The African American DNA Roots Project is a molecular anthropology study designed to match African American lineages with those in West