The Guineamen of Gloucester VA

[Beverly Flanigan]

This sounds as if it's related to the "Melungeon" legend that is widespread
in the Eastern states; these so-called "mixed" people are variously traced
to American Indians, blacks (hence Guineamen), Turks, Portuguese, Moors,
Berbers, Phoenicians, Greeks, and even Celts (the Madoc legend)--generally,
the more "exotic" and distant the better.  There's a ton of "literature" on
this, going back at least to the '20s, but for the best and most recent
review and critique (to my knowledge), contact Anita Puckett at Virginia
Tech (I don't have her e-dress handy, but she should be easy to find).


At 10:25 AM 9/28/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Marliss,
>
>I understand there has been at least one linguist who worked with this
>population, but that the relationship between the community and the linguist
>somehow soured and the community has been against anybody else coming in. I
>don't know any names, mainly because I heard this from my father, who lives
>in Bena, and not from an academic source. You might be able to get some
>information from the owner of the general store in Bena.
>
>Sarah T. Worthington
>Arizona State University
>
>
>>From: marliss at HROADS.NET
>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>Subject: The Guineamen of Gloucester VA
>>Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 17:15:46 -0400
>>
>>This is a plea from a Linguistics Grad at Old Dominion University.
>>Has there been any ethnolinguistic study completed of the
>>Guineamen in Gloucester, Virginia? If you have any information or
>>can point to someone who does, please let me know ASAP.
>>Thanks! Marliss
>
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