IN: Melungeon ( m@-LUN-j@n) is a term traditionally applied to one of numerous "tri-racial isolate" groups of the Southeastern United States. Historically, Melungeons were associated with the Cumberland Gap area of central Appalachia, which includes portions of East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and eastern Kentucky. Tri-racial describes populations thought to be of mixed European, African and Native American ancestry. Although there is no consensus on how many such groups exist, estimates range as high as 200.

According to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, which Virginia incorporated into law in 1662, children were assigned the social status and ethnicity of their mother, regardless of their father's ethnicity or citizenship. This meant the children of African slave mothers were born into slavery. But it also meant the children of free white or mulatto women, even if fathered by enslaved African men, were born free. The free descendants of such unions formed many of the oldest free families of color. Early colonial Virginia was very much a "melting pot" of peoples, and some of these early multiracial families were ancestors of the later Melungeons. Each family line has to be traced separately. Over the generations, most individuals of the group called Melungeon were persons of mixed European and African descent, whose ancestors had been free in colonial Virginia. Edward Price's dissertation on Mixed-Blood Populations of the Eastern United States as to Origins, Localizations, and Persistence (1950) stated that children of European and free black unions had intermarried with persons of Native American ancestry. These conclusions have been largely upheld in subsequent scholarly and genealogical studies. In 1894, the U.S. Department of the Interior, in its "Report of Indians Taxed and Not Taxed," noted that the Melungeons in Hawkins County "claim to be Cherokee of mixed blood". The term Melungeon has since sometimes been applied as a catch-all phrase for a number of groups of mixed-race ancestry. In 2012, the genealogist Roberta Estes and her fellow researchers reported that the Melungeon lines likely originated in the unions of black and white indentured servants living in Virginia in the mid-1600s before slavery became widespread. They concluded that as laws were put in place to prevent the mixing of races, the family groups could only intermarry with each other. They migrated together from western Virginia through the Piedmont frontier of North Carolina, before settling primarily in the mountains of East Tennessee.

What happened to the colonies

OUT: Early colonial Virginia was very much a "melting pot" of peoples, and some of these early multiracial families were ancestors of the later Melungeons.

IN: The Famous Flames were an American rhythm and blues vocal group founded in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1953 by Bobby Byrd. James Brown began his career as a member of the Famous Flames, emerging as the lead singer by the time of their first professional recording, "Please, Please, Please", in 1956. On hit songs such as "Try Me", "Bewildered", "Think", "I Don't Mind", and "I'll Go Crazy", the Flames' smooth backing harmonies contrasted strikingly with Brown's raw, impassioned delivery, and their synchronized dance steps were a prominent feature of their live shows. Altogether, they performed on 12 songs that reached the Billboard R&B and pop charts, in addition to being featured on numerous albums, including the groundbreaking Live at the Apollo.

In 1986, the first committee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced that James Brown would be one of the Hall of Fame's first charter members to be inducted. However, Brown's former singing group, the Famous Flames, were not included in this induction. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's criterion states that only artists whose first recording had been out for more than 25 years were eligible for induction. Brown's first solo recording did not meet that criterion. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame president and chief executive officer Terry Stewart contended that Brown was indeed eligible for induction but as a member of The Famous Flames. Concerning the Hall of Fame's failure to induct The Flames with Brown back in 1986, Stewart went on to say: "There was no legislative intent why they weren't included; somehow they just got overlooked." In 2011, a special committee was set up to correct exclusions which might have occurred during the first two years of Rock Hall inductions (1986 and 1987) due to the impact of the bands' lead singers or front men. The Famous Flames (Byrd, Bennett, Terry and Stallworth) were inducted in April 2012 alongside other "backing groups" such as The Midnighters (Hank Ballard), The Comets (Bill Haley), The Crickets (Buddy Holly), The Blue Caps (Gene Vincent) and The Miracles (Smokey Robinson). Since all these lead singers were actually members of these groups, these were not really "backing groups" at all. This was highlighted by Smokey Robinson, who did the induction honors for all of the groups, including his own Miracles, who stated, "These people do not stand behind you. They stand with you." "These are not backing groups. These are the groups." Bennett, as the Famous Flames' only surviving member, accepted the honor in person in Cleveland on April 14, 2012. Bennett further stated the induction was not only a correction for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee's mishap in 1986 but also a reunion: "For years, I felt like we were all separated," said Bennett. "I feel like we're whole again, I wish we could all be here as one group. Yes, James Brown was the most famous of the Flames, but we were all Famous Flames." Onstage, during the induction ceremony, Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, said, "If James Brown was the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, The Famous Flames were the hardest-working group". The Famous Flames did appear in the James Brown biopic Get on Up, which was released in U.S. theatres nationwide on August 1, 2014. In May 2012, the oldies music magazine Goldmine inducted James Brown & The Famous Flames into their first class of The Goldmine Hall of Fame.

Who else came to the induction?

OUT:
Smokey Robinson, who did the induction honors for all of the groups,