Walking Toward the Sunset: The Melungeons of Appalachia (Melungeons: History, Culture, Ethnicity, & Literature

Melungeons

by Wayne Winkler

Walking toward the Sunset is a historical examination of the Melungeons, a mixed-race group predominantly in southern Appalachia. Author Wayne Winkler reviews theories about the Melungeons, compares the Melungeons with other mixed-race groups, and incorporates the latest scientific research to present a comprehensive portrait. In his telling portrait, Winkler examines the history of the Melungeons and the ongoing controversy surrounding their mysterious origins. Employing historical records, news reports over almost two centuries, and personal interviews, Winkler tells the fascinating story of a people who did not fit the rigid racial categories of American society. Along the way, Winkler recounts the legal and social restrictions suffered by Melungeons and other mixed-race groups, particularly Virginia's 1924 Racial Integrity Act, and he reviews the negative effects of nineteenth- and twentieth-century magazine and journal articles on these reclusive people. Walking toward the Sunset documents the changes in public and private attitudes toward the Melungeons, the current debates over "Melungeon" identity, and the recent genetic studies that have attempted to shed light on the subject. But most importantly, Winkler relates the lives of families who were outsiders in their own communities, who were shunned and shamed, but who created a better life for their children, descendants who are now reclaiming the heritage that was hidden from them for generations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical

338 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2005

Reviews

[Nathan]

This book is pretty heavy sledding so far - a thick, extensively footnoted historical work - but it does tell the true story of a group of hidebound triracial families (White Eurasian, African, and native American) called the Melungeons, who have lived in Appalachian Tennessee for over two hundred years. Many locals don't believe the Melungeons actually exist - the author, a Melungeon himself, has a great line about telling his soon-to-be-wife that he was Melungeon; "she looked at me as if I had said I was part leprechaun." Today, many other locals still think the Melungeons are scary brown trash: lazy, useless and harmful malingerers.

My mother recommended this book to me, and gave me a copy signed by the author after hearing him speak on Johnson City's NPR affiliate. Mom grew up speaking no English in small-town Ohio, and dedicated her life to making sure that nobody ever felt like an outsider if she could help it. When she moved to tennessee a few years ago she got fascinated by the Melungeons story; to her, they sounded like the Gypsies who you can still see roaming around Ohio in their caravans.

People hated the Gypsies back then - thought they stole white babies and knocked over farms and houses, and never worked honest jobs. Mom never understood why people told such stories about the Gypsies, and when she recommended the book to me she said that this was a great way to understand the history of the place she moved to: by learning about who people hate and why.

Thanks, Mom, for this and everything else you did for me. I'll be done soon with the book, and though you're gone now, I'll see you again someday, on down the line.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty much a survey of literature and studies about a group of supposedly mixed-race (tri-race) people in the Southern Appalachians known as Melungeons. It is obviously well researched and, with my own east Tennessee ancestry, I found it very interesting. There are many, many quotes here from previous writings about the Melungeons. It is nice to have a reliable compilation of materials instead of trying to track down various articles all over the internet. But since the book was published in 2004, it lacks information provided through the subsequent years by DNA studies. In fact, discussion of DNA is confined here to a mere 10 pages. Much has been uncovered since this book was written and our understanding of the meaning of "race" itself has evolved. I don't think new information detracts from Winkler's excellent work; it just means this book and its ending "Conclusions and Speculations" chapter can no longer be considered the final word on the Melungeons.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was dry reading with no real answers.

[Martha Wiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author is a good writer and researcher, this book is extremely repetitive. Save your time and just read the introduction and Chapter 7 and you will get the gist of the text. It would also benefit from the addition of photographs.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best researched boook I have seen on the Melungeon people of Appalachia, while still being very readable.

[Bryant Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting history of the Melungeons of Appalachia to whom I may have some relation.

[Debbie]

It was so uninteresting, I couldn't finish it. It was mis-titled. The majority concerned the ethnicities of multi-racials.
Don't bother reading this. Life is too short.

[Indigo.plume · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but not very engaging.

[Kathy O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book -- gives knowledge of local hereitage and a group that is unique to the area.

[Paul Feeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another ancestral based (Goins) book on life in the South.