Our Difference

Abstract

In the mountains of Eastern Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Western North Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, and Southeastern Ohio lived a mystery people commonly referred to as the Melungeons. When the first European settlers arrived in this region of the Appalachians in the 1790's they found tribes of Indians, but living outside of the Indian tribes they also found these dark skinned people who came to be known as Melungeons. The greatest concentration of Melungeons was in Hancock County, Tennessee. They were located high in Newman's ridge in the valleys parallel with the ridge along Blackwater Creek in the Blackwater Community, in Fisher Valley, as well as in Lee and Scott Counties of Virginia. In later years there was a migration of these people into Hardin County, Kentucky and later into the Carmel area of Southern Ohio. In order to understand the Melungeon people it was necessary to study not only where they resided last, but also to trace their migration and to examine the choice of places for migration. The migrations of Melungeons to Kentucky and Ohio occurred later, dating to the mid to late 1800's, so a closer study of Tennessee and Virginia migrations was necessary to discover who these people were and how they gained their status. These clans of the mountains have hidden themselves away from the general population in an effort to avoid discrimination due to their physical appearance and cultural differences. The Melungeons proved themselves to be a proud and independent people who existed by "hacking and grubbing out a habitation in the Appalachian wilderness... they asked of their surrounding neighbors only to be left alone, to live in peace. They received in return economic deprivation, intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination" (Price 5).