Just want to let you know I think you are such a beautiful spirit, you are so sweet and accepting of all people. I wish I grew up with people like you. You are not ashamed of your heritage no matter what. I admit I grew up in the time I if I could I would do what Great Granny did and pass, but you let me know you feel like gave up a lot and I do too. That’s the part that breaks my heart. You made me feel it’s OK to be whatever you are. Thank God for you. I love your heart.
@@etruscancivilization I think the Black American community needs to champion their ancient roots of Sub Saharan Africa, it will help them understand themselves. However, some of them are obviously mixed race, and do seek to understand their whole selves and backgrounds, which should be fine too, as long as they don't claim the Olmecs, Hebrews or Moors to be Black, lol.
😑🙄 Oh my God, just read this sister's comment that she wishes that she could be like them that she could pass like this girl's great-grandmother did?! Her great-grandmother did that because she had to survive in a time where slavery and ended and Jim Crow was just as bad! Girl you are in 2024! What's wrong with being a black woman in this day and age where you have far more rights and you can be proud of your lovely melon skin and texture hair, end the contributions that African-Americans have made greatly to this country as well as other ethnic Americans?!
I feel like a big piece of my cultural and personal history was stolen from me when part of my family chose to pass. Recently, I was asked to leave a Facebook Melungeon group if I was “white presenting.” So…I did. That was painful, so I just went ahead and left alllll the groups. I thought, “Ok, this is what Black folks or Black presenting Melungeons have put up with for centuries. Suck it up.” But it is…sad to me. And a lot of people go into attack mode on this topic. Which I’ve for sure seen in the comments on this channel. FTR, I grew up hearing I had Shawnee blood. Not according to Ancestry or GED Match. 😀 I have African ancestry. (Nigeria, Benin, Togo). Thank you for the work you do on this channel, and for the flack you take. Blessings. PS - I definitely believe in genetic memory, now. 😃
I feel like a big piece of my cultural and personal history was stolen from me when part of my family chose to pass. Recently, I was asked to leave a Facebook Melungeon group if I was “white presenting.” So…I did. That was painful, so I just went ahead and left alllll the groups. I thought, “Ok, this is what Black folks or Black presenting Melungeons have put up with for centuries. Suck it up.” But it is…sad to me. And a lot of people go into attack mode on this topic. Which I’ve for sure seen in the comments on this channel. FTR, I grew up hearing I had Shawnee blood. Not according to Ancestry or GED Match. 😀 I have African ancestry. (Nigeria, Benin, Togo). Thank you for the work you do on this channel, and for the flack you take. Blessings. PS - I definitely believe in genetic memory, now. 😃
The death traditions and healing traditions with herbs she described are West African. We have something similar in Cuba in my Afro Cuban Yoruba tradition. In Latin America and the Caribbean much of what existed in Africa is luckily in tact. Proverbs, detailed healing remedies, and much more is still passed down. The gumbo she discussed in Africa is called "ochiniwa gumbo" , the word for stew with okra in it. From Sierra Leone West Africa..
I didn't know anything about Melungeons until I started watching your videos. An elderly relative expressed his disappointment that our family's traditions regarding the deceased were no longer being used. He mentioned the covering of the mirrors and the clocks. I wasn't aware that was done. It was also a tradition for family to hold a all night prayer vigil . The women would cut their hair based on the moon chart. My father and other relatives planted seeds based on the Farmer's Almanac. I'm not sure if that is similar to the Man of signs chart. I have family members who have the physical characteristics of the Melungeons and same last names. I will have to dive deeper into my family's history. Thank you for these videos and for sharing what you are learning ❤
The things you mentioned aren't at all specific to so-called Melungeon people. These were simply common practices in the South back in the day. Tbh there doesn't seem to be any real "Melungeon" control identity and that makes sense give them the fact that this word simply derives from a French word that just meant mixed.
@@sunshinegirl1655 Yeah.. And there's the reason why all of these people have European last names... Their people who are of mixed descent, largely mixed with black and white. It's just, given the overt anti blackness, many mixed race people took the opportunity to move as far away from blackness as possible. Choosing to only socialize with and procreate with other mixed race or non-black people. And when policies were put in place to crack down on people who had black genetic ancestry, whether mix or not, a lot of these people who were either technically half black or part black started to lie and say that they were some romantic mix of native indigenous and white or that they had some foreign exotic European or native indigenous ancestry and all of that muddy's the water even more. Put all of that having been sad, the point I was trying to make about the culture thing is this... This word used to classify these people which use solely to refer to a specific aesthetic of people within the Appalachian region. This did not mean that these individual people share any specific customs and traditions or that they created customs and traditions out of their lived experiences that were 100% unique to them. I think because the word Melungeon is being used to classify a group of people People perceive it as a real ethnic / ethnolinguistic marker in a way that it isn't. There doesn't seem to be much evidence to prove that these people have their own unique specific cultural identity like say, the Creole of Louisiana
This comment makes my heart so happy. I am so grateful that you connected us. I really feel honored that you and Georgia have trusted me with your family stories. It is truly the ultimate honor. This was one of my favorite video conversations I have ever had.
it's such an honor to know and love georgia. i am so proud of the work she is doing and the woman she is! i moved close to her so that we could raise our children together with melungeon traditions and its the best decision i ever made ❤
Thank you so much for bringing Georgia on. I do admit it's a touch disconcerting hearing someone who doesn't have the Appalachian accent talking about things that I grew up with, like talking the fire out of a burn and planting by the signs. I wish when all my grandparents were here that I'd have listened and learned more. I didn't find out about there being a Melungeon connection on my mom's side until I was older and doing family tree research and going on ancestry. There have always been things mom wouldn't talk about from her family and I think that part of it was during the time she was growing up and the area she grew up in at that time, it was not okay to be different. I didn't have kids myself, but, I have a bonus daughter and grands from my husband. A lot of the plant medicine and such got lost because of modern medicine and moving to the city and not having access to the plants and things from back in the hollers.
Most Appalachians that have migrated out were forced to lose the accent. I had many years of abusive speech therapy in order to get me to talk "right".
@@Localhollerhaint I know about that and it makes me sick. Those of us who stayed, but wanted to be taken seriously learned to code switch. I'm proud of my Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee roots and anyone who doesn't like it can kiss my country ass. Besides, it's fun to mess with people who automatically think that Southern accent = ignorant. Love seeing the look on their face when they realize I've got quite a well rounded vocabulary and am a voracious learner.
My great grandma was Melungeon but she pronounced it different she was a sharecropper, and her grandmother was a newly freed slave when she married a native man, my family last name is satterthwaite from North Carolina, I know a lot of people with the Melungeon last names you mentioned
It really blows my mind when people say black people in America have no culture because most of us have such a complex story and almost always have admixture of other races mainly European but sometimes native there were even a small number of Chinese men marrying black women in the late 1800's until the 1920s due to laws in the West forbidding Chinese men from marrying white women and the ban on further Asian immigration.
@@thewordsmith5440 this is you romanticizing mixedness and assuming that mixedness gives people a "culture" when that isn't how culture works. Melungeon isn't a cultural identity. It's just a word that meant mixed person
@@13579hee because no one wants to embrace indigenous culture. People assimilate and take on the traditions of the colonizers. When someone embraces the culture that they are born into, who is an outsider to critique or criticize a culture they know nothing about.
@13579hee being mixed doesn’t mean you have a culture…but a lineage of people who come from a specific region and share the same cultural history definitely can create their own culture. Their culture and specific linguistic modifiers are going to take from all of their combined ethnicities. After that, more unique modifications are made to the culture as this specific group experiences events that are exclusive to their group. It’s kind of how cultures evolve… the entire Roman Empire was created this way. The first Romans were a mix of Latium villagers and other tribes who were displaced due to the invasion of the Etruscans…these people created a culture, language, etc based on their unique shared history.
I just found your channel. I was adopted from Harlan, Ky at birth. It wasn’t until I submitted dna to every genealogy testing site possible that I learned about Melungeons. My dna kept coming back with sub-Saharan African, and there was no way to place where that line was coming from. As a child, my mother that adopted me was frequently asked if I was Israeli, my mom worked in a Jewish nursing home in Chicago. My features are very distinct and I found out who my birth mother was and I definitely didn’t look like her, her family, or her sons. They are all blonde with blue eyes, and actually exceptionally tall. My biological brothers are 6’7 and 6’3, my birth mother is 5’11. I’m 5’5. I was born with black curly hair with black eyes that changed to dark brown as I aged, I have light olive skin but I’m covered in freckles. I still have very dark almost black hair that is wavy. My nose is very distinct and my eye shape is almond. I couldn’t figure out why I looked like I do, but no one on my maternal line looked like me. After years of research, I found out I am Scots-Irish, sub-Saharan African, a very small percentage of Asian, very small percentage of Native American, and a small percentage linked to the Middle East. Through genealogy groups, I was able to pinpoint surnames from my dna matches that were Melungeon lines. I’m still trying to learn more and feel very lost on all of it, but I appreciate you covering this topic!!
