Is there any way for the rest of us to see this?
Jessica Welton

Welton Design
205 North Tilden Street
Richmond, VA 23221
804 274 0060
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On Jul 30, 2007, at 1:23 PM, Jim Glanville wrote:

> List Members:
>
> After nearly six years in the making, the documentary movie  
> "Melungeon Voices" was premiered on June 30th and July 1st, 2007 at  
> the Seventh Melungeon* Gathering in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
>
> The documentary tells the Melungeons' story in their own words  
> using interviews, family photographs, and family records. It  
> describes the long years of ostracism, marginalization, and  
> outright discrimination they suffered—often at the hands of  
> government agencies such as Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics  
> and its registrar, Walter Plecker.
>
> Featured prominently in the documentary is Melungeon author and  
> activist Brent Kennedy, who retold Melungeon history as the prime  
> example of a multi-ethnic population who put aside their racial and  
> cultural differences, came together, and survived as one people.  
> Kennedy's rallying cry was "One People, All Colors."
>
> The Sunday evening showing, which this writer attended, drew  
> sustained applause. The documentary concludes on a sad note, with a  
> notice that Brent Kennedy suffered a debilitating stroke in Fall  
> 2005. Nonetheless, Kennedy was in a wheel chair in the center of  
> the front row for that showing, when, for the first time, he saw  
> the finished production from start to finish.
>
> This showing was particularly poignant because of the sharp  
> contrast between the vigorous on-screen Kennedy, and the Kennedy in  
> the audience,
>
> The documentary was produced by Julie Williams Dixon, a 1981  
> graduate of the Department of Communications at Virginia Tech and  
> videographed by Warren Gentry.  Dixon is a principal in the  
> Raleigh, NC-based script writing and video production company Words  
> and Pictures. Gentry is a principal in the Raleigh, NC-based Warren  
> Gentry and Associates video production company.
>
> As members of this listserv well know, race is a deeply embedded  
> aspect of Virginia history and one that periodically obsesses our  
> discussions.
>
> "Melungeon Voices" offers an optimistic message about race in  
> Virginia. In this writer's opinion it deserves the widest possible  
> showing.
>
> Jim Glanville
> Retired Chemist
> 201 Graves Avenue
> Blacksburg, VA 24060-5305
>
> *Melungeons are a mixed-ethnic people descended from Native  
> Americans from the Virginia/Carolina region as well as African- 
> Americans, Europeans, and Mediterranean/Middle Eastern people who  
> intermarried in colonial times. Traditional Melungeon centers in  
> Virginia, are Lee, Scott, Tazewell, Wise, and adjacent counties.
>
> Selected Bibliography
>
> Alther, Lisa. Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree. New York:  
> Arcade, 2007.
>
> DeMarce, Virginia Easley. "Review Essay: The Melungeons." National  
> Genealogy Society Quarterly, 84(2): 134-149, 1996.
>
> Elder, Pat Spurlock. The Melungeons: Examining An Appalachian  
> Legend. Blountville, TN: Continuity Press, revised, expanded,  
> updated manuscript edition, 2004.
>
> Gallegos, Eloy J. The Melungeons: The Pioneers of the Interior  
> Southeastern United States, 1526-1997. Knoxville: Villagra Press, 1997
>
> Kennedy, N. Brent with Robyn Vaughan Kennedy. The Melungeons: the  
> resurrection of a proud people, an untold story of ethnic cleansing  
> in America. 2nd, rev., and corr. ed. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University  
> Press, 1997.
>
> Reed, John Shelton. "Mixing in the Mountains." Southern Cultures, 3 
> (4): 25-36,1997.
>
> Winkler, Wayne. Walking Toward the Sunset: the Melungeons of  
> Appalachia. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2005.