22 01 Melungeons

This is about the Melungeon Heritage and the mixture of cultures it includes. The name given by the East Coast dominate culture represents groups of ethnically mixed people who continued to move west. People from these rich cultures live all over the U.S.A. and represent American history with the heritage of European, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Iberian, African and Indigenous peoples. Mike Richards and Heather Andolina are interviewed.

The Melungeon Heritage Association is preserving and collecting this information to support people in researching events and relatives. Heather Andolina will tell stories of people, present information, and share about the Melungeon Heritage Association and projects found at melungeon.org. Heather, who is happy to help you, can be accessed at mhainc2000@yahoo.com. This group was formed to celebrate the diversity of inheritance and to support those who wish to reconnect with relatives.

Mike Richards is a Dove Award winner with the Chigger Hill Boys and Terri. They can be found on youtube and at chiggerhill.com. Chigger Hill Boys and Terri play Gospel Blue Grass music. Mike Richards, one of the Chigger Hill Boys, is allowing us to use some of his work in our show. Mike can also be found at: [https://www.greatescapemusicgroup.com/team/mike-richards](https://www.greatescapemusicgroup.com/team/mike-richards) Mike has also enjoyed a level of success as a record producer; his O Lord How Great Thou Art! Volumes 1 & 2 made the charts In Billboard Magazine. Further attesting to his diversity as a writer, he cowrote feature music for the hit NBC TV show Third Watch (which was also syndicated in Europe) and One Life to Love, another Richards/Lay, Jr. collaboration was cut by Curb Records artist Lee Greenwood.  The music entitled Shady Grove is played by Mike Richards on guitar, George Hagageorge on slide guitar, and Tony Cooper playing the Native flute.

A documentary mentioned by Heather is Infamous Characters and Notorious Villains. Release dates and information on this and others can be found at Underbyte Productions at www.underbytefilm.org. More information can also be found at www.facebook.com/underbyteproductions

Some other resources named are: Children of Perdition by Tim Hashaw; Melungeon, A Resurrection of a Proud People by N.Brett Kennedy; and Walking Towards the Sunset by Wayne Winkler.

Much gratitude to Heather of the Melungeon Heritage Association and Mike Richards, musical artist and award winner.

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Be well and stay safe. Thanks for listening.

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