Melungeons - Parse for American Roma, Gypsy; Other European, Moor, Native American, Black,

Origins of Melungeons

An Ethnic/Racial Mix.  Which?
Components of a Blend: Difficult to Parse

A Roma heritage may sometimes be claimed by others, who examine histories of population, but not necessarily conform to the oral tradition of some of a mixed group. Is that what has happened with a possible/probable connection of a group known as Melungeons; and a Gypsy or Roma branch within that group. Even a deep root. Whether from enslaved Roma brought to the South Carolina shores, or otherwise entering, even as early as with early explorers, as sailors; or other "undocumented immigrants" collected and dropped.

• Updates:  Melungeon origins by DNA --  South of Sahara African and then White roots 5.26.2912. Melungeon origins.  A DNA study in Tennessee shows connections within narrower sets of ethnic and racial roots:  merely black, south of the Sahara in Africa, and white. See http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120526/NEWS21/305260028/Melungeons-aren-t-who-they-thought

•  Update:  Melungeon Moorish origins 4.18.2011 -- See this site, Islamic in origin, tracing Islamic peoples to the Melungeons, see Moors -- Islamic Roots of Melungeons   Earlier here, we noted "Moors" as among the possible-probable components of the melange of Melungeons, and this site adds detail to the theory. For you to vet.  

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1.  Our start. We read "The Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd; and saw the film, and made connections at The Fodder Site, Mixed Origins, Clues to Religions, Cultures.

We saw a thread among various cultures in different scenes from the book and film: 

a) see the iconic painting of the Black Madonna in the book and film (if you know the story, this is the picture on the honey jars), and ask how it got to a slave-descended family.

b) see the Black carved female figure in the parlor, like an intermediary, a source of inspiration to women in kinds of bondage and suffering from "slavery days;"  and ask who that might be, what blend of African roots and other cultural intersections, reinforcing the principles,

c) see the slave-descendant culture, and slave culture more broadly - how many other groups were enslaved, not just Blacks, and that would have intermingled with other slave groups, including enslaved Gypsy or Roma; and other indentured servants. When freed, who joined up with whom, where did they go.

The American South was and is a complex geneological place. We see traces of other ethnic groups particularly in the dialect of the Old South, Uncle Remus Tales, Translations: Inland Slave Heritage.  Find there traces of the Portuguese in the words used, especially "palaver" that is Portuguese; think of all the Portuguese sailors landing in the south.

2.  We came across a name for one group of mixed heritage, the Melungeons. 

Now mostly in Appalachia, there is a group with a varied background, reflected in the name itself. The Melungeons are named perhaps after the Greek "melan" for Black; or the Portuguese "melungo" for shipmate;  or the Italian "melongeno" for eggplant; the Turkish "melun can" for accursed one; old English "melangin" for guile; or the French "melange" for mixture. See "The Malungean Heritage Association" at ://www.melungeon.org/node/4/. Their first documentation stems from southwern Virginia, bordering on Tennessee; also southern Ohio, parts of Kentucky. Groups like them, or vestiges, are also along the Atlantic Seaboard.

3.  Some find a Roma or Gypsy connection with the Melungeons. 

It is like a missing link, geneologically. How to explain the origins, the broad variation in characteristics, where they came from.  This Roma connection is explored by Linda Griggs in "Patrin," a Roma Journal. The article is "The Black Dutch, German Gypsies, or Chicanere, and Their Relation to the Melungeons," by Linda Griggs.  See ://www.geocities.com/~patrin/melungeon.htm/

With a landing point at the South Carolina coast for many enslaved Roma, see "The Never-Ending Road American Roma (Gypsies), Travellers and "Others," at ://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/, this makes sense. Start there, many end up in Appalachia.by Henry Burke at two sites --

a.  "Origins of the Appalachian-Melungeon Subculture: A More Plausible Explanation for the Origin of Melungeons." See ://www.coax.net/people/lwf/HRB_MEL.HTM/. and

b. "A Possible End to the Mystery of the Melungeons," at ://www.melungeons.com/articles/mysteryBurke.htm/ 

4.  Other accounts of origins, including some Melungeons themselves, and according to the Melungeon Heritage Society site, however, do not include Roma or Gypsy. 

