The Overlooked Peoples of America

America is a country of immigration, multiple cultures, and a conglomeration of races and ethnicities. An early example of this would be the formation of the Melungeon and Redbone people groups. In a time before the Declaration of Independence, the British brought over African slaves from West Africa, namely Ghana and Cameroon, to labor in their lands. These men and women were taken from their homelands by the millions and were expected to condemn the children they were forced to have to a horrible, merciless existence. Though sometimes black men and women had children with their white counterparts, this was something that was somewhat frowned upon as the government at that time did not know how to handle “unlawful” racial situations. Would the children be free, discriminated against, or made into slaves was the question that the government took upon themselves to decide. So, they came up with a cruel solution: if a child was born to a white mother, they would be freed no matter how black they looked, but if a child was born to a black mother, they would be slaves even if they were paler than the Queen of England. These mixed race people, called mulattoes during that period of time, were looked down upon by both peoples and consequently were forced to move West to avoid persecution. Since the British colonies were relatively new, what lied west was the land of the Native Americans, the original inhabitants of North America. They were portrayed to be ruthless and primitive to the “cultured” Europeans, but they gladly accepted the mulattoes that sought shelter and a home. 

Many adapted to the Amerindian culture and even married into Native American families. The children of these two groups were called the Melungeons, people that were generally half Amerindian, one fourth African, and one fourth European. They settled in the Appalachian region of present day U.S.A., married within their community, and separated themselves from the later wave of American nationalism. From here, two branches of people sprouted from this multicultural population: modern-day Melungeons and the Redbones. The more recent Melungeon race had more European admixture from the English that already settled in the well-known Eastern mountainous region of America, while the Redbones were the descendants of the original Melungeons and settled in what is now known as Texas and Louisiana. As one can see, even in the beginnings of the English colony, the United States of America was a greatly diverse country.