Abraham Lincoln, Melungeon or Myth? Essay

Some historian believe that Abraham capital of Nebraska was innate(p) an outlawed child to Abraham Enloe and Nancy Hanks. It is possible that Abraham capital of Nebraska could be tied to the Melungeon heritage through both of his parents? more growing number of historians believe that Abraham capital of Nebraska possess many qualities that distinguishes him as a Melungeon, and in event believe that he is a direct descendant. The questioning of his parentage generates much interest and theories in regards to this capacious Presidents past.Abraham Lincoln was natural February 12, 1908. His let was said to be Thomas Lincoln and his mother Nancy Hanks. He was born in a log cabin in Sinking Springs, in Hardin County Kentucky. After the destruction of his mother, his father remarried a wonderful lady instituted Sarah Bush. Abraham loved his step-mother and became very close to her and her 3 children. Despite his relationship with step-mother Sarah, Abraham did non maintain a good relationship with his father because of his resentment he held towards him having to turn all his stipend over to him by some sort of law. Because of Lincolns hatred of slavery, which denied to slaves the fruits of the labor (McPherson 3), some volume believe it may have influenced Thomas Lincoln expropriation of Abrahams earnings. Their relationship became so strained that when his father called him to his death bed, Lincoln refused to make the 80 miles trip to see him. His father died with no goodbyes given. Despite Lincolns troubled and depress beginnings, he was able to self-educate himself, mainly by reading lots of books and became a very successful lawyer. In the American peoples eyes, Lincolns tale of rags to riches, is the ultimate American success story (Steers, Edward). on that point have been many myths, hoaxes and misconceptions regarding one of our greatest President throughout the years. During his early political career in that location was lots negative campaign ing that was used to the taint hiscampaign, just like we see and hear of today. Charges of bend sinister were often hinted at because of the negative effect it had on the accused. Illegitimate people were considered defective. Lincolns paternity has long been in question callable to the experience that a bastard son was born to a man named Abraham Enloe (Barton 18). The mother of the baby boy was a servant girl who worked in the Enloe household name Nancy Hanks (Lincolns mother). The question of his parentage generated much interest because of this claim and because Lincoln himself was reluctant to comment on his father and mother. Folks believed that it served as some sort of evidence of his knowledge and shame of his illegitimate birth. Authors Kennedy, N. brant goose, and Robyn Vaughan Kennedy.The Melungeons the resurrection of a proud people an untold story of ethnic cleansing in America. 2nd, rev., and corr. ed. Macon, Ga. Mercer University Press, 1997. Print. Presents the q uestion of whether or non Abraham Lincoln was Melungeon himself, making him the first Melungeon (tri-racial) President. According to Ely Gallegos (a research team member), there is a great buy of circumstantial evidence that Lincoln shared a Melungeon heritage, possibly through both parents. Lincolns family fits the Melungeon model very well. Lincolns paternal grandfather also named Abraham Lincoln, immigrated with his wife Bathsheba Herring and their 5 children to Kentucky. Why would an established settler leave the beautiful Shenandoah Valley for the wild, untamed lands of Indian-dominated Kentucky? Money? Possibly a Melungeon movement? Lincolns father features also fit the description of a Melungeon. His mother, Nancy Hanks was born an illegitimate child to Lucy Hanks. History has no record of the identity of Nancys father.Nancy also had many characteristics of a non-Anglo (Sandburg 30). Her sensory hair dark, dark brown, keen little gray eyes, outstanding forehead, somewhat a ccented chin and cheek hit the books and a body of slender build. Because of the geographical location of the Lincolns family and outstanding questions of Lincolns heritage, this leads to the theory of many researchers that Lincoln could possibly be a Melungeon himself. If true, this would make Abraham Lincoln the first (tri-racial) President. Brent Kennedy, an author who wrote the book The Melungeons, a spent a great deal of condemnation writing to the highest degree