Why would they want to denounce the mother land? All black people are not African. Africa is beautiful. But we as Americans have our own culture and roots. We can trace our lineage. African American is a new term that was created to take away the identity of indigenous black Americans. It's really not even a logical argument. It's propaganda.❤
They didn't do it to themselves, white people in power have always separated indigenous people by the shade of skin and textureof their hair into separate so called racial groups so they could on paper lower our numbers and divide us so we would be more easily conquered and controlled. And it's absolutely true that we were already here. They just claim we are from Africa so that we lose our claim to our homeland.@@ms.branch1207
It’s crazy honestly cause me being from a Puerto Rican, Mexican and Cuban family, I have quite a few siblings that look just like her grandpa, it’s funny actually cause he honestly kinda looks like me in real life,( my profile pic on RUclips isn’t actually me that’s a character from a game ) if I saw him on the street I’d honestly assume he’s Caribbean. Honestly, Melungeons and Caribbeans seem to have pretty similar DNA interestingly, almost exactly the same; with West African, Spaniard, Portuguese, Indigenous American Ancestry etc. That’s pretty cool alright. 💯👍🏾👍🏾
Some say that they were Guanche slaves who came from the Canary Islands with the Spanish and then mixed with native Indians. The Guanche people are related to Berbers who live in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, but without black admixture. The Spanish invaded the Canary Islands and brought some Guanche to Puerto Rico, Cuba, and probably the coastal plains of the United States.
Some were not Portuguese, Portuguese was often used to justify their dark skin tone and dark hair and hide their native and black ancestry. They said black and indians couldn't attend the schools so they said we're Portuguese so they started saying no portuguese.
Hi Danielle, I didn't know what Melungeon was until me and my family received a genealogy book which talks about my great-grandma paternal grandfather side of the family which details him and his family being melungeon, and tracing back to Colonial America.
@@nytnFamilysearch Labs has Virginia records now. Do you know what that is? "Limited data is currently available. You are browsing US Land and Probate Records, Mexico Notary Records, Australia Land and Probate Records, New Zealand Land and Probate Records, and US Plantation Records."
My family descends, it appears, from the historic Lumbee (pre-1910 Census/pre-indigenous naming/pre-indigenous roll) out of Robeson County, NC and is related to the Oxendine, Locklear, Chavis, Goens/Gowens/Goins, Dial, etc. Lumbee families. Those families are related to my Free People of Color-descended relatives on the other side of my family who resided in New Bern and Carteret, NC. Some of those surnames are Carter, Freeman, George, Godette, and Deadwyler. All of these families appear to have migrated to NC/SC from Virginia. They are also connected to the Melungeon families and other Free People of Color families who resided in Halifax, NC. All of these families appear to be connected - same surnames, same cultural patterns. Surnames like Nickens, Gowens are FPOC surnames in Maryland/Northern VA as well. Nickens is a well-known FPOC surname in MD/NOVA. Shoemake/Shoemaker, Harmon, etc. are also well-known FPOC surnames in NC. It appears all of these families came from VA, are connected, and migrated to other places during the colonial and post-colonial period embracing evolved/new identities in an era of oppression. It's fascinating, and I'm enjoying the journey of discovery. Well-known FPOC researcher Paul Heinegg is also a great resource on this topic.
Danielle just wanted to say thank you for all that you do!! All my life and throughout school people always asked me what I was, if I was part Asian/part west Asian/middle eastern etc and I never knew exactly what my family story was so I didn’t have a concrete answer. Digging into my family history now has helped me to understand why I might have inherited some of the features I have and also to understand what my Melungeon ancestors probably went through. I’m mostly Irish Scottish and German with small amounts of South Asian, Native American, middle eastern and small amount of African DNA and me and my family have lived smack dab in the middle of the Appalachian mountains in WNC. Thank you so much for your videos they have really helped me to better understand so many different aspects of genealogy!
I know that feeling. I was always asked 'what are you'...which is kind of a bummer especially if you have no "satisfactory" answer. People always telling me I HAVE to be X. Keep me posted on your family journey, Id love to know what you find. and make sure you check out Georgia's FB page! facebook.com/MelungeonFolklore
Oh my goodness, you and I have almost identical dna makeup. I mean identical. I was adopted from Harlan, KY. You are the first person i e seen to also see the South Asian percentage and middle eastern.
@@jamiesunderland5208 that’s freaking awesome! Yea I don’t see many Europeans with south Asian dna. 23andme gave me 46 Irish/Scottish/welsh/British, 43% German, 5% Scandinavian, 2% indigenous and 2% Spanish/portuguese, close to 1% South Asian and 0.7% West Asian/North African then a tiny amount of sub Saharan African
@@nytn thank you! And I will keep you updated. It’s so difficult because some records are conflicting! I just saw an ancestor of mine on ancestry that was listed as white on one record and black on another so it can get very confusing lol. I’ve also found some ancestors that had very specific ethnic names that they changed to become more anglicized. Also one of my ancestors named one of their kids “Mexico” which I find very interesting.
I have an interview coming out about hispanic/Mexican hidden indigenous roots. It's a great interview with a guy who is reconnecting as well. I think you will resonate with it! That name "Mexico" , that's pretty good 😂.
If you have any surname Goins family members your most likely connected to the Melungeon community. I traced one of my family lines to Shadrack Goins in Grainger Tennesse, they were a melungeon community who considered themselves Portuguese and Indian. They would be considered black today.
Hi there NYTN. This doesn't concern this video directly, but I found a hidden possible community, that would make a great story for you below: Boon County, Watauga County, North Carolina. The oldest African American community in the Appalachian. I found out it's 86 miles away from my mother's side of the family in Winston Salem North Carolina. may be a Malungeon connection here. Theres a straight road between the two.
I am blond hair , green eyes and white skin. My family are all from the south and both parents are part native American and my father is part black. My father's family was dark and my mother was very light but some of her siblings were dark.
It's important to teach your kids about their roots, but it's also important to teach your kids that their country is America, and important for them, for their country to stay tolerant
Thank you for your work and this content! My family is melungeon from TN and we trace our family back to the 1700s. I love the exposure on this people group who are deeply part of the American story and heritage.
I always feel left out of this. My Grandma is a citizen of the Muscogee Creek in Oklahoma, through her dad, she had a white mother and her birth certificate says Creek Indian on it. That's about as definitive as it gets, yet I feel like a lot of people will still say I don't deserve to consider myself Muscogee because I pass as white, even though my grandma and great-grandpa would certainly not.
I met a lovely young woman once and others assumed she was Caucasian. She was in fact a Native American and quickly corrected them. They were suddenly in awe and she was unique and interesting. It made me happy to live in a time where we want to know one another and their story.
🟢Watch AD FREE on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN ▶ on X, twitter.com/ImFindingLola 🟢Sign up for the e-mail list here! nytonashville.com/connect 🟢Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal ▶Download the first section FREE of my "Be a Good ancestor" course here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos-bjks6 ▶Get the full course to save your family history here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos 5
My grandfather use to also heal folks that had been burned and it would remove the heat and heal the burn. We call it "Talking the Fire". My family hail from Danville, VA. It involved him praying over the person, but somehow the person never remembered what he was saying, just that it really worked!
Until very recently I didn't know that I could have Melungon blood. Then I saw the names Chavez/ Chaves, Harris, Ellis/Ellison. All those are name that appear in my pedigree. Blonde hair, blue eyes, hair, green eyes are also not unusual in my extended family. I myself am black, my husband is Italian my daughter is black, my son is white on official papers. There is a story behind my son's official racial designation.
I'm a melungeon watch the movie Big stone gape, that's where I am from. We are a mix a many races and ppl used to treat us wrong but in the state of Virginia we cannot be known as melungeon because of Jim Crow laws that still exist in Tennessee they can be known on their birth certificates as a melungeon
As already mentioned in comments, « melungeon » comes from the French verb « mélanger » which means « to mix » or « to blend », more precisely its first-person plural, infinitive or imperative moods : « mélangeons », meaning « we blend » or « let’s blend ».
This is so exciting to me! I randomly learned about Melungeons last year while getting into the rabbit hole of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania & West Virginia. I came across the term and photos and was blown away! Why haven’t we heard/learned this more? Now this year you’re doing THIS?! I love you and your channel so much Danielle!! My sister’s name too 🥰 We are kindred spirits haha
Thank you for sharing. I've discovered that my grandmother practiced so many of the things you were discussing. Through doing the family tree, and looking at our DNA, I understand her so much now. So much was lost and hidden, so they could survive. But those of us who are descendants must keep the stories, and practices alive.
