Pell Mellers, Race and Memory in a Carolina Pocosin, Paul Johnson

A Genealogical Quest in the Triracial South What began as
genealogical research into the author's ancestry soon grew into a
fascinating tale with lessons for us all. Among his ancestors,
Johnson uncovered: unpunished murderers, infidelities that produced
stronger families than formal marriages, entire units of North
Carolinians who fought and died to preserve the Union in the Civil
War. The tale holds enough plot twists for a half-dozen novels. But
most of all, it reveals in a personal way what molecular
anthropologists have been trying to explain all along. The fact is
that we are all of multiple ancestries. Inhabitants of the New
World are a genetic mix of three great populations, Native
Americans, European colonists, and African slaves. Nowhere is this
more vivid than in Pell Mellers, the story of one man's search for
his tangled roots. "In Paul Johnson's engaging journey into his
roots in Bertie County, North Carolina, he discovers an intriguing
family of pocosin dwellers who personify the South's multiracial
heritage and its political minorities, including Unionists and the
original Buffalo Soldiers. Pell Mellers is a solid contribution to
the history of the "other South" that complements the well-traveled
mainstream, illustrating our rich and textured past." -- Lindley S.
Butler, author of Pirates, Privateers, and Rebel Raiders of the
Carolina Coast..Read full description of episode here!
http://www.slideserve.com/cullen/pell-mellers
http://kpjohnson.backintyme.biz/melungeon-geography-presentation-from-17th-union-in-wytheville/