Melungeons-arent who-they thought

DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy attempts to separate truth from oral tradition and wishful thinking. The study found the truth to be somewhat less exotic: Genetic evidence shows that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120526/NE...
Good Melungeon history with names:
http://www.jogg.info/72/files/Estes.htm

Ok, and your point is? I'm Melungeon on both sides of my family and I have blue eyes and very fair skin. However, I can assure you that my mom, dad, sister, brother, daughter, grandfathers, etc. do NOT look like they are citizens of Ethiopia, Cameroon, Somalia, Rwanda, or the Sierra Leone. Not all studies are correct. I belive the oral tradition that I was taught as a kid probably is more accurate than this bullshit.

I have friends among Melungeons,
And known some for quite a while;
And I've always had suspicions:
Been someone in their wood pile.

Everyone knew for a long time that melungeon's weren't indians they were half black. That is and was the stereotype.

As far as your oral tradition..in court DNA trumps eye witness testimony so get over it..you got a little boom boom in your blood..so what..your not portuguese or indian etc. Otherwise you aren't what they call melungeon to begin with.

Ive seen black and white mixed people. most of em have kinky hair some straight and have african characteristics. Mulengeons however dont have any characteristics of Blacks, they r more indian looking with thick black hair. I feel like some shmuck did the dna study

You people are idiots. What do you think sub-Saharan is? Get an atlas or a globe. I'm melungeon on BOTH sides of my family. Half on my dad's, quarter on my mom's and I'm a blue-eyed, blonde. There are NO pure families left anymore. We are all intermarried with people of other races and ethnicites.

The Portugese Embassy has some good materials on this subject. Check them out!

Black and Indian is what they are, with dabs of white here and there. Began when Spanish explorers with black slaves were stranded during an early winter. Spanish were basically allowing their slaves to starve due to limited food rations. Local Indians helped the blacks to survive and then helped hide some of the slaves when the explorers left the mountains in early spring. This is the most accepted local explanation in Hancock County.

Around 20+ years ago, I worked with a guy named Jarnigan who claimed to be a melungeon. At that time, he was one of the best looking middle aged men I had ever laid eyes on. I adored that guy.

toobad wrote:

Everyone knew for a long time that melungeon's weren't indians they were half black. That is and was the stereotype.
As far as your oral tradition..in court DNA trumps eye witness testimony so get over it..you got a little boom boom in your blood..so what..your not portuguese or indian etc. Otherwise you aren't what they call melungeon to begin with.

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So if a person had 7 Native American ancestors and one 'black' that means they 'weren't Indians'- seriously? If a person is half Indian and half white would you call him 'white'? Don't think so. There were no surprises here -- there was an article written over a hundred years ago called the FOUR BRANCHES OF THE MELUNGEONS -- the White, the Indian, the Portuguese and the African. A few intermixed with these African families, not all - there was prejudice even back in those days. You are right though - DNA trumps -- read the report -- 16 families were European - one was Indian and 5 were African. Four people wrote a report, none are geneticist and none are genealogists.