I’ve honestly never heard of Melungeon people before until now, so I just did my own little research on Google. How I see it is like Melungeons are like the Creoles of the northern United States.
Well, if you consider Virginia the north. A lot of the families married originally in VA then moved out to the Carolinas, then KY and TN, then on to other states.
I find your videos very interesting and informative. At nearly 64 I had never heard the word Melungeon until I listened to you. Like many, I have heard about a mysterious Indian princess on my maternal grandmothers side but all roads to discovery have hit a dead end. Or rather, to the time without birth certificates.
I actually found an ancestor's name. She was a young NA woman who married a European man. I am in the process of verifying the information now and I am really curious now with this.
Thank goodness there is attention on this!!! Proud Melungeon descendent here from Floyd County Ky!! Gibson and Fultz are my Melungeon connections while Terry, Riley, and Jordan are my Indigenous connections . All are reflected on my DNA tests as well. And if they weren’t than I would still say F off 😂 most of family always claimed it and never once bragged or lied because it was well documented in our Fmaily bibles
Taking out the body of the deceased feet first, is self understood, here in Serbia. I guess it's an ancient custom that survived in various pockets of the world.
She's so knowledgeable about this culture and so willing to share it. I love giving and welcoming people. Fascinating discussion as always. Thank you Danielle for uploading and sharing this with the world it's an important apart of our American history that most people are not aware of. Let's talk about these things.
Same. My grandmother was a melungeon “nurse,” which was called a witch. She spoke the heat out of burns and stopped bleeding and delivered babies. I miss her so much
I'm in the same boat. I've really been struggling with which race box to check. Like 3% does not count anymore. Yet, I've lived the life. I'm had the grandmother whom was 12.5%. etc. And for me this checked all the boxes, and explains some of my grandmothers conversations (birth mother's mother). What really confuses me, and throws me, is that my grandmother talked about family secrets (lol). What you are missing, the disconnect, is when you pass, then you can be the victim of racism from your own family. So, in my grandmothers experience, she felt discrimination from her sisters, so, she left for the North, where there was more tolerance, and less questions. So, that's how the culture is lost.
Well, now, this explains a lot. My gg grandmother on my dad's side was a Cox who married a Knight in Mississippi. The Free State of Jones people. It all makes a special kind of sense. Thank you for working on uncovering our families hidden past. ps...we eat melungeon food too.
The other thing about DNA and indigenous ancestry is that the test result only show what they have in their database and they can register with reasonable accuracy. So just because the test doesn’t show your heritage it doesn’t mean your heritage isn’t real. My grandmother is Lokono Arawak from Guyana. Along with mixed race heritage being shameful the ability of her people to have access to DNA testing is so limited.
Surprisingly I have family with a Melungeon surname,but I discovered I'm related to Attakullakulla or Chief Little Carpenter,and I found out I'm actually Related to the Beloved Man Jerry Wolfe! Yet when I did a DNA test,I fell into the East Asian/ Native American Category! I found out I'm about slightly over 1/16th!
We have the information within us its not lost, we are just keep busy. Keep us posted when you do family traditions please. They help each of us remember❤
Very intresting, the funeral ceramony that she explained it's very close to what many southern europeans do in there tradition. We are very close more then you think.
Not surprised at all. Melungeons were an isolated tri-racial group of people, who incorporated an assortment of practices from all of their backgrounds, hence an interesting medley of cultural traditions. On the contrary, the Melungeons were practicing Christianity when they were first discovered by European explorers.
Wow this is cool. My ggma side were Hardys and ggpa were Collins from MS and then moved to St. Louis, Mo. and I did hear the Cherokee and Irish references. Need to do a dna test and trace the whole family. They had 14 living children and all the children’s features were different from red hair to long straight hair to curly and complexions. A lot of mixed DNA somewhere.
About the traditions. Covering mirrors was old habit documented at least since 1600 Swden and Finland, probably all over Europe and jewish apparently still do it. So it has actually been very common till 1900.
My grampas family was what they called melungeon. From Kentucky. Wasn't allowed to live in town. Dna test in his 90's- he was Palestinian, Greek, Italian and Scandinavian. Tan skin and coarse curly hair
The shifting DNA groups for mixed people is pretty funny. I went from being 60% native 30% British isles and small percentages of various African tribes to 40% native 25% British isles to 10% west African and now some Spanish, Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Portuguese. 😂🤣
@pete6300 Patti Jinich (Patties Mexican Table show) is Mexican born and her ancestors are Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. Mexican is not an ethnicity its a Nationality.
It can mean different things. The multi racial heritage can be different races, depending. Example: Caucasian, Jewish, Native American, African... and even Arab.
Wow... this is really insightful. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you honesty.. I am looking at my family tree with a new perspective. Thank you..
I'm friklin' MELUNGEON?! This is not even a term I heard growing up, but my family is ALL OVER this video! In the Pee DEE pocket, I saw Both my (patrilineal) tribe "Winyah", ( *very proud*, very dark-skinned, un-"redbone"-like), to which I have traced to the chieftain line, (but I believe is pre-Columbian, as the Spanish began enslaving us in the 1520s).. And also listed, is my wife's tribe (Croatan). In the other list are practically THREE of my (matrilineal) surnames, the primary "Harris", which has been traced to the chieftain family of the Catawba tribe. At the bottom, are listed the South Carolina county where I grew up, (Sumter) the County of my father's people (Williamsburg), my mother's ancestral people (Lancaster), and the county where I currently reside (Kershaw)! What is extra crazy, is from my native North American DNA, South American (Olmec/Inca),African/Israelite/Judean/Levite, and Even the European DNA, all seem to go back to ROYAL (or priestly) LINES,...(The European line even claims that Thor and Loki are my uncles, as I am allegedly *Son of Odin"! (Meanwhile, learning that much of the European Royal history is far " BLACKER" than they would like for us to believe!) I say this, because, my bloodline has got me thinking that the Royal bloodlines were blended intentionally, not just Euro-continentally, but perhaps even GLOBALLY!! It's also interesting that you mention the Filipino DNA, because I got the same Filipino/South China Sea hit in my DNA profile as well, but have not documented a viable historical papee-trail to follow on that one! (*good luck, right!) They have *disappeared so many of us "ON PAPER"!!! VERY INTRIGUING INFORMATION! ❤ ✊🏾 The Great, Great Awakening Continues.... Stay strong, Beloveds! Be Love. -Watchman Winyahudah Adéwalé Amaru
Olmec aren’t from South America and they aren’t related to the Inca at all. And Native Americans aren’t black. Why are you so ashamed of being black that you steal other cultures?
Omg, I grew up in West Virginia coal camps and this tracks. I could not believe that I descended from all these kings across Europe. If you descend from one royal, you will descend from a bunch because they married other royals from other countries Winyah is one of the names that crops up in my tree a lot. I’m Melungeon, too. I bet we are related. ❤️
(BjørnBaldr-Odinson here!) I'll definitely keep you posted! It's almost like I'm learning something new every day at this point! I had already figured out pretty quick that my best friend was Melungeon, as his mom's side is Goins, and from a phenotypical aspect, ain't no concealing that Melungeon!😂 Before seeing this video, I told him that we might be related, because I kept seeing Goins pop up, from a regional aspect, whilst researching the native Winyah patrilineal side of my family. 🤔 🤔 🤔 🧐@@nytn
My MGM kept the family pics hidden and later detroyed b/c she said people would discriminate d/t them being "indian", but many looked african. 3 grandparents came from Harlan CO. KY and Lee CO VA. What it means is we have no subculture, or traditions. I got an F in school on a project that we were supposed to identify our country of origin, b/c my mother refused to give that information. She did admit to our ancestors origin before she died. In my 70's now and identify much of what is discussed from my early childhood in Claibourne CO TN.. One thing have not been able to find is the tribe of origin for Jesse Brock who settled in Harlan CO KY. He stated he was 3/4 indian, but the Cherokee, state he was not one of theirs.
I know this is not most Melungean Peoples, I came across a few Melungean People online who were having some sort of identity crises of their origins, they said they were the First Cherokees and they look White American. These People often hated on the three Cherokee Tribes as if they were jealous of the Cherokee being Indigenous and having ancient history in the Americas. People who are part of these modern day ethnic groups should just realize they are from a mixed race and multicultural background - there is no ancient origins of these groups, they came about during early American mingling and cultural appropriation, which is fine.
