Conversation so far:
Where did the term Melungeon start to be used?
Melungeon is a term traditionally applied to one of numerous tri-racial isolate groups of the Southeastern United States.
What were the classifications of the people in the Melungeon group?
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, census enumerators classified them as mulatto, other free, or as free persons of color. Sometimes they were listed as white,black or negro.
What happened to the colonies in regards to the the people from the Melungeon group?
Virginia incorporated into law the principle of partus sequitur ventrem in 1662. The children born in the colonies were assigned the social status of their mother.
What changes as far as the ethnicity of the people from the Melungeon group over generations?
Over the generations, most individuals of the Melungeon group were of mixed European and African descent, sometimes also with Native American ancestry, whose ancestors had been free in colonial Virginia
What did Edward Price state in his dissertation about the people of the Melungeon group?
Edward Price stated that children of European and free black unions had intermarried with persons of Native American ancestry. These conclusions have been upheld in subsequent scholarly and genealogical studies.

Question: What did his dissertation add to
Self-contained rewrite: What did Edward Price's dissertation about the people of the Melungeon group add to?