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The Drifters: A Christian Historical Novel About the Melungeon Shantyboat People

Resource ID: 3010

Type: book, fiction

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UPDATED: 6.29.2025
status: high-priority, to be worked

Melungeons, Culture

author:

Tonya Holmes Shook

editor:

n/a

publisher:

date:

2005

ISBN:

9780922993192

pages:

311

notes:

. . .

contents:

description:

Harriett Holmes was 15 and pregnant when in 1837 she boarded a Kentucky shantyboat that would become her home for the next decade. Life was difficult for many people during the 1800s, but it was especially so for Harriett’s family, because they were Melungeons, a mixed race with low social status. The Drifters follows Harriett and her family through the Trail of Tears, the Civil War and Texas cattle drives. Can a slave help Harriett and her family find solace, redemption and grace through God? This book explores that and other themes in a compelling story about a forgotten ethnic group in American history.

surnames:

Holmes

CMOS:

Tonya Holmes Shook. The Drifters: A Christian Historical Novel About the Melungeon Shanty Boat People. Spokane, WA: Marquette Books, 2005.

author-date:

Shook 2005

The Drifters: A Christian Historical Novel About the Melungeon Shantyboat People

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