@@nytn Fore sure, as with over 100 million Americans too, lol. I think it's ok for a mixed American person to celebrate all their ancestral origins, it's healthy and helps one understand their family, their community and early American life, like you do. But for those out their from any of a modern day ethnic/mult-cultural group who gatekeep and claim to be the true origin of a Indigenous America or other ancient group, should stay away from these believes, it will cause a lot of problems.
A Melungeon in Italy is an eggplant.Blackskin on the outside ,light white geenish on the inside.The taste is bittter so you have to salt and let sit till the moisture comes out, then you rinse,bread the slices and sauté in olive oil.Delicious!
What the gal is explaining is the way I grew up and I can tell you it sounds like peasant Italian culture.We ate dandelions ,tripe soup,gizzards and so forth.
Melungeon is not a nation nor a race... it was created as part of the caste austen System... the real confusion was to change who black Americans were... Black Americans are the Indians that lost our land, and that why all this confusion is what it is
Such a great video with lots of information. I especially liked seeing the written information. I am not only related to the author Jack Goins (4:29) but also Ted and Ned Sizemore (5:21) and All George Sizemore. That is a very interesting line. Old Ted was hung during the revolution for being a Tory (loyal to the British crown). One of my Great Aunts was married to "Wild Bill" Sizemore of Rogersville, TN. He killed many Civil War soldiers, but not on the field. It started what was like a Hatfield and McCoy family fued. His cousin ended up shooting him in front of the court house. He was so hated in the town it took over an hour for his wife to get any help moving his body.
Do a lot of Melungeon Peoples think of themselves as a modern day ethnic and/or multicultural group? The moon astrology of some Melungeon must be from a Ancient European European Pagan Culture that a few People brought over from Europe during the early migration era of the USA, no?
I suspect nearly everyone carried out corpses feet first. Also I guess because the young lady grew up in the North, cornbread seems exotic, when just about anyone in the south or southwest eats cornbread. Corn is native to the US and so many tribes were moved west of the Mississippi. Still food from TN is a bit different.
I’ll bet Mammie was what some call a kitchen witch. The name comes from plant and medical knowledge. These herbs to use in a poultice for a rash, those herbs in a tea help during childbirth, how to set broken bones and so on. Women who were healers for the community are as old as our species.
First time I heard the word Melungon was when I started looking into Abraham Lincoln and the comics they made of him during his time. This is very interesting!
I don’t know that that specifically notes a heritage.. I think it’s actually speaks more to the region of the Appalachian that they lived in.. It is a word that I have come across in researching My family history… In the section that was describing families in a particular area and what they were referred to…
I think my family from Richland's Virginia are mulungeon. We have some Goodman's in my family which is a Mulungeon name. My grandfather and my mother were very dark complexion, but my aunt took a DNA test and showed no African DNA so does that mean it's not possible?
My mother in law said you wean a baby when the moon can't hold water or "when the signs go out of the feet" So, if the moon isn't in a phase you could draw a water line in the crescent, don't wean or potty train your child.
Sara Woods? My grandfather was a Woods. We only cut our hair on a full moon. My grandmother didn't even want us to trim without it being a full moon. My family is Gullah Geechee/Black Seminole/ Yamasse the ethnic group seems to have been called by different names at different periods of time
@@AshaBlack-wy3ol we had the story that my grandma's grandma was native but it hasn't shown in the DNA. Woods is my married name. My mom was a Burns my dad a Carey
@@sarawoods7874 My grandmother's mom was native I wish I asked more questions she was the youngest of 26 and born around 1912. I wish I had asked more questions.
Maybe one of the family members married a Filipino from St. Malo ,Louisiana in the 1700s . There was a small community of Filipino seamen that left the Spanish ships and started a colony there .
People still use Farmer's Almanac, but this is not something that is like astrology. It's basically weather prediction and my parents still use this. Based on the cover I thought it was some voodoo type of thing too when I was younger, but I think meteorologists were far more advanced than we assume back then. And if there is predicted an early winter? Of course you may butcher your pig or whatever early since you need to store it by a certain time.
I've always wondered if my dad's mother was Melungeon. None of the surnames are in my family tree, but she came from the Roanoke Rapids area of NC and she and her sisters don't look "white" although their brothers all look very white. Grandma and her sisters had kinky dark hair, almond shaped black eyes and a distinctive nose. I was told, and my research shows, that their paternal family are Scottish but came here from England in the 1700s. ETA; the man of signs is posted on my aunt's fridge! This spooked me when Georgia showed it because I had no idea what it was on our fridge.
DNA analysis is the single best tool we have to determine true "Ancestry". Anyone can make up any family story, but no one can "make up" their DNA, which is why we use it in all Professional and Scientific settings. Every good "genealogist" knows to follow the "genes". It's right their in their title. ;) Thankfully, she's putting the "Black-Cherokee Princess" nonsense to rest. It's the oldest, worst, most disproven "meme" in all of AA "history".
Race is actually a good identifier for census if it wasn't there many African Americans wouldn't find their ancestors. Even writing the word M to denote mixed ancestry helps people find out their real history. This is even how white Americans found out that they had some black ancestry. Just look at finding your roots. The box should and think it does allow you to mark more than one box.
I agree with a lot of the points this sister made. I do not wish to join any of the so-called federally recognized tribes due to the fact that the vast majority of the chiefs themselves have such a small amount of Indian blood per se. I did find American Indian ancestors on my tree but the vast majority of my ancestry is from Scotland, Ireland, England and a little from France (great grandfather was French Kreyol from St John the Baptist Parish Louisiana). My dad taught my siblings and I that we were part Kreyol and that his grandfather spoke Kreyol. I would love to reconnect to this part of my ancestry
Thank you for showcasing this!! I worked on my ancestry and found I am Melungeon!!!!
Just want to let you know I think you are such a beautiful spirit, you are so sweet and accepting of all people. I wish I grew up with people like you. You are not ashamed of your heritage no matter what. I admit I grew up in the time I if I could I would do what Great Granny did and pass, but you let me know you feel like gave up a lot and I do too. That’s the part that breaks my heart. You made me feel it’s OK to be whatever you are. Thank God for you. I love your heart.
Georgia is the best! I hope she sees this comment. We are so grateful to have you here with us. Thank you!
@@etruscancivilization I think the Black American community needs to champion their ancient roots of Sub Saharan Africa, it will help them understand themselves. However, some of them are obviously mixed race, and do seek to understand their whole selves and backgrounds, which should be fine too, as long as they don't claim the Olmecs, Hebrews or Moors to be Black, lol.
😑🙄 Oh my God, just read this sister's comment that she wishes that she could be like them that she could pass like this girl's great-grandmother did?! Her great-grandmother did that because she had to survive in a time where slavery and ended and Jim Crow was just as bad! Girl you are in 2024! What's wrong with being a black woman in this day and age where you have far more rights and you can be proud of your lovely melon skin and texture hair, end the contributions that African-Americans have made greatly to this country as well as other ethnic Americans?!
I feel like a big piece of my cultural and personal history was stolen from me when part of my family chose to pass. Recently, I was asked to leave a Facebook Melungeon group if I was “white presenting.” So…I did. That was painful, so I just went ahead and left alllll the groups. I thought, “Ok, this is what Black folks or Black presenting Melungeons have put up with for centuries. Suck it up.” But it is…sad to me. And a lot of people go into attack mode on this topic. Which I’ve for sure seen in the comments on this channel. FTR, I grew up hearing I had Shawnee blood. Not according to Ancestry or GED Match. 😀 I have African ancestry. (Nigeria, Benin, Togo). Thank you for the work you do on this channel, and for the flack you take. Blessings. PS - I definitely believe in genetic memory, now. 😃
I feel like a big piece of my cultural and personal history was stolen from me when part of my family chose to pass. Recently, I was asked to leave a Facebook Melungeon group if I was “white presenting.” So…I did. That was painful, so I just went ahead and left alllll the groups. I thought, “Ok, this is what Black folks or Black presenting Melungeons have put up with for centuries. Suck it up.” But it is…sad to me. And a lot of people go into attack mode on this topic. Which I’ve for sure seen in the comments on this channel. FTR, I grew up hearing I had Shawnee blood. Not according to Ancestry or GED Match. 😀 I have African ancestry. (Nigeria, Benin, Togo). Thank you for the work you do on this channel, and for the flack you take. Blessings. PS - I definitely believe in genetic memory, now. 😃
The death traditions and healing traditions with herbs she described are West African. We have something similar in Cuba in my Afro Cuban Yoruba tradition. In Latin America and the Caribbean much of what existed in Africa is luckily in tact. Proverbs, detailed healing remedies, and much more is still passed down. The gumbo she discussed in Africa is called "ochiniwa gumbo" , the word for stew with okra in it. From Sierra Leone West Africa..
