There is a large and growing body of literature on the isolate communities,
written from both inside and outside.
 
Virginia Easley DeMarce published two articles on the "isolate"
communities, both of which are extremely useful. Dr. DeMarce brings the
professional historian's techniques to a genealogical problem. Essentially,
she showed that the Melungeons and other groups with exotic origin legends
were actually Indian remnants. The articles were published in 1992 and 1993
in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly:
 
"Very Slitly Mixt:" tri-racial isolate families of the Upper South - a
genealogical study. Vol, 80, No. 1 (March 1992), pp. 36-56.
 
Looking at legends - Lumbee and Melungeon: Applied genealogy and the
origins of tri-racial isolate settlements. Vol. 81, No. 1 (March 1993), pp.
24-45.
 
There has been a burst of scholarship concerning isolate communities, but
much of it must be taken with several very large pinches of salt. Brent
Kennedy's book on his own people, the Melungeons, is an example. While
Kennedy's research and activism are massive and admirable, the book
contains some leaps of faith that are, in my opinion, unacceptable. Dr.
DeMarce has pointed out that the most logical explanation for Melungeon
origins is that they are an Indian remnant group who migrated from Central
Virginia.
 
Communities went under a variety of names, of which Melungeon is one of the
more common. In Delaware, the Indian community were called moors. I have
heard that this kind of evasive nomenclature was adopted to avoid being
called black, mulatto, Negro, or Indian, during the ante-bellum period. If
they were identified as Negro or mulatto, they would be subject to
discriminatory laws. People identified as "Indians not taxed" lost their
civil rights and got shipped west.
 
There is good evidence that large numbers of Indians stayed behind during
each "removal" episode. To this day, there are remnant communities in each
of the steps along the westward migration from which Indian tribes were
"removed."
 
 
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