Posted by campfire hero (160.129.108.69) on November 21, 2001 at 11:15:36:
In Reply to: An Iraqian in the Government posted by Jeff on November 20, 2001 at 16:01:32:
hi y'all. about 4 years ago i spent a summer in Wise, Virginia, researching indigent patients on fed & state state medical aid... anyway, while i was there, i stayed with this wonderful 60-or-so old woman in an old Southern mansion she'd converted into a restaurant (on the 1st floor), & living quarters on the 2nd floor. & that summer was the 1st summer that a group of quiet Appalachian mountain folk, known as Melungeons, were to have their 1st ever ethnic-type festival. now, i've lived in the South all my life, & not once have i heard of these people - turns out they're kinda thought of like the Creoles or Cajuns - they separate themselves from the rest of the "crowd," & their culture is ignored for the most part by the other folks in these parts. anyway, back to the story. this wonderful old woman, Mrs. Bass, tells me a bit about them - they're thought to be of Mediterranean origin, probably "Turkish." i ask around - most likely they're also a mix of Spaniard, Portuguese, Moorish, Greek, & Phoenecian... so, if any of you are interested in another local American folk, here are the Melungeons. though a lot of them still face racial discrimination & suspicion to this day, they're some of the 1st folk to colonize the Southern territories of the US. where are they in the history books, i wonder...