The Melungeons: The Pioneers of the Interior Southeastern United States 1526-1997

The heritage of the Melungeons, descendants of 16th century Spanish/Portuguese settlers in the Southeastern United States, embodies the struggle for existence of men, women and children who have clung for centuries to a precarious foothold in a climate of hate and intolerance. Their heritage left us a people who have spanned the gap of time in a humble yet relentless day-by-day mode of survival in that lonely place between the light and dark races. These people were the first European settlers of four of the original thirteen colonies - Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, predating the English at Jamestown, Virginia by seven decades and the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts by almost one century. Incredible as it may seem, more than fourteen generations later the blood of these early Spanish pioneers still flows in tens of thousands of their descendants.