For more than a century, the Melungeons have been the focus of
anthropologists, social scientists, and (especially) feature writers
for newspapers and magazines. The most common adjective used to
describe the Melungeons is “mysterious;” no one seems to know where
the Melungeons originated. More significantly, the Melungeons did
not fit into any of the racial categories which define an individual
or group within American society, they were considered by their
neighbors neither white, black, nor Indian.
The Melungeon sub-culture has contributed greatly to Appalachian
and American Culture in many ways. Now that DNA analysis is
establishing who Melungeons were/are, I feel induced to tell the
significant role that Melungeons served in creating and operating
the Underground Railroad Movement in the United States. The
Underground Railroad began during the early period of slavery, when
the first slave received help in his effort to escape from slavery.
Sometime between 1793 and 1815, the Underground Railroad became
organized and eventually helped thousands of fugitive slaves from
the South make their way to freedom in Canada and places outside the
jurisdiction of U.S. Fugitive Slave Laws.
"You will never find the truth about my mother's people,"
shrieked Elzina when we visited her in Huntsville shortly before her
death last year. My wife and I had both recently found out we were
Melungeon. Teresa wondered especially about her Rameys. So we paid a
visit to this formidable maiden aunt, keeper of skeletons and
reigning matriarch of the family, whom Teresa remembered from her
youth as invariably tight-lipped, scowling, always garbed in black
satin dresses and lace-up boots.
Mountain music in the hills of the Southeast United states has
always been a large part of the culture of the people who live
there. The biggest influence of course would have to be the
Scots~Irish, or Celtic music with the Verse Verse, Bridge, Bridge
style of playing and singing. It is the small variations on that
theme which can tell us about our ancestors and the musical stylings
they may have brought along with them. The Reels of course are from
the Celtic Connection.
Perhaps there never was an official royal class in North America,
but the Carter Family who had huge land holdings in Tide Water
Virginia were very close. The fortunes of the Carters in England
began when William, Duke of Normandy crossed the English Channel in
1066 to fight for the crown of England. Naturally William brought
his most loyal Norman knights with him, and among them was a clan of
knights known as Cartiers.
My name is Sulaimon Musalah Ali Muzari, I started a website
called P.R.O.U.D., standing for “People Recognizing Our Unique
Descendants.” This is a website about the mysterious
dark-skinned peoples of Appalachia, or as some know them the
Melungeons. In researching not only the facts but also philosophy of
our people, I came to understand that our origin could be found in
the Moorish people of Spain. Seeing this as the most plausible
explanation for the origin of the Melungeon people,
TURK GENEALOGY: Jean-Pierre TURQUE’s ancestry traces to a Martin
TURQUE, who was born in 1778 in Boeschope (Nord), France, on the Belgian
border.
Both Thomas Liebig TURK & Daryl TURK’s lineages trace to Northern
Ireland. The earliest known progenitor of their line is a Robert TURK,
born about 1690 in Dunager, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He migrated
through Boston about 1718 and had settled in Augusta Co., VA, by 1739,
where he died 17 Nov 1772.
Hundreds of years ago, there were tales of a tri-racial people
different from others. This tri-racial group of people was simply called
mysterious. In eighteenth century Virginia this mysterious group was
pushed and forced further west, higher up in the mountains as Scotch,
Irish, English and other settlers moved into the area where the
mysterious people had been living for centuries.Only one, yes, only one
word.One awful word, a dark word, a lonely word, a mysterious but a
powerful word continued over the centuries in confusion, derision but
pride.
American Indian Philosophy offers
Great Wisdom to modern human beings. It spotlights how we treat
God’s Creation, our Mother Earth, and how we treat each other. The
common sense example of Native Americans is that they treated the
environment in the greatest way possible, recognizing that we draw
our lives from this planet—it is foolish not to take care of it,
just as it is foolish not to take care of our own body. To American
Indians every tree and stone was alive, and Mother Earth was a
living entity in need of respect and protection—never to be abused
or misused.
There are 12 tribes of Jacob who is Israel. The tribe of Dan was
the fifth child born of Jacob. Each tribe had certain distinct
functions in the nation; Judah is the leader and good with hands
Deuteronomy 33:7, Genesis 49:10, Issachar knew the times to do
things! Chronicles 12:32, the Levites were priests, and so on. The
specialty of the Danites was the building of ships and commerce by
sea, Judges 5:17.
Grandma said her community used to be a segregated coal mining
camp before the civil rights movement. I don't remember those days,
when I went to school all people, no matter what color, went to the
same schools. Grandma said, "the white folks" would live in the
bottom row houses and the "colored folk" lived in the upper rows of
houses. The upper row houses were on the high steep hills. Each had
their own church and school, separate, one for the "white folk," one
for the "colored folk." Most of the African Americans left the
mining camp and moved elsewhere to find a living during the late
fifties and early sixties. The coal mining industry was slowing down
during this time, for air pollution was a problem in the urban
cities.
On October 11, 2003, Dr. Logoglu visited the people of Wise to
honor the growing friendship between Wise, Virginia and Cesme,
Turkey. The two cities, Cesme and Wise became sister cities in
mid-1995 through the successful program, Sister Cities
International.
Revised September 07, 2007