08/07/2025
The Melungeon people are an ethnic group in the United States who are likely the descendants of people from many different races and backgrounds. They lived in the Appalachian Mountains, where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina meet. In these isolated mountain communities, they developed their own culture and formed their own unique customs and traditions by mixing parts of their different cultures.
A Melungeon family can have a range of traits from many different groups, including people from the Mediterranean, South Asia, the Middle East, northern Europe, Native American tribes, and African Americans. Each family can have its own unique background.
Take the Weaver family, for example, shown in the first slide. Their roots trace back to East Indian indentured servants brought to Virginia in the early 1700s. Over time, they intermarried with members of local Indigenous tribes, creating a unique cultural and ethnic heritage that reflects both South Asian and Indigenous American ancestry.
Because Melungeon people have such a diverse mix of backgrounds, there’s no single physical trait that identifies someone as Melungeon. Even within the same family, children can have very different skin tones—ranging from dark to olive to very pale—and may look like they come from completely different racial or ethnic groups.
Because of their mixed ancestry, the Melungeon people were historically viewed in America through a lens of suspicion, misunderstanding, and racial prejudice. They were not classified as white, which led to widespread discrimination and were often excluded from society.
