The Deliveryman: An Ill-Fitting Tongue

The Deliveryman: An Ill-Fitting Tongue

Thursday, April 3, 2008
An Ill-Fitting Tongue

Today I attended a guest speaker seminar about radio and the internet and learned about Melungeons, an ethnic group of mixed-race people living in Appalachia. They are generally considered a tri-racial mix of European, African, and Native American descent, though hereditary lines vary from family to family. In his study, the researcher found that various Melungeon people living throughout the region and in diaspora had sort of found each other through the internet after a few of them had linked up while studying their genealogy. They have had several annual gatherings since.

This is an interesting group, certainly marginalized -- as the researcher put it, they were 'other' to the 'others,' spited even among the maligned Appalachian and Black populations. I realized as I looked them up this evening that I served my mission in a couple places with Melungeon populations. If I met any at the time, I wasn't aware of it.

[Continued on other topics]