Atlanta Constitution
March 15, 1891
The Malungeons
Will Allen Dromgoole in the March Arena, gives an entertaining account
of a people called "Malungeons" a remnant of whom remains in the
Tennessee mountains. Whether the description is a true one we are
not able to say, for the Malungeons are strangers to us.
They are supposed by some to be of the Moorish blood, by others to be a
hybrid of Indians and negroes, and by others to be of Portuguese
extraction. Their racial distinction is evident from the fact
that they live apart from the mountaineers and are to al intents and
purposes Ishmaelites. They are located on Newman's Ridge in
Hancock county and the following description of them is given in
The Arena article;
"In appearance they bear a
striking resemblance to the Cherokees, and they are believed by the
people round about to be a kind of half-breed Indian.
Their complexion is a reddish
brown, totally unlike the mulatto. The men are very tall and straight,
with small sharp eyes, high cheek bones, and straight black hair, worn
rather long. The women are small, below the average height, coal black
hair and eyes, high cheek bones, and the same red-brown complexion. The
hands of the Malungeon women are quite shapely and pretty. Also their
feet, despite the fact that they travel the sharp mountain trails
barefoot, are short and shapely. Theor features are wholly unlike those
of the negro, except in cases where the two races have cohabited, as is
sometimes the fact. These instances can be readily detected, as can
those of cohabitation with the mountaineer; for the pure Malungeons
present a characteristic and individual appearance. On the Ridge
proper, one finds only the Pure Malungeons; it is in the unsavory
limits of Black Water swamp and on Big Sycamore Creek, lying at the
foot of the Ridge between it and Powell’s Mountain, that the mixed
races dwell.
In Western and Middle Tennessee
the Malungeons are forgotten long ago. And indeed, so nearly complete
has been the extinction of the race that in but few counties of Eastern
Tennessee is it known. In Hancock you may hear them and see them almost
the instant your cross into the county line. There they are
distinguished as the Ridgemanites or “pure Malungeons.” Those among
whom the white or negro blood has entered are called the Black Waters.”
The Ridge is admirably adapted to the purpose of wildcat distilling,
being crossed by but one road and crowned with jungles of
chinquapin , cedar and wahoo.
Of very recent years the dogs of
the law have proved too sharp-eyed and bold even for the lawless
Malungeons, so that such of the furnace fires as have not been
extinguished are built underground.
They are a great nuisance to the
people of the county seat, where, on any public day, and especially on
election days, they may be seen squatted about the streets, great
strapping men, or little brown women baking themselves in the sun like
mud figures set to dry.
Of very recent years the dogs of
the law have proved too sharp-eyed and bold even for the lawless
Malungeons, so that such of the furnace fires as have not been
extinguished are built underground.
They are a great nuisance to the
people of the county seat, where, on any public day, and especially on
election days, they may be seen squatted about the streets, great
strapping men, or little brown women baking themselves in the sun like
mud figures set to dry.
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