Melungeons and the Underground Railroad
By Henry Robert Burke
The Melungeon sub-culture has contributed greatly to
Appalachian and American Culture in many ways. Now that DNA
analysis is establishing who Melungeons were/are, I feel induced
to tell the significant role that Melungeons served in creating
and operating the Underground Railroad Movement in the United
States. The Underground Railroad began during the early period
of slavery, when the first slave received help in his effort to
escape from slavery. Sometime between 1793 and 1815, the
Underground Railroad became organized and eventually helped
thousands of fugitive slaves from the South make their way to
freedom in Canada and places outside the jurisdiction of U.S.
Fugitive Slave Laws. Dr. Brent Kennedy, a genuine
Melungeon and founder of the Melungeon Movement, eloquently
stated his pride in a statement issued at the completion of the
first DNA analysis, in which he furnished a blood sample for
testing. He said in effect that his DNA shows various
percentages European, Native American, Northern India (Gypsy)
and African genes. He feels that DNA analysis of other
Melungeons will show similar results. Dr. Kennedy concluded his
statement expressing his pride for being connected to all the
people of this World! Dr. Kennedy and all Melungeons should feel
proud of the contributions that their Melungeons ancestors have
made to the cause of freedom. During the Slavery Era, the
mobility of black people in the United States was very limited.
Laws were enacted not only to protect slave owners from loss or
their human property, but to prevent slave insurrections. While
there always a few free blacks, they were, for the most part
ineffectual in moving about freely. Black people could easily be
identified and restricted because of their dark skin and Negro
features. Across the entire United States, there were countless
local, state and/or federal laws that restricted the movements
and activities Negroes slave or free. This made it impossible
for blacks to travel long distances to establish and maintain
the crucial communications to operate the Underground Railroad.
Legalizing the enslavement of black people from Africa began in
Massachusetts in 1640 and in Virginia around 1661, but it took
until 1700 before Africans completely replaced indentured
servants as the main labor force on tobacco plantations in
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Many Gypsy people had
been purposely rounded up and arrested all over England other
parts of Europe, and transported to the English Colonies, many
ending up in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina to serve
indentures on tobacco plantations. Unlike white European
indentured servants, most Gypsies were assigned to the hard
grueling labor, that eventually became the work of slaves. While
some history of Gypsy people is very well documented, records of
the harsh treatment accorded them as indentured servants on the
tobacco plantations is not! The accounts are scanty and often
not well explained, but enough historical evidence exists to
verify that Gypsy indentured servants were often treated so bad,
they died before completing their term of indenture. Many
Melungeons look like well tanned white people. Typically
Melungeons are tall people with straight hair and European
features. There was one very important difference that
distinguished Melungeons from ordinary white people. Because of
the treatment they received as indentured servants and other
forms of social discrimination they had endured, Melungeons
hated slavery! When their terms of indenture were
completed, Melungeons moved out to live on the outward fringes
of the advancing frontier. These were places that naturally
attracted fugitive slaves. Melungeons, who were already
established on the frontier sympathized with fugitive slaves as
well as Indians. Melungeons could and did travel freely on the
American frontier. From experience they know routes that could
lead fugitive slaves to freedom. Melungeons felt compelled to
help fugitive slaves. After the American Revolutionary
War, western expansion began along and across the Ohio River.
Melungeons were already scattered across the mountainous regions
of western Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. They already had
experienced helping fugitive slaves. When the northern states
abolished slavery between 1777 and 1803 the Mason-Dixon Line
became the boundary between the Northern states where slavery
was illegal and the Southern States where slavery was legal.
In the North, white abolitionists joined Melungeons living north
of the Ohio River and organized the Underground Railroad, but
the Melungeon influence reached far back into slave states like
Virginia. The slave culture was so entrenched in the South that
it would have been practically impossible for fugitive slaves to
escape and make it to the Northern States without the help of
Melungeons. Melungeons in the North maintained
communications with their relatives in the South. Using this
line of communications, Melungeons in the South provided a
crucial service by passing fugitive slaves from one Underground
Railroad station to the next! Melungeons living in the
North along the Ohio River continued this activity but were
eventually joined by increasing numbers of free blacks and white
abolitionists. The Underground Railroad continued to gain
momentum right up until the American Civil War began. To cap off
their effort for freedom, many Melungeons joined the Union
Forces and fought in the Civil War. I encourage Melungeons
to examine your family histories closely. I am sure that you
will find ancestors who worked on the Underground Railroad! | 