a cartridge holder of ethnic cleansing in American and shares details on how the Melungeons seemed to disappear during the time of the first census taking. Because of their tri-racial ethnicity, theydid non fit under any category listed on the Census, so for recordkeeping purposes, they were categorized as either melotos/white/Indian/Africa American, when in fact they were all.Melungeons were suggested to be descendants from tri-racial isolates (Los Angeles Times), a mixture of whites, blacks and American Indian w ho historians say interbred along Appalchias ridges during the 18th centuries. aged(prenominal) documents and stories passed down throught the generations tell a tale of Portugese Berbers, sheperd-like people who came to American in ships. They were proposed to be decendants of early Portuese, Spanish, Sephardic Jewish Mulims, Moorish, and/or Gypsy/Roma colonish in the southeastern United States (Kennedy 1997 Hirschman 2005 Price 1953), that were exiled from Spain and Portugal through a ghostly witch-hunt know as the Spanish Inquisition. Many of them settled in the hills of the Appalachian Mountians. Over time The Melugeons, were pushed off their lands, denied their rights, murdered, mistreated and became an embittered and nearly defeated people. They tried to fit in with Anglo neighbors, but lost their heritaage, their culture, their call and their original religion, but not their genetic structure.Many folks who believed themselves to be of Melungeons decendant, have become a p art of on-going research which even includes giving blood samples. There continues to be actual on-going Melungeon DNA studies muted taking place still today. Lincolns paternity has long been in question due to the knowledge that a bastard son was born to a man named Abraham Enloe (Barton 18). The mother of the baby boy, was a servant girl who worked in the Enloe household named Nancy Hanks (Lincolns mother). The question of his parentage generated much interest and because Lincoln himself was reluctant to comment on his father and mother. Folks believed that served as some sort of evidence of his knowledge and shame of his illegitimate birth. During his campaign many people tried to use this information against him. They tried to dishonor him, by calling him illegitimate. Many people still today are interested in the fact that Abraham Lincoln may been the first tri-racial President. A couple hundred years later later his birth, there are still many unanswered questions regarding Abraham Lincoln.Robert Ingersoll said it best. Lincoln, he proclaimed was a not a-type, He stands alone-no ancestors, no fellows, no successors. Even the word Melungeon became a most disparging term. To be legally categorise as aMelungeon, meant to be Nobody at all. What would it have meant for Abraham Lincoln, a self-educated, discourage human being, born in a one room cabin to illegitmate parents to be labeled a Melungeon? Would the American people have voted for him? Did Lincolns passionate spirit to free the slaves come complicated from within or did it come from darker place then anybody could ever have imagined? Just how different would the pages of our account books read, if people would have truly believed that Abraham Lincoln was a Nobody, a Melungeon?Work CitedAlexander, J. Trent, Chad Berry, Beth Bissmeyer, Donna Corriher, Rodger Cunningham, Damon Falke, Steve Fisher, William Gorgy, Jesse Graves, Margaret Gregor, Elizabeth Hirschman, John Lang, Robert Ludke, Irene McK inney, Lindsey Martin, Phillip Obermiller, Eric Rademacher, gradation Roberts, Emily Satterwhite, Barbara Smith, Shilah Turner, Jennifer Westerman, David Whisnant, and Donal Yates. Appalachian Journal A Regional Studies Review. Toward a Genetic Profile of Melungeons in South Appalachia 38 (2010)111. Print.Kennedy, N. Brent, and Robyn Vaughan Kennedy. The Melungeons the resurrection of a proud people an untold story of ethnic cleansing in America. 2nd, rev., and corr. ed. Macon, Ga. Mercer University Press, 1997. Print.McPherson, James M.. Abraham Lincoln. Oxford Oxford University Press,2009. Print.Sandler, Martin W.. Lincoln through the lens how photography revealed andshaped an extraordinary life. New York Walker Pub. Co., 2008. Print.Steers, Edward. Lincoln legends myths, hoaxes, and confabulations associated with our greatest president. Lincolns Father The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln. Lexington University Press of Kentucky, 2007.14-28 Print.