Walking Toward the Sunset
Mar 4, 2011
Walking Toward the Sunset
The Melungeons of Appalachia
Author: Wayne Winkler
Series Editor: N. Brent Kennedy
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Publication Date: 2005
ISBN: 978-0-865-548695
This is just one book in a series of 12 that Mercer University Press has published throughout the years about a very fascinating topic.
Melungeons - who they are, where they descended from, are they a separate race of people - have been hotly debated for well over 100 years now. The arguments started with equality of their rights in the beginning to the present where most just want to know where they came from.
The general belief about Melungeons is that they are a mix of white, African-American and Indian. But history goes deeper, from the lost colony of Roanoke, to slaves of all races brought over by the Spaniards to Portuguese pirates stranded during storms.
This series of books doesn't skim the surface - it digs down deep into letters, journals, personal histories, old photographs and yes, modern DNA testing.
The writing is not dry, the accounts lively and the author well informed. If you have always been interested in the Melungeon people, or have that ancestry yourself, this is a great series of books to start collecting.
Browse through the entire series HERE.
