At the AAUW meeting on Monday, March 26 at 1:30 p.m., Lisa Alther will discuss her latest book, “Washed in the Blood,” a multigenerational fictional history of a family that would probably have been labeled “Melungeons” in the 19th century.
The Melungeons have been the focus of anthropologists, social scientists and feature writers for magazines and newspapers for more than a century. They have been described as a group of tri-racial, mixed ethnicity people who, it is speculated, may have come to America before the English. They settled primarily in the southeastern Appalachians and along the Atlantic seaboard. Their mixed ancestry caused them to be left out of English history books and they were not widely accepted by the communities in which they lived.
Alther’s book, while never specifically mentioning the Melungeons, tells her version of how these mysterious people came to North America and what happened to them as the United States began to take shape.
Alther has written six novels, a memoir and many short stories and articles. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from Wellesley College. “Blood Feud,” her history of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, will be published in May. Her short story collection, “Stormy Weather and Other Stories,” will be published in September. She divides her time among East Tennessee, New York City and Vermont.
The meeting will be held at the Tryon Presbyterian fellowship hall and is open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
– article submitted
by Audrey Ortiz