![]() ![]() Hence, today, the Melungeons remain the “last lost tribe in America,” even to themselves. In fact, over time, many of the Melungeons themselves “forgot” where they came from. For fear of discrimination–since Muslims, Jews, “Indians,” and other “persons of color” were often disenfranchised and abused–the Melungeons were reticent regarding their heritage. Sometimes called “Melungeons,” these early settlers were among the earliest nonnative “Americans” to live in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. To the contrary, Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman's research indicates the earliest settlers were of Mediterranean extraction, and of a Jewish or Muslim religious persuasion. Most of us probably think of America as being settled by British, Protestant colonists who fought the Indians, tamed the wilderness, and brought “democracy”–or at least a representative republic–to North America. ![]()
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