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Archiver > Melungeon > 2003-03 > 1047546494


From: "ernest hurst" <>
Subject: RE: [Melungeon] Names of Color
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 04:08:34 -0500


Tim

I remember well the popularity of Mitch Miller's version, having grown up
in Houston. When was that - some time in the '50s? At the time, it was
pretty common knowledge that she (the Yellow Rose) was, according to
legend, a "high yaller". Also seems like I remember something about this
song being about a girl that was somehow connected to Santa Anna, the
Mexican General during Texas' war for independence. If there's any
credibility to that she might have been Black & Indian.

Amazing how everybody has a definition for Melungeon but most include terms
like "seemingly" or "probably". In other words, they do not really define.

Ernie


> [Original Message]
> From: <>
> To: <>
> Date: 3/12/2003 11:52:57 PM
> Subject: [Melungeon] Names of Color
>
> Yellow Rose of Texas
> -before Mitch Miller's version
>
> "There's a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see,
> No other darky knows her, no darky only me
> She cryed so when I left her it like to broke my heart,
> And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part
>
> She's the sweetest rose of color this darky ever knew,
> Her eyes are bright as diamonds, they sparkle like the dew;
> You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee,
> But the Yellow Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee."
>
> -excerpted from TNGenWeb "People of Color in Old Tennessee". Note the
> inclusion of "Melungeon."
>
>
> >
> > Black Dutch:
> Probably, originally white Europeans with pure black features (hair).
This
> term has also been applied to persons with mixed racial heritage.
>
>
> Free Issue, Free Issue Negro:
> A Black or mixed-race person free by manumission or birth; especially the
> child of a White woman and a Black man. Commonly used in Virginia and the
> Carolinas.
>
>
> Free Man of Color (F.M.C.), Free Person(s) of Color, Free Woman of Color
> (F.W.C.), etc.:
> A Black person, not a slave; a person having one Black and one White
parent.
> Used especially in Louisiana.
>
>
> Free Mixture:
> Probably a person, not a slave, being part Black, and being part White
and/or
> Indian.
>
>
> Griff, Griffe, Griffane, Griffin:
> Offspring of a White and a Black. Used especially in Louisiana.
>
>
> Half and Half:
> A person of mixed blood; a half breed. Part Indian or part Black.
>
>
> Half Breed, Half Blood, Half Blooded:
> The child of an Indian and a White parent. May be applied to people who
are
> part Black.
>
>
> High Yellow: (pronounced, high yalla or high yaller)
>
> A light-skinned black person. Some say mostly white.
>
>
>
> Maroon:
> For our purposes, a fugitive or runaway slave, one who joined with the
> Seminole in Florida. Earlier, this word was applied to fugitive black
slaves
> in the West Indies and Dutch Guiana. Interestingly, the word origins of
> Maroon in this usage is from certain Spanish words: symeron, > cimarron,
>
> cimarrn, meaning wild, free, a runaway person. It is possible that the
term
> maroon may have been misapplied as a color. Maroon is a very dark
> brownish-red or chestnut color.
>
> Melungeon:
> Seemingly, a person of mixed racial heritage. Probably, white, Negro, and
> Native American heritage. Common usage in East Tennessee.
>
>
> Mulatto:
> A person who is one-half Negro, one-half white. The child of one white
parent
> and one Negro parent. From the Spanish and Portuguese word mulato meaning
> young mule. The mule is of course, one half horse and one half donkey, a
> hybrid.
>
>
> Octoroon:
> A person who is one-eighth Negro, seven-eighths white. The child of one
white
> parent and a quadroon. From the Latin word octo meaning eighth.
>
>
> Quadroon:
> A person who is one-quarter Negro, three-quarters white. The child of one
> white parent and a mulatto. From the Latin quartus; >Spanish cuarto,
> cuarteron, meaning fourth.
>
>
> <A
HREF="http://www.tngenweb.org/tncolor/colornam.htm">http://www.tngenweb.org/
tncolor/colornam.htm</A>
>
> Tim Hashaw
> Houston, Texas
>
>
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> http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nrv.htm


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