I didn't know anything about Melungeons until I started watching your videos. An elderly relative expressed his disappointment that our family's traditions regarding the deceased were no longer being used. He mentioned the covering of the mirrors and the clocks. I wasn't aware that was done. It was also a tradition for family to hold a all night prayer vigil . The women would cut their hair based on the moon chart. My father and other relatives planted seeds based on the Farmer's Almanac. I'm not sure if that is similar to the Man of signs chart. I have family members who have the physical characteristics of the Melungeons and same last names. I will have to dive deeper into my family's history. Thank you for these videos and for sharing what you are learning ❤
Wow this is great! Keep me posted what you uncover
The things you mentioned aren't at all specific to so-called Melungeon people. These were simply common practices in the South back in the day. Tbh there doesn't seem to be any real "Melungeon" control identity and that makes sense give them the fact that this word simply derives from a French word that just meant mixed.
@@13579hee that may be true. I am interested in the connection also because of the areas mentioned and the last names.
@@sunshinegirl1655 Yeah.. And there's the reason why all of these people have European last names... Their people who are of mixed descent, largely mixed with black and white. It's just, given the overt anti blackness, many mixed race people took the opportunity to move as far away from blackness as possible. Choosing to only socialize with and procreate with other mixed race or non-black people. And when policies were put in place to crack down on people who had black genetic ancestry, whether mix or not, a lot of these people who were either technically half black or part black started to lie and say that they were some romantic mix of native indigenous and white or that they had some foreign exotic European or native indigenous ancestry and all of that muddy's the water even more.
Put all of that having been sad, the point I was trying to make about the culture thing is this... This word used to classify these people which use solely to refer to a specific aesthetic of people within the Appalachian region. This did not mean that these individual people share any specific customs and traditions or that they created customs and traditions out of their lived experiences that were 100% unique to them. I think because the word Melungeon is being used to classify a group of people People perceive it as a real ethnic / ethnolinguistic marker in a way that it isn't. There doesn't seem to be much evidence to prove that these people have their own unique specific cultural identity like say, the Creole of Louisiana
@@13579hee thank you for your reply
This is the best video I've ever seen on Melungeons. Thank you so much for this authentic representation. This means so much to me.
This comment makes my heart so happy. I am so grateful that you connected us. I really feel honored that you and Georgia have trusted me with your family stories. It is truly the ultimate honor. This was one of my favorite video conversations I have ever had.
it's such an honor to know and love georgia. i am so proud of the work she is doing and the woman she is! i moved close to her so that we could raise our children together with melungeon traditions and its the best decision i ever made ❤
Thank you so much for bringing Georgia on. I do admit it's a touch disconcerting hearing someone who doesn't have the Appalachian accent talking about things that I grew up with, like talking the fire out of a burn and planting by the signs. I wish when all my grandparents were here that I'd have listened and learned more. I didn't find out about there being a Melungeon connection on my mom's side until I was older and doing family tree research and going on ancestry. There have always been things mom wouldn't talk about from her family and I think that part of it was during the time she was growing up and the area she grew up in at that time, it was not okay to be different. I didn't have kids myself, but, I have a bonus daughter and grands from my husband. A lot of the plant medicine and such got lost because of modern medicine and moving to the city and not having access to the plants and things from back in the hollers.
Most Appalachians that have migrated out were forced to lose the accent. I had many years of abusive speech therapy in order to get me to talk "right".
@@Localhollerhaint I know about that and it makes me sick. Those of us who stayed, but wanted to be taken seriously learned to code switch. I'm proud of my Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee roots and anyone who doesn't like it can kiss my country ass. Besides, it's fun to mess with people who automatically think that Southern accent = ignorant. Love seeing the look on their face when they realize I've got quite a well rounded vocabulary and am a voracious learner.
My great grandma was Melungeon but she pronounced it different she was a sharecropper, and her grandmother was a newly freed slave when she married a native man, my family last name is satterthwaite from North Carolina, I know a lot of people with the Melungeon last names you mentioned
It really blows my mind when people say black people in America have no culture because most of us have such a complex story and almost always have admixture of other races mainly European but sometimes native there were even a small number of Chinese men marrying black women in the late 1800's until the 1920s due to laws in the West forbidding Chinese men from marrying white women and the ban on further Asian immigration.
@@thewordsmith5440 this is you romanticizing mixedness and assuming that mixedness gives people a "culture" when that isn't how culture works.
Melungeon isn't a cultural identity. It's just a word that meant mixed person
@@13579hee because no one wants to embrace indigenous culture. People assimilate and take on the traditions of the colonizers. When someone embraces the culture that they are born into, who is an outsider to critique or criticize a culture they know nothing about.
My grandmother was from Roper, NC. Satterwaite is a name around that area. Lots of very interesting mixtures of people in that area.
@13579hee being mixed doesn’t mean you have a culture…but a lineage of people who come from a specific region and share the same cultural history definitely can create their own culture. Their culture and specific linguistic modifiers are going to take from all of their combined ethnicities. After that, more unique modifications are made to the culture as this specific group experiences events that are exclusive to their group. It’s kind of how cultures evolve…
the entire Roman Empire was created this way. The first Romans were a mix of Latium villagers and other tribes who were displaced due to the invasion of the Etruscans…these people created a culture, language, etc based on their unique shared history.
You can look at him. Every Black family has someone likes that in the tree
💯💯💯💯💯
OmG! I got a great uncle who looks like him! 💚💯💚💯💚💯
HE'S NOT BLACK PEOPLE AFRICANS ALL AFRICANS AIN'T KIN THEY LOOK LIKE HIM NONE OF THEM DO.
Her grandfather was good looking regardless of his racial background IMO.
I just found your channel. I was adopted from Harlan, Ky at birth. It wasn’t until I submitted dna to every genealogy testing site possible that I learned about Melungeons. My dna kept coming back with sub-Saharan African, and there was no way to place where that line was coming from. As a child, my mother that adopted me was frequently asked if I was Israeli, my mom worked in a Jewish nursing home in Chicago. My features are very distinct and I found out who my birth mother was and I definitely didn’t look like her, her family, or her sons. They are all blonde with blue eyes, and actually exceptionally tall. My biological brothers are 6’7 and 6’3, my birth mother is 5’11. I’m 5’5. I was born with black curly hair with black eyes that changed to dark brown as I aged, I have light olive skin but I’m covered in freckles. I still have very dark almost black hair that is wavy. My nose is very distinct and my eye shape is almond. I couldn’t figure out why I looked like I do, but no one on my maternal line looked like me. After years of research, I found out I am Scots-Irish, sub-Saharan African, a very small percentage of Asian, very small percentage of Native American, and a small percentage linked to the Middle East. Through genealogy groups, I was able to pinpoint surnames from my dna matches that were Melungeon lines. I’m still trying to learn more and feel very lost on all of it, but I appreciate you covering this topic!!
❤
I know it’s totally off topic but your curls are so beautiful!
I have done research on the Mulengon culture and it's my personal opinion that this label was created so folks could erase their African ancestry.
Why would they want to denounce the mother land? All black people are not African. Africa is beautiful. But we as Americans have our own culture and roots. We can trace our lineage. African American is a new term that was created to take away the identity of indigenous black Americans. It's really not even a logical argument. It's propaganda.❤
Why would someone do that?
There are Black indigenous people all over the world including America.
@@ms.branch1207 BLACK PEOPLE INDIGENOUS TO AFRICAN NOT AMERICAN THEY COME FROM ALL OVER EVERBODY AIN'T BLACK AND THEY LOOK IT EITHER!
They didn't do it to themselves, white people in power have always separated indigenous people by the shade of skin and textureof their hair into separate so called racial groups so they could on paper lower our numbers and divide us so we would be more easily conquered and controlled.
And it's absolutely true that we were already here.
They just claim we are from Africa so that we lose our claim to our homeland.@@ms.branch1207
It’s crazy honestly cause me being from a Puerto Rican, Mexican and Cuban family, I have quite a few siblings that look just like her grandpa, it’s funny actually cause he honestly kinda looks like me in real life,( my profile pic on RUclips isn’t actually me that’s a character from a game ) if I saw him on the street I’d honestly assume he’s Caribbean. Honestly, Melungeons and Caribbeans seem to have pretty similar DNA interestingly, almost exactly the same; with West African, Spaniard, Portuguese, Indigenous American Ancestry etc. That’s pretty cool alright. 💯👍🏾👍🏾
Some say that they were Guanche slaves who came from the Canary Islands with the Spanish and then mixed with native Indians.
The Guanche people are related to Berbers who live in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, but without black admixture.
The Spanish invaded the Canary Islands and brought some Guanche to Puerto Rico, Cuba, and probably the coastal plains of the United States.
Some were not Portuguese, Portuguese was often used to justify their dark skin tone and dark hair and hide their native and black ancestry. They said black and indians couldn't attend the schools so they said we're Portuguese so they started saying no portuguese.
