The Melungeon Heritage Association Union will hold events in Martinsville on Friday and Saturday.
It will begin with a historic walk at Mayo River State Park from 10 a.m. to noon. After the walk, the group will have a lunch break until 2 p.m.
At 2 p.m., registration for an author event will begin at the Parish House at 311 E. Church St. The event will feature 11 authors: Scott Withrow, Dr. Melissa Carver, Paul Johnson, Dr. Terry Mullins, Beverly Scarlett , DruAnna Williams Overbay, Jake Richards, LaTonya Beatty, Scott Dawson, Dr. Arwin Smallwood and Darlene Nixon.
The author event will run until 4 p.m., after which the band will break for dinner until 6 p.m., then there will be a members-only dessert reception until 8 p.m.
A series of lectures will be held Saturday at the Virginia Natural History Museum. Registration will be at 9:30 a.m., and the welcome and introduction to the event will begin at 10:00 a.m. At 10:10 a.m., the first speaker will be Aminah Ghaffar.
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Ghaffar’s presentation is titled “Culture, Identity, and Overcoming Internal Conflict,” and she will discuss the history and origins of North Carolina’s Lumbee tribe while highlighting the similarities between the Lumbee and Melungeon identity.
His presentation will be followed by three other lectures by Founder and Executive Director of the Afro-American Indian Cultural and Research Center Steven Gayle, Founder of the African-American Appalachian Cultural Center Ron Carson, and Archaeologist and Specialist in Historic North Carolina Cemeteries. Office of State Archeology Melissa Timo. The other three speakers will talk about their organizations and the connection they have with Melungeons or people of mixed ancestry.
