An umbrella term for various historical Native American-European-African triracial isolate communities from the eastern United States.
These communities formed as outliers to American
society under racial tensions, often perplexing racial censuses due to not always perfectly fitting into the
Black, White or Native categories due to their mixed heritages.
Many larger ethnic groups fall under this label such as the Melungeons of Appalachia, the Carmel Indians of
Ohio, the Chestnut Ridge
people of West Virginia, the Lumbees of North
Carolina, the Brass Ankles of South
Carolina, the Redbones of Louisiana, among others.
Smaller communities such as Pea Ridge people, Dominickers of the Florida panhandle, Sumter Turks, Keating Mountain people and Van Guilders can also be included by this term.
These communities were often targeted by eugenicists and segregationists in past centuries. They frequently practiced endogamy to avoid persecution from outsiders but many assimilated into the broader White and
Black populations too.
Many Americans unknowingly are descended from these peoples due to the stigma belonging to such groups once held.
Consequently tracing geneaology to these communites can pose a challenge.
Identifiers on census records such "
Black Dutch", "Black
Irish", "Portaghee", or "Mestee"
may indicate descent from one or more of the Sweetgum Kriyul communities.