These people are just mixed. That's why...... Mixed people are gonna have a mixed look
@@synaestesia-bg3ewthese people are just mixed 😊
@@jasminepearls1047exactly. Most DNA test have shown that these people were just mixed race people who were largely a mix of Black and White
Hi Danielle, I didn't know what Melungeon was until me and my family received a genealogy book which talks about my great-grandma paternal grandfather side of the family which details him and his family being melungeon, and tracing back to Colonial America.
Yes, Colonial America is a huge part of this! My Melungeon line started in Virginia. Id love to hear more about that book, what a treasure
@@nytnHey cool! The book is called Thomas the Melungeon by Gigi Best (Who is my Great-Great-Great Grandfather)
@@nytnFamilysearch Labs has Virginia records now. Do you know what that is?
"Limited data is currently available. You are browsing US Land and Probate Records, Mexico Notary Records, Australia Land and Probate Records, New Zealand Land and Probate Records, and US Plantation Records."
Thank you!!
My family descends, it appears, from the historic Lumbee (pre-1910 Census/pre-indigenous naming/pre-indigenous roll) out of Robeson County, NC and is related to the Oxendine, Locklear, Chavis, Goens/Gowens/Goins, Dial, etc. Lumbee families. Those families are related to my Free People of Color-descended relatives on the other side of my family who resided in New Bern and Carteret, NC. Some of those surnames are Carter, Freeman, George, Godette, and Deadwyler. All of these families appear to have migrated to NC/SC from Virginia. They are also connected to the Melungeon families and other Free People of Color families who resided in Halifax, NC. All of these families appear to be connected - same surnames, same cultural patterns. Surnames like Nickens, Gowens are FPOC surnames in Maryland/Northern VA as well. Nickens is a well-known FPOC surname in MD/NOVA. Shoemake/Shoemaker, Harmon, etc. are also well-known FPOC surnames in NC. It appears all of these families came from VA, are connected, and migrated to other places during the colonial and post-colonial period embracing evolved/new identities in an era of oppression. It's fascinating, and I'm enjoying the journey of discovery. Well-known FPOC researcher Paul Heinegg is also a great resource on this topic.
This comment is so insightful. Thank you for the information!
Yall keep doing what you're doing. You're helping people with their background. We are not put in a box like they want us!
What a great guest Georgia was! We need more people like her in the world!
Danielle just wanted to say thank you for all that you do!! All my life and throughout school people always asked me what I was, if I was part Asian/part west Asian/middle eastern etc and I never knew exactly what my family story was so I didn’t have a concrete answer. Digging into my family history now has helped me to understand why I might have inherited some of the features I have and also to understand what my Melungeon ancestors probably went through.
I’m mostly Irish Scottish and German with small amounts of South Asian, Native American, middle eastern and small amount of African DNA and me and my family have lived smack dab in the middle of the Appalachian mountains in WNC. Thank you so much for your videos they have really helped me to better understand so many different aspects of genealogy!
I know that feeling. I was always asked 'what are you'...which is kind of a bummer especially if you have no "satisfactory" answer. People always telling me I HAVE to be X.
Keep me posted on your family journey, Id love to know what you find. and make sure you check out Georgia's FB page! facebook.com/MelungeonFolklore
Oh my goodness, you and I have almost identical dna makeup. I mean identical. I was adopted from Harlan, KY. You are the first person i e seen to also see the South Asian percentage and middle eastern.
@@jamiesunderland5208 that’s freaking awesome! Yea I don’t see many Europeans with south Asian dna. 23andme gave me 46 Irish/Scottish/welsh/British, 43% German, 5% Scandinavian, 2% indigenous and 2% Spanish/portuguese, close to 1% South Asian and 0.7% West Asian/North African then a tiny amount of sub Saharan African
@@nytn thank you! And I will keep you updated. It’s so difficult because some records are conflicting! I just saw an ancestor of mine on ancestry that was listed as white on one record and black on another so it can get very confusing lol. I’ve also found some ancestors that had very specific ethnic names that they changed to become more anglicized. Also one of my ancestors named one of their kids “Mexico” which I find very interesting.
I have an interview coming out about hispanic/Mexican hidden indigenous roots. It's a great interview with a guy who is reconnecting as well. I think you will resonate with it! That name "Mexico" , that's pretty good 😂.
If you have any surname Goins family members your most likely connected to the Melungeon community. I traced one of my family lines to Shadrack Goins in Grainger Tennesse, they were a melungeon community who considered themselves Portuguese and Indian. They would be considered black today.
Hi there NYTN. This doesn't concern this video directly, but I found a hidden possible community, that would make a great story for you below:
Boon County, Watauga County, North Carolina.
The oldest African American community in the Appalachian. I found out it's 86 miles away from my mother's side of the family in Winston Salem North Carolina. may be a Malungeon connection here. Theres a straight road between the two.
I am blond hair , green eyes and white skin. My family are all from the south and both parents are part native American and my father is part black. My father's family was dark and my mother was very light but some of her siblings were dark.
It's important to teach your kids about their roots, but it's also important to teach your kids that their country is America, and important for them, for their country to stay tolerant
Thank you for your work and this content! My family is melungeon from TN and we trace our family back to the 1700s. I love the exposure on this people group who are deeply part of the American story and heritage.
I always feel left out of this. My Grandma is a citizen of the Muscogee Creek in Oklahoma, through her dad, she had a white mother and her birth certificate says Creek Indian on it. That's about as definitive as it gets, yet I feel like a lot of people will still say I don't deserve to consider myself Muscogee because I pass as white, even though my grandma and great-grandpa would certainly not.
I met a lovely young woman once and others assumed she was Caucasian. She was in fact a Native American and quickly corrected them. They were suddenly in awe and she was unique and interesting. It made me happy to live in a time where we want to know one another and their story.
🟢Watch AD FREE on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN
▶ on X, twitter.com/ImFindingLola
🟢Sign up for the e-mail list here! nytonashville.com/connect
🟢Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal
▶Download the first section FREE of my "Be a Good ancestor" course here:
nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos-bjks6
▶Get the full course to save your family history here:
nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos
5
My grandfather use to also heal folks that had been burned and it would remove the heat and heal the burn. We call it "Talking the Fire". My family hail from Danville, VA. It involved him praying over the person, but somehow the person never remembered what he was saying, just that it really worked!
That’s really cool! I’m so glad you shared it
Wow. I live 45 minutes from Danville. Never heard of this so thank you for sharing!
Wow I live in Danville. Thanks for sharing!
@@T_MONAY Our family are the Stranges
Until very recently I didn't know that I could have Melungon blood. Then I saw the names Chavez/ Chaves, Harris, Ellis/Ellison. All those are name that appear in my pedigree.
Blonde hair, blue eyes, hair, green eyes are also not unusual in my extended family.
I myself am black, my husband is Italian my daughter is black, my son is white on official papers. There is a story behind my son's official racial designation.
Don't sleep with your feet facing the road, that's how the dead rest.
I'm a melungeon watch the movie Big stone gape, that's where I am from. We are a mix a many races and ppl used to treat us wrong but in the state of Virginia we cannot be known as melungeon because of Jim Crow laws that still exist in Tennessee they can be known on their birth certificates as a melungeon
Watch the movie Big stone gape they show us somewhat but it's a real thing
As already mentioned in comments, « melungeon » comes from the French verb « mélanger » which means « to mix » or « to blend », more precisely its first-person plural, infinitive or imperative moods : « mélangeons », meaning « we blend » or « let’s blend ».
Melange is mixed in French but only in reference to food . Mètis is French and means mixed in reference to blended cultures
Yes, and so proud of it now that I’ve found out. My dad would probably be upset to find out on the other hand.
I feel the same way, I am proud, but I know some of the older generations might not feel that way
This is so exciting to me! I randomly learned about Melungeons last year while getting into the rabbit hole of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania & West Virginia. I came across the term and photos and was blown away! Why haven’t we heard/learned this more?
Now this year you’re doing THIS?! I love you and your channel so much Danielle!! My sister’s name too 🥰 We are kindred spirits haha
Oh Im so glad you are connecting!! I have a few videos on Melungeons and hope to do more in the future :)
Thank you for sharing.
I've discovered that my grandmother practiced so many of the things you were discussing.
Through doing the family tree, and looking at our DNA, I understand her so much now.
So much was lost and hidden, so they could survive.
But those of us who are descendants must keep the stories, and practices alive.
I’ve honestly never heard of Melungeon people before until now, so I just did my own little research on Google. How I see it is like Melungeons are like the Creoles of the northern United States.
Well, if you consider Virginia the north. A lot of the families married originally in VA then moved out to the Carolinas, then KY and TN, then on to other states.
