Melungeon Voices

Latonya Beatty is a Melungeon descendant, MHA member, and consultant, as well as a Melungeon researcher. She was on the Melungeon Voices podcast in Season 2, Episode 3, where she shared with us her Melungeon ancestry. She is back and now has her own podcast channel on Spotify called The Untold Story of Free People of Color and Melungeons in North Carolina. We discuss her new podcast and future episodes.

Gigi Best-Richardson, will be discussing Free People of Color and the American Revolution, as well as her book, "Thomas the Melungeon: His Locust Family of Free Persons of Color Civil and Revolutionary War Patriots – Vol 1." You can purchase her book here at this Link: Home St. Augustine | Best Richardson African Diaspora Literature & Culture MuseumGigi Best-Richardson is a Historian (Phi Alpha Theta), Genealogist, Speaker, and a Virginia Humanities Scholar. An award-winning author of Thomas the Melungeon: His Locust Family of Free Persons of Color Civil and Revolutionary War Patriots – Vol 1, Gigi attended Morgan State University’s Graduate Literature Program from 1992 to 1996. She is a Board Member of many national hereditary societies, including Historian General of the Society First African Families of English America, Past Vice President Sons and Daughters United States Middle Passage, and Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society. Gigi has held leadership positions in Daughters of the American Revolution; Colonial Dames 17th Century; Governor of National Society of the Sons & Daughters of Pilgrims; Colonial Dames of America; Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Gigi is also a member of the Order of the First Families of North Carolina and New England Women. She is Co-Owner and Curator of the Best Richardson African Diaspora Literature and Culture Nonprofit Museum Best Richardson African Diaspora Museum & Booksin St. Augustine, Florida. A rare bookstore owner since 1987, member of the Association of African American Museums, and Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association. She is a museum Docent and utilizes research and primary records to teach genealogy classes locally and virtually.

Our guest for Episode 9 is Dr. Terry Mullins. This year’s Melungeon Heritage Association’s Union/conference will be in Tazewell, Virginia on June 26th and 27th. Dr. Mullins will be sharing with us the important role that Tazewell, Virginia played in the American Revolution, and its connections to the Melungeon people.Dr. Terry Mullins is an author, and a professor of Education at Concord University in Athens, West Virginia. He is a Melungeon descendant and has been a guest speaker/presenter at several Melungeon Heritage Association Unions sharing his extensive knowledge about the Melungeon people. Just to name a few of Dr. Mullins’ books, “Images of America: Tazewell County,” “Images of America: Tazewell, Virginia,” and “Melungeon's out of the Dungeon.”

Our guest for Episode 8 is Dr. Matthew Crosston. He will be sharing stories with us about his Melungeon ancestor, Gustavus Adolphus "Dolphin" Crosston, who fought at Valley Forge alongside General George Washington. We will also discuss the "One Drop Rule" and the implications that came with being of mixed ancestry.Dr. Matthew Crosston is the Director of Academic Transformation and Chief Institutional Lead of Online Programs at Bowie State University. He specializes in international security, intelligence studies, global leadership and policy change, and equity/justice workshops. He is an acclaimed author and international speaker who consults with governments, media organizations, and academic institutions on a range of issues, including peace mediation, irregular warfare, intelligence dilemmas, and educational innovation.

Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and she has dedicated the past 5+ years to defending her homelands against the Mountain Valley Pipeline/Southgate Extension. She is leading a campaign to bring Rights of Nature laws to NC to protect the waterways and communities in the path of the pipeline.Crystal is the co-founder of 7 Directions of Service with her husband. Crystal completed her Doctorate at the University of Dayton, focusing on the social justice crisis of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) tied to gas/oil pipelines. This led her to launch the Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Coalition of NC. Crystal was a co-author of NC House Bill 795, the Rights of Nature/Rights of the Haw River, prioritizing environmentally impacted communities around the Haw River watershed. Crystal serves on the boards of Movement Rights, The Haw River Assembly, and is the Policy Director at Toxic Free, NC.

Sibrena Stowe-Geraldino, discusses her Melungeon and Free People of Color ancestors who fought in the American Revolution through till today. She will also be discussing how to submit your Melungeon Patriot ancestors through the new Daughters of the American Revolution's (DAR) Melungeon Research Group. As well as share with us family connections to notable ancestors and people like Martin Luther King Jr and Beyoncé.

Jamestown Freedom Pioneers (c. 1830–1850s) were free people of color in Jamestown, North Carolina whose families and extended networks participated in abolitionist and freedom support activities during the antebellum era. Within a region shaped by an active Quaker presence, free Black families and Quaker allies shared moral opposition to slavery and engaged in efforts to aid freedom‑seeking enslaved people as part of the broader system of clandestine assistance that historians associate with the Underground Railroad in North Carolina. Jamestown’s Quaker communities — including members of the North Carolina Manumission Society and other anti‑slavery advocates — created legal and informal pathways to freedom, negotiating manumissions and facilitating movement northward. During the mid‑19th century, some descendants and kin of these free families migrated westward into the Midwest, contributing to the establishment and growth of free Black settlements, most notably the Weaver Settlement near Marion, Indiana, beginning in the 1840s. Founded by free people of color, including families originally from North Carolina, Weaver became a self‑sustaining community of farms, churches, and businesses and was part of a network of free Black communities that provided refuge and assistance to freedom seekers and formerly enslaved people moving through free states. Together, the Jamestown Freedom Pioneers and their connected communities reflect the complex social, religious, and migratory landscapes of free people of color in the antebellum United States, demonstrating how coordinated local resistance and regional alliances contributed to the broader struggle against slavery.

Podcast guest Marvin Jones, Documentary Photographer and Founder of the Chowan Discovery Group. We discuss his mixed ancestry and Melungeon Revolutionary ancestors from the Winton Triangle in Hartford, NC, as well as his Virginia connections.

Former MHA President and Melungeon author, Wayne Winkler, discusses how mixed-ancestry people like the Melungeons influenced and contributed to the American Revolution.

Join the Melungeon Heritage Association for Season 6 Episode 2 with special guest: Daughters of the American Revolution!

Links D.A.R. - dar.org

D.A.R. members can send names of Patriots to the D.A.R - [email protected]

If you're not a member yet, you can ask for more information - [email protected]

We will also have all of this information on the Melungeon Roots website: melungeonroots.com