They name Portuguese and Spanish sailors, Egyptian, India Indian, Native American, Turks, Moors, Jews, Blacks, other European and Middle East. Read the long list of names given to specific groups -  See also "A Brief Overview of the Melungeons" by Wayne Winkler at ://www.melungeon.org/node/4/.

"Dark-skinned, frustratingly European-looking" - and pushed off their purchased land, in an ethnic cleansing effort in Appalachia, see this Google Book, "The Melungeons, the Resurrection of a Proud People: The Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America, " by Robyn Vaughan Kennedy, at ://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=Jqhd3tVSJNkC&dq=melungeon&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=_G_P-73RUk&sig=pFnoL0eaXJIhbixjOvmOa8hfZKU&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result

But to us, outsiders, this Gypsy Roma possible connection adds to the Melungeon Heritage site, not detracts from it. See origins also at  Poland Road Ways, Black Madonna in American South.

The Roma culture is rich in talent and survival skills. Otherwise, they would be gone after a thousand years of persecution.

Do see "The Secret Life of Bees," see ://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416212/.

The book is by Sue Monk Kidd. As you look for possible Roma background, not dispositive but interesting,  see the talent at the stringed instrument, by the character, June Boatwright.  The drive for independence from men, of June and her sister, August Boatwright.  The heritage of the women managing the household, and the men coming and going if they liked, with cultural support for that role, and in many Roma-descended people, a gender ritual separation, that may not just be slavery-related.  It may not just be because men were sold off - it can be part of a larger heritage, and one that enabled survival of a persecuted people through that thousand years.

American Roma.  Shall we open our eyes that we may see.

Currently - Budapest, Hungary - Roma. Still Mainstream Rejects.

Vlach Rom

There is a long tradition of the Vlach Roma, a branch of those migrating from Romania, in Hungary, see ://www.everyculture.com/Europe/Vlach-Gypsies-of-Hungary.html/ Are Magyars related to, or the same as, early Roma? For Vlach culture as it exists in Greece and Romania, see Bogomilia: Vlachs, Nomads, Shepherds. See Bogomilia" Vlachs, Nomads, Shepherds, Roma Roots.

From the everyculture site: The "Vlach" is said to derive from the section of Romania, Wallachia, where they had once been enslaved. Others come from Moldavia, where they also were enslaved. And the term, "Gypsy" comes from the Hungarian, Cigany. "Rom" is used for Vlach gypsies. Other groups: "Boyash" gypsies speak Romanian, and "Romungro" gypsies speak Hungarian. The site offers extensive discussion of other aspects of Roma life in Hungary, history, settlements, economy, kinship, family, socio-politics, religious and expressive culture.

Hungary: New York Times 2/6/2008 - There has been a show of Romany art at Bucharest, at the National Gallery. "The exhibition was the latest nod to Europe's most despised, and this country's largest, minority." Article by Michael Kimmelman. A right-wing group, the Hungarian Guard, had been expected to interfere or demonstrate, but this did not happen. A good sign, but not enough to offset their proto-Nazi stridings, under the guise of "safeguarding national culture and traditions."

This sounds like the rationale for US movements afoot against undocumented immigrants - our country's new "gypsy" targets - need to control and reject for the sake of the national culture idea. Not the ethnicity, the reaction against.

The exhibit itself was, apparently, not a "good" one - disorganized, numbing even, says Mr. Kimmelman. But it had been relegated to "attic galleries" and not the glories of the ones on the main floors. When state industries closed, with the coming of democracy-type government in transition, the Roma were among the first to lose jobs. Roma are 6-10% of the population, but unemployment within that group is over 80%.

President of the Roma Parliament (nongovernmental rights group): Jeno Zsigo. Notes official indifference as resulting in loss of programs for children.

Journalist and Radio producer: Gyorgy Kerenyi. Began first Roma-run radio station, "Radio C'. Notes that the Western Europeans fear large migrations of Roma from Eastern Europe to the west.

Rankism: The self-declared somebodies against the nobodies. A global pandemic since The Beginning? See Look at this face and try not to be warmed: Aging in place Is a place to live, even if that is on the road; meaningful work, and social contact too much for a person to ask. Forced settlement. Government policy. The Pottery Barn Rule. You break it, you own it. Problem is, nobody will own up to this one.

Links

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