Good analogy!
Covering mirrors, Old Christmas or Little Christmas and Decoratio n Day. These are all very familiar to me. Be yourself and don't change for anyone.
I find your videos very interesting and informative. At nearly 64 I had never heard the word Melungeon until I listened to you. Like many, I have heard about a mysterious Indian princess on my maternal grandmothers side but all roads to discovery have hit a dead end. Or rather, to the time without birth certificates.
I actually found an ancestor's name. She was a young NA woman who married a European man. I am in the process of verifying the information now and I am really curious now with this.
Thank you for the most fascinating conversations!!!
Love your channel. You should read about the Ramapo mountain people. They're trying to gain tribal recognition.
This is my favorite so far. Thank you.
So glad!
Thank goodness there is attention on this!!! Proud Melungeon descendent here from Floyd County Ky!! Gibson and Fultz are my Melungeon connections while Terry, Riley, and Jordan are my Indigenous connections . All are reflected on my DNA tests as well. And if they weren’t than I would still say F off 😂 most of family always claimed it and never once bragged or lied because it was well documented in our Fmaily bibles
Taking out the body of the deceased feet first, is self understood, here in Serbia. I guess it's an ancient custom that survived in various pockets of the world.
She's so knowledgeable about this culture and so willing to share it. I love giving and welcoming people. Fascinating discussion as always. Thank you Danielle for uploading and sharing this with the world it's an important apart of our American history that most people are not aware of. Let's talk about these things.
I've known many elders that would also speak the heat out of burns, i wished i would have leaned it from my grandmother
Same. My grandmother was a melungeon “nurse,” which was called a witch. She spoke the heat out of burns and stopped bleeding and delivered babies. I miss her so much
Thank you so much. This discussion seems to have nailed my ancestry.
I'm in the same boat. I've really been struggling with which race box to check. Like 3% does not count anymore. Yet, I've lived the life. I'm had the grandmother whom was 12.5%. etc. And for me this checked all the boxes, and explains some of my grandmothers conversations (birth mother's mother). What really confuses me, and throws me, is that my grandmother talked about family secrets (lol). What you are missing, the disconnect, is when you pass, then you can be the victim of racism from your own family. So, in my grandmothers experience, she felt discrimination from her sisters, so, she left for the North, where there was more tolerance, and less questions. So, that's how the culture is lost.
Well, now, this explains a lot. My gg grandmother on my dad's side was a Cox who married a Knight in Mississippi. The Free State of Jones people. It all makes a special kind of sense. Thank you for working on uncovering our families hidden past. ps...we eat melungeon food too.
The other thing about DNA and indigenous ancestry is that the test result only show what they have in their database and they can register with reasonable accuracy. So just because the test doesn’t show your heritage it doesn’t mean your heritage isn’t real. My grandmother is Lokono Arawak from Guyana. Along with mixed race heritage being shameful the ability of her people to have access to DNA testing is so limited.
My granny was a Gibson, but have had a hard time finding info on her parents. Makes sense! Ty for sharing
Surprisingly I have family with a Melungeon surname,but I discovered I'm related to Attakullakulla or Chief Little Carpenter,and I found out I'm actually Related to the Beloved Man Jerry Wolfe! Yet when I did a DNA test,I fell into the East Asian/ Native American Category! I found out I'm about slightly over 1/16th!
That is a great way to feed your family if you are poor. My grandmother was Italian but she did similar things with the food she had.
We have the information within us its not lost, we are just keep busy. Keep us posted when you do family traditions please. They help each of us remember❤
Good evening, had to catch this one late, glad I subscribed!!!!!😊
Very intresting, the funeral ceramony that she explained it's very close to what many southern europeans do in there tradition. We are very close more then you think.
Same for East Europe
Not surprised at all. Melungeons were an isolated tri-racial group of people, who incorporated an assortment of practices from all of their backgrounds, hence an interesting medley of cultural traditions. On the contrary, the Melungeons were practicing Christianity when they were first discovered by European explorers.
Wow this is cool. My ggma side were Hardys and ggpa were Collins from MS and then moved to St. Louis, Mo. and I did hear the Cherokee and Irish references. Need to do a dna test and trace the whole family. They had 14 living children and all the children’s features were different from red hair to long straight hair to curly and complexions. A lot of mixed DNA somewhere.
About the traditions. Covering mirrors was old habit documented at least since 1600 Swden and Finland, probably all over Europe and jewish apparently still do it. So it has actually been very common till 1900.
Fascinating discussion, Thanks Danielle and guest
Do you have any information on how to find out if your family is Melungeon. There are some similarities in my family.
My grampas family was what they called melungeon. From Kentucky. Wasn't allowed to live in town. Dna test in his 90's- he was Palestinian, Greek, Italian and Scandinavian. Tan skin and coarse curly hair
The shifting DNA groups for mixed people is pretty funny. I went from being 60% native 30% British isles and small percentages of various African tribes to 40% native 25% British isles to 10% west African and now some Spanish, Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Portuguese.
😂🤣
My irish and Mexican go from being really high to almost non existent. 😂
@@nytn I have always been surprised by the lack of Spanish and Portuguese DNA. Especially since my family was outspoken about being Mexican. Lol
@@etruscancivilization Ew
That's because they are estimates and their data changes. That's why you should test with several companies if you have mixed heritage.
@pete6300 Patti Jinich (Patties Mexican Table show) is Mexican born and her ancestors are Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. Mexican is not an ethnicity its a Nationality.
It can mean different things. The multi racial heritage can be different races, depending.
Example: Caucasian, Jewish, Native American, African... and even Arab.
Wow... this is really insightful. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you honesty.. I am looking at my family tree with a new perspective. Thank you..
Decoration Day is Black American anyone can look that up.
I'm friklin' MELUNGEON?!
This is not even a term I heard growing up, but my family is ALL OVER this video!
In the Pee DEE pocket, I saw Both my (patrilineal) tribe "Winyah", ( *very proud*, very dark-skinned, un-"redbone"-like), to which I have traced to the chieftain line, (but I believe is pre-Columbian, as the Spanish began enslaving us in the 1520s)..
And also listed, is my wife's tribe (Croatan).
In the other list are practically THREE of my (matrilineal) surnames, the primary "Harris", which has been traced to the chieftain family of the Catawba tribe.
At the bottom, are listed the South Carolina county where I grew up, (Sumter) the County of my father's people (Williamsburg), my mother's ancestral people (Lancaster), and the county where I currently reside (Kershaw)!
What is extra crazy, is from my native North American DNA, South American (Olmec/Inca),African/Israelite/Judean/Levite, and Even the European DNA, all seem to go back to ROYAL (or priestly) LINES,...(The European line even claims that Thor and Loki are my uncles, as I am allegedly *Son of Odin"!
(Meanwhile, learning that much of the European Royal history is far " BLACKER" than they would like for us to believe!)
I say this, because, my bloodline has got me thinking that the Royal bloodlines were blended intentionally, not just Euro-continentally, but perhaps even GLOBALLY!!
It's also interesting that you mention the Filipino DNA, because I got the same Filipino/South China Sea hit in my DNA profile as well, but have not documented a viable historical papee-trail to follow on that one! (*good luck, right!)
They have *disappeared so many of us "ON PAPER"!!!
VERY INTRIGUING INFORMATION!
❤
✊🏾
The Great, Great Awakening Continues....
Stay strong, Beloveds!
Be Love.
-Watchman Winyahudah Adéwalé Amaru
This makes me so happy! I hope you can find out more about you r family, keep me posted
Olmec aren’t from South America and they aren’t related to the Inca at all. And Native Americans aren’t black. Why are you so ashamed of being black that you steal other cultures?
Omg, I grew up in West Virginia coal camps and this tracks. I could not believe that I descended from all these kings across Europe. If you descend from one royal, you will descend from a bunch because they married other royals from other countries
Winyah is one of the names that crops up in my tree a lot. I’m Melungeon, too. I bet we are related. ❤️
@@terrakengoHEY CUZ!!!
(BjørnBaldr-Odinson here!) I'll definitely keep you posted! It's almost like I'm learning something new every day at this point!
I had already figured out pretty quick that my best friend was Melungeon, as his mom's side is Goins, and from a phenotypical aspect, ain't no concealing that Melungeon!😂
Before seeing this video, I told him that we might be related, because I kept seeing Goins pop up, from a regional aspect, whilst researching the native Winyah patrilineal side of my family.
🤔 🤔 🤔 🧐@@nytn
I was able to look up Decoration Day & Little Christmas, but what the heck is the Fire Circle thing?
