Melungeon/Cultural Diversity Workshop, Wise, VA- May 3, 1997
"OPINION Pg 8A
Friday, May 2, 1997
Kingsport (TN) Times-News
OUR VIEW
'Melungeons' story deserves to be told'
History buffs should mark Saturday on their calendars. That's when a tri-state conference will examine evolving cultural, genealogical and genetic research on Melungeons and how it might be incorporated into the teaching of this region's history.
That may sound a little too academic to some. But what's recognized and taught as history is not always based on pure fact. Some of it is driven by hero glorification, and there's a healthy dose of myth in the mix, too. But sometimes, new discoveries are made that add dimension and perspective to the facts.
That's what seems to be happening with the Melungeons.
At the risk of sounding like revisionists, the conference's sponsors plan to expose this aspect of New World cultural diversity to those who attend. Since most of the audience will be teachers, it follows that once they are up to speed on the research and theory, they could consider incorporating it into classroom instruction.
The Virginia and Wise County Education Associations are sponsoring the conference, which will draw its audience from Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee. That region is the heartland for the Melungeons, a dark-skinned people who cannot easily fit into any race classification.
The theory has roots in events in the 1500s and involves Turkish prisoners of Sir Francis Drake, and some of the shipwrecked Portuguese sailors and soldiers abandoned in the New World. It concludes that these men and their offspring established themselves as a distinct racial culture in this region.
Clinch Vallev College administrator Brent Kennedy's book 'The Melungeons: The Res"
Friday, May 2, 1997
Kingsport (TN) Times-News
OUR VIEW
'Melungeons' story deserves to be told'
History buffs should mark Saturday on their calendars. That's when a tri-state conference will examine evolving cultural, genealogical and genetic research on Melungeons and how it might be incorporated into the teaching of this region's history.
That may sound a little too academic to some. But what's recognized and taught as history is not always based on pure fact. Some of it is driven by hero glorification, and there's a healthy dose of myth in the mix, too. But sometimes, new discoveries are made that add dimension and perspective to the facts.
That's what seems to be happening with the Melungeons.
At the risk of sounding like revisionists, the conference's sponsors plan to expose this aspect of New World cultural diversity to those who attend. Since most of the audience will be teachers, it follows that once they are up to speed on the research and theory, they could consider incorporating it into classroom instruction.
The Virginia and Wise County Education Associations are sponsoring the conference, which will draw its audience from Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee. That region is the heartland for the Melungeons, a dark-skinned people who cannot easily fit into any race classification.
The theory has roots in events in the 1500s and involves Turkish prisoners of Sir Francis Drake, and some of the shipwrecked Portuguese sailors and soldiers abandoned in the New World. It concludes that these men and their offspring established themselves as a distinct racial culture in this region.
Clinch Vallev College administrator Brent Kennedy's book 'The Melungeons: The Res"
posted by Helen Campbell @ 3:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home