The mysterious Appalachian people known as the Melungeons will meet in Kingsport, Tennessee in June for their bi-annual gathering. Sixth Union will be held at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium Thursday – Saturday, June 8-10.
This free event is co-sponsored by the Melungeon Heritage Association and the Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau, and will feature numerous researchers, authors, and genealogists who are shedding new light on these once-reviled people. Anyone interested in this unique aspect of Appalachian history is encouraged to attend.
Speakers at this event will include David Arnett, former U. S. Consul to Turkey. Arnett is of Melungeon descent, and there is evidence suggesting that at least some Melungeons have Turkish and Middle Eastern ancestry. Mr. Arnett will discuss the perception on Melungeons within Turkey.
Bestselling author Lisa Alther will also speak at Sixth Union. Alther, a Kingsport native and a Melungeon descendant, will read excerpts from her upcoming book Washed in the Blood: The Search for My Melungeon Ancestors.
Other researchers and authors include Wayne Winkler (Walking Toward the Sunset: The Melungeons of Appalachia), Elizabeth Hirschmann (Melungeons: The Last Lost Tribe In America),: DruAnna Overbay (Windows on the Past), Jack Goins (Melungeons and other Pioneer Families), Eloy Gallegos (Melungeons: Pioneers of the Southeastern United States), Mattie Ruth Johnson (My Melungeon Heritage), Anthony Cavender (Southern Appalachian Folk Medicine), Katherine Vande Brake (How They Shine: Melungeon Characters in the Fiction of Appalachia) and many others.
The Melungeons are a group of mixed ethnic ancestry first documented in northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia in the early 19th century. Similar groups of “mysterious” people, or at least remnants of these groups, are found all along the Atlantic seaboard.
While these other groups have no definitely-established connection to the Melungeons, they have historically suffered similar problems due to the difficulty of placing them within an established racial category. Anthropologists called them “racial islands” or “tri-racial isolates.”
The Melungeons have historically been associated with the region along the Virginia-Tennessee border east of Cumberland Gap, with Newman’s Ridge in Hancock County, Tennessee, receiving most of the attention from journalists, although Melungeon communities were established as far away as Ohio and Arkansas.
Newspapers and magazines have found the Melungeons a fascinating topic since the 1840s, but the Melungeons have resented most of the publicity they have received over the years. Most of the articles on the Melungeons were disparaging and speculated on the legends, folklore, and theories surrounding their ancestry.
Interest in the Melungeons began to grow in the mid-1990s with the publication of The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People by Brent Kennedy, a Melungeon descendent.
Internet mail groups and website helped spread interest in the Melungeons, and the first Melungeon gathering was held in 1997 in Wise, Virginia. This gathering inspired the formation of the Melungeon Heritage Association, which sponsors bi-annual “Unions” as well as other events and educational programs.
Sixth Union will feature a wide range of speakers and topics; a list of presenters is available at the MHA website at www.melungeon.org. The Union will also feature genealogy workshops and “family chats,” where people can share genealogical information with others in their family lines and discover more about their own ancestry and heritage.
A social gathering is planned for the evening of Friday, June 9, providing an informal setting for attendees to get to know one another and to chat with the various presenters.
The Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau has arranged special rates at area motels and hotels for Sixth Union. You can find a list of these hotels and their rates, and information about Kingsport, including area attractions, at www.kcvb.org or 423.392.8820.
If you have any questions about the Union, contact Wayne Winkler at winklerw@etsu.edu or 423.439.6441.