---

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250319
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WISE                                LENGTH: Short

---

MYSTERIOUS MELUNGEONS TO BE EXPLORED

Research into the century-old mystery of the Melungeons will be discussed at Clinch Valley College at 7 p.m. Monday in its chapel.

The free program will be presented by N. Brent Kennedy, a Wise native now living in Atlanta, who is a Melungeon descendant and researcher. Early French explorers found the first reclusive Melungeons in the 1690s in the mountains of upper East Tennessee and western North Carolina.

The Melungeons were dark-skinned settlers who spoke broken Elizabethan English. They claimed to be Portuguese, but little credence was given to the claim.

Kennedy's theory is that the first Melungeons were exiled Portuguese Moriscos, Moors and Berbers mixed with native Portuguese, who reached South Carolina between 1580 and 1610 and gradually moved inland. He is co-producing a documentary film about Melungeon history.

The program is free. - Southwest bureau

---