Editing Melungeon (section)

==Etymology==
The term ''Melungeon'' likely comes from the French word ''mélange'' ultimately derived from the Latin verb ''miscēre'' ("to mix, mingle, intermingle").<ref name="North Carolina">{{cite web |title=1894 Report of the U.S. Department of the Interior, in its Report of Indians Taxed and Not Taxed |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1890/volume-10/indians-taxed-not-taxed.pdf|website=www2.census.gov |publisher=Department of the Interior |access-date=6 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="TennesseeDOI" /><ref name="tn_en" /> It was once a derogatory term, but later became used by the Melungeon people as a primary identifier. The Tennessee Encyclopedia states that in the 19th century, "the word 'Melungeon' appears to have been used as an offensive term for nonwhite and/or low socioeconomic class persons by outsiders."<ref name="tn_en" />

The term ''Melungeon'' was historically considered an insult, a label applied to Appalachians who were by appearance or reputation of [[mixed-race]] ancestry. Although initially pejorative in character,<ref name="Sovine">Sovine, Melanie L. "The Mysterious Melungeons: a Critique of the Mythical Image." University of Kentucky Ph.D. dissertation, 1982</ref> this word has been reclaimed by members of the community.<ref name="Frequently Asked Questions.">"Frequently Asked Questions." Melungeon Heritage Association. Retrieved December 2023</ref> The spelling of the term varied widely, as was common for words and names at the time.

===Early uses===
[[File:A Typical Malungeon.jpg|thumb|left|318px|"A Typical Malungeon" (1890) by [[Will Allen Dromgoole]]]]

The earliest historical record of the term ''Melungeon'' dates to 1813. In the minutes of the Stoney Creek Baptist Church in [[Scott County, Virginia]], a woman stated another parishioner made the accusation that "she harbored them Melungins."<ref name="tn_en">{{cite web|last=Toplovich|first=Ann|title=Melungeons|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/melungeons/|website=Tennessee Encyclopedia|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society|access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref> The second oldest written use of the term was in 1840, when a Tennessee politician described "an impudent Melungeon" from what became Washington, D.C., as being "a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian."<ref name="tn_en" /> In the 1890s, during the age of [[yellow journalism]], the term "Melungeon" started to circulate and be reproduced in U.S. newspapers, when the journalist [[Will Allen Dromgoole]] wrote several articles on the Melungeons.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

In 1894, the [[US Department of the Interior]], in its "Report of Indians Taxed and Not Taxed," under the section "Tennessee" noted: <blockquote>In a number of states small groups of people, preferring the freedom of the woods or the seashore to the confinement of regular labor in civilization, have become in some degree distinct from their neighbors, perpetuating their qualities and absorbing into their number those of like disposition, without preserving very clear racial lines. Such are the remnants called Indians in some states where a pure-blooded Indian can hardly longer be found. In Tennessee is such a group, popularly known as Melungeans, in addition to those still known as Cherokees.  The name seems to have been given them by early French settlers, who recognized their mixed origin and applied to them the name Melangeans or Melungeans, a corruption of the French word "melange" which means mixed. (See letter of Hamilton McMillan, under North Carolina.)<ref name="North Carolina"/><ref name="TennesseeDOI"/></blockquote>