[Chapter three of Tribes is up at www.tribes.patrickmead.net.I will try to get chapter four up tomorrow before I leave for nine days to a place where there is no email or cell phone coverage. My mother is back in the hospital; in pain but not-- they assure us -- in danger. My brother in law, a CoC preacher and Melungeon named Mike Kiser, is also in hospital. He's a good man, a former missionary to Ghana (twice), and a true man of God. Keep him and his Sylacauga, AL congregation in prayer]

To this day there are several hidden groups that live in South Carolina. They arrived via the port of Charleston or they migrated into the lower marshlands to escape the attention of groups antagonistic to them. Here are a few of them that I am personally familiar with. 

The Free Moors of South Carolina were first mentioned in proceedings of the legislature of that State in two instances — 1789 and 1790. "Moors" is a non-specific term when used by those legislators at that time in history but it usually refers to people from North Africa. The United States had been at war with North Africa for decades (yes, even before they became a nation). Most of that time, the pirates of North Africa had the upper hand. The fledging US government paid a huge ransom to the Muslim rulers of North Africa so that they wouldn’t send their pirate ships to attack US ships and take their men as slaves. White slavery was a several hundred year old fact of life (see the fascinating book "White Gold" by Giles Milton). When Thomas Jefferson sent riders out looking for "a few good men" the United States Marines were formed to deal with the problem. That is why the Marine Corps hymn speaks of "the shores of Tripoli."

The SC legislature was petitioned by a sizable group of Moors who "as subjects of the King of Morocco" wanted assurances that, should they break any law, they would be tried in the same way as citizens of the United States and not as if they were slaves. While the reasons for their settlement in South Carolina are unknown, settle they did and many of them kept to themselves in their own communities. While their numbers are greatly diminished by time and fortune, they are still there today, yet people in towns as close as ten miles away are unaware of them. Should they see them on the street they would assume they were mulatto or Mediterranean.

Speaking of Mediterranean, there is a colony in Sumter County known as the Turks. They have been there since the late 1700’s but their racial makeup is a matter of hot debate… among themselves! Many, perhaps most, of them believe they are predominantly Native American, especially Lumbee. This is ironic since Lumbees are not considered Indian by the government and more and more historians believe that they are actually the offspring of Roanoke Colony survivors and Croatan Indians; in other word, mixed blood. A minority of the Turks claim they are actually Romany — Gypsies, in other words. Regardless of their origins they, like the Melungeons, tend to keep to themselves. Like the Moors, they are quickly disappearing due to intermarriage and the ending of their isolation as their area becomes more and more built up.

The Lumbee Indians may or may not be 100% Native American. It is a long argument with little sign of ending. For certain, they are related to the Croatan and Cheraw Indians and they take their name from the Lumbee river. Their language (almost extinct) is a relative of Croatan. They live around southern North Carolina and along the border with South Carolina with most of them living around Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. On the street they are usually mistaken for Mexican laborers as they are of similar coloring and build. For many years the Lumbees have petitioned the US government for recognition as an Indian tribe but Senator Jesse Helms single handedly made sure no such recognition was ever proffered. The current thinking is that the Lumbees are a mixture of not only Croatan and Cheraw but also Pamlico, Hatteras, and Catawba Indians. As each of these tribes grew smaller due to disease, war, and relocation, the survivors banded together and became — so the story goes — the Lumbee. DNA studies show some European blood entered their genetic stream some time ago, strengthening their claim to being the tribe that evacuated and gave shelter to the Roanoke Colonists. Google "the battle of Hayes Pond" for a great story of the Lumbees standing up to the KKK and driving their intended attackers away in a rout.

So many bi and tri-racial isolates occur in South Carolina that merely listing them is mind boggling. It helps to understand that most of these are the same people, just called by different local names over the last two centuries. These include the Redbones, Brass Ankles, Cros, Marlboro Blues, Redlegs, Buckheads, Summerville Indians, Clay Eaters, and Portuguese. Their songs, stories, and music indicate a kinship with Native American and North African culture giving further credence to their own version of their origins. Again, as coastal areas become overrun with condos and golf courses, they are shoved back into the swamps or out of the area entirely.

Within two more generations, it is assumed that the stories of all of these people, except the Lumbee, will disappear as they are scattered — an economic, political, and situational diaspora. There is one other group that has a prominent and sizable community presence in South Carolina. They are the Irish Travellers and their story is next.