My MGM kept the family pics hidden and later detroyed b/c she said people would discriminate d/t them being "indian", but many looked african. 3 grandparents came from Harlan CO. KY and Lee CO VA. What it means is we have no subculture, or traditions. I got an F in school on a project that we were supposed to identify our country of origin, b/c my mother refused to give that information. She did admit to our ancestors origin before she died. In my 70's now and identify much of what is discussed from my early childhood in Claibourne CO TN.. One thing have not been able to find is the tribe of origin for Jesse Brock who settled in Harlan CO KY. He stated he was 3/4 indian, but the Cherokee, state he was not one of theirs.
🎯🎯🎯🎯Great discussion (a lot of extended family from the Appalachian region).
I know this is not most Melungean Peoples, I came across a few Melungean People online who were having some sort of identity crises of their origins, they said they were the First Cherokees and they look White American. These People often hated on the three Cherokee Tribes as if they were jealous of the Cherokee being Indigenous and having ancient history in the Americas. People who are part of these modern day ethnic groups should just realize they are from a mixed race and multicultural background - there is no ancient origins of these groups, they came about during early American mingling and cultural appropriation, which is fine.
it is being MGM- Multi generational mixed! Im happy with that myself, but i know not everyone wants that.😂
@@nytn Fore sure, as with over 100 million Americans too, lol. I think it's ok for a mixed American person to celebrate all their ancestral origins, it's healthy and helps one understand their family, their community and early American life, like you do. But for those out their from any of a modern day ethnic/mult-cultural group who gatekeep and claim to be the true origin of a Indigenous America or other ancient group, should stay away from these believes, it will cause a lot of problems.
I loved how Georgia talked about that in this video. She must be running into a lot of disappointed folks haha
My grandma tried really hard to keep it a secret from us, that we are Cherokee and possibly melungeon too
Yes, such a sad familiar story
Yes my grandmother did too
A Melungeon in Italy is an eggplant.Blackskin on the outside ,light white geenish on the inside.The taste is bittter so you have to salt and let sit till the moisture comes out, then you rinse,bread the slices and sauté in olive oil.Delicious!
What the gal is explaining is the way I grew up and I can tell you it sounds like peasant Italian culture.We ate dandelions ,tripe soup,gizzards and so forth.
Melungeon is not a nation nor a race... it was created as part of the caste austen
System... the real confusion was to change who black Americans were... Black Americans are the Indians that lost our land, and that why all this confusion is what it is
That's the part she's missing, for sure.
So... are the slave ships a made up story?
Such a great video with lots of information. I especially liked seeing the written information. I am not only related to the author Jack Goins (4:29) but also Ted and Ned Sizemore (5:21) and All George Sizemore. That is a very interesting line. Old Ted was hung during the revolution for being a Tory (loyal to the British crown). One of my Great Aunts was married to "Wild Bill" Sizemore of Rogersville, TN. He killed many Civil War soldiers, but not on the field. It started what was like a Hatfield and McCoy family fued. His cousin ended up shooting him in front of the court house. He was so hated in the town it took over an hour for his wife to get any help moving his body.
oh my gosh what a story
Thank you. I just learned something today. Appreciate this video.
Do a lot of Melungeon Peoples think of themselves as a modern day ethnic and/or multicultural group?
The moon astrology of some Melungeon must be from a Ancient European European Pagan Culture that a few People brought over from Europe during the early migration era of the USA, no?
I suspect nearly everyone carried out corpses feet first. Also I guess because the young lady grew up in the North, cornbread seems exotic, when just about anyone in the south or southwest eats cornbread. Corn is native to the US and so many tribes were moved west of the Mississippi. Still food from TN is a bit different.
Your grand dad was a handsome guy . Interesting Convo glad I tuned in
I’ll bet Mammie was what some call a kitchen witch. The name comes from plant and medical knowledge. These herbs to use in a poultice for a rash, those herbs in a tea help during childbirth, how to set broken bones and so on. Women who were healers for the community are as old as our species.
could you give sources for the surname lists you posted?
yes! and you can check out everything at her facebook page facebook.com/MelungeonFolklore
Which DNA test would you take to find out. Ancestry has lot of descendants from these rural American cities
I think any dna test would give you clues, but ancestry is great because of the family tree aspect.
First time I heard the word Melungon was when I started looking into Abraham Lincoln and the comics they made of him during his time.
This is very interesting!
Oh wow - this is so new to me thank you for explaining! ❤
I don’t know that that specifically notes a heritage.. I think it’s actually speaks more to the region of the Appalachian that they lived in.. It is a word that I have come across in researching My family history… In the section that was describing families in a particular area and what they were referred to…
I think my family from Richland's Virginia are mulungeon. We have some Goodman's in my family which is a Mulungeon name. My grandfather and my mother were very dark complexion, but my aunt took a DNA test and showed no African DNA so does that mean it's not possible?
My paternal great grandmother was Melungeon from Welch WVA
My mother in law said you wean a baby when the moon can't hold water or "when the signs go out of the feet" So, if the moon isn't in a phase you could draw a water line in the crescent, don't wean or potty train your child.
Thanks for sharing. I’d never heard of them before.
Intuitively I feel your ancestors would be proud of you !
My grandma always said to get your hair cut in a full moon
Sara Woods? My grandfather was a Woods. We only cut our hair on a full moon. My grandmother didn't even want us to trim without it being a full moon. My family is Gullah Geechee/Black Seminole/ Yamasse the ethnic group seems to have been called by different names at different periods of time
@@AshaBlack-wy3ol we had the story that my grandma's grandma was native but it hasn't shown in the DNA. Woods is my married name. My mom was a Burns my dad a Carey
@@sarawoods7874 My grandmother's mom was native I wish I asked more questions she was the youngest of 26 and born around 1912. I wish I had asked more questions.
Why did I say intentionally do this the last time I cut my hair, but NOBODY TOLD ME TO DO THAT!!?!!
Very curious.... very curious, indeed...
🤔 🤔 🧐
@@etruscancivilization only BOWL CUTS are permitted during half moon... 🌗🌓
😂🤣😂🤣😂🥲😁
Faith healer: Traiteur (in S Louisiana) 😊
Maybe one of the family members married a Filipino from St. Malo ,Louisiana in the 1700s . There was a small community of Filipino seamen that left the Spanish ships and started a colony there .
People still use Farmer's Almanac, but this is not something that is like astrology. It's basically weather prediction and my parents still use this. Based on the cover I thought it was some voodoo type of thing too when I was younger, but I think meteorologists were far more advanced than we assume back then. And if there is predicted an early winter? Of course you may butcher your pig or whatever early since you need to store it by a certain time.
I've always wondered if my dad's mother was Melungeon. None of the surnames are in my family tree, but she came from the Roanoke Rapids area of NC and she and her sisters don't look "white" although their brothers all look very white. Grandma and her sisters had kinky dark hair, almond shaped black eyes and a distinctive nose. I was told, and my research shows, that their paternal family are Scottish but came here from England in the 1700s.
ETA; the man of signs is posted on my aunt's fridge! This spooked me when Georgia showed it because I had no idea what it was on our fridge.
That’s crazy!
I know Roanoke rapids ! My ancestors are from Jackson Northampton county NC! Wow! I’m very honored to hear this..
And all my people look white😂
People are ALWAYS asking me what my nationality is. When I say I’m black they don’t believe me 😂
DNA analysis is the single best tool we have to determine true "Ancestry". Anyone can make up any family story, but no one can "make up" their DNA, which is why we use it in all Professional and Scientific settings. Every good "genealogist" knows to follow the "genes". It's right their in their title. ;) Thankfully, she's putting the "Black-Cherokee Princess" nonsense to rest. It's the oldest, worst, most disproven "meme" in all of AA "history".
Race is actually a good identifier for census if it wasn't there many African Americans wouldn't find their ancestors. Even writing the word M to denote mixed ancestry helps people find out their real history. This is even how white Americans found out that they had some black ancestry. Just look at finding your roots. The box should and think it does allow you to mark more than one box.
My grandmother would not plant when the signs were in the bowels. She said that the plants would not bear fruit.
This is great information!!
This was intresting people would be amazed how closely related we are in America.
Rootwork what people call hoodoo also involved herbalism. It wasn't just about magic spells but rather medicinal herbs.
I have green and grey eyed people too from NC🤷🏽♀️
I love this interview
I agree with a lot of the points this sister made. I do not wish to join any of the so-called federally recognized tribes due to the fact that the vast majority of the chiefs themselves have such a small amount of Indian blood per se. I did find American Indian ancestors on my tree but the vast majority of my ancestry is from Scotland, Ireland, England and a little from France (great grandfather was French Kreyol from St John the Baptist Parish Louisiana). My dad taught my siblings and I that we were part Kreyol and that his grandfather spoke Kreyol. I would love to reconnect to this part of my ancestry