melungeons claimed to be
‘Portyghee’, they were stating the truth, having originated with
Portuguese/Moorish people who were part of the settlers brought to North
America in the 1500s. Many then fled to the west to escape the Spanish,
and intermarried with English or English/Native American mixed people.

Sadly, when ‘whites’ arrived in great numbers, the census designation of
‘Free person of color’ (FPC) deprived Melungeons of the right to own
land, vote, use the court system, and have their children educated. It
was in the Melungeons’ best interests to conceal their heritage,
explaining their dark features as ‘Black Dutch’ or ‘Black Irish’. In
hiding their true identity and trying to become homogenized in the
dominant Anglo-Saxon culture, much of their original history was
sacrificed.

But there are still features to identify someone of Melungeon ancestry,
one being ‘shovel teeth’ - when the inner surface of the front teeth
curve in a shovel shape. The disease ‘Sarcoidosis’ is also found in
Melungeons, a disease prevalent in African, Arabic, and Mediterranean
people.

Copper-skinned, dark or green-eyed, dark-haired but with English
surnames, Melungeons are thought to have originally been
Portuguese/Turkish/Moorish/Jewish, and then mixed with Native American,
especially Cherokee.

The National Melungeon Registry was established by the Wise County
(Virginia) Historical Society, P.O. Box 368, Wise, VA 24293, to collect,
preserve, and protect the heritage, history, and genealogy of all people
of Melungeon descent. There is even a long list of surnames of people
living in the Appalachian region most commonly associated with
Melungeons. Thankfully, the social stigma that so many once experienced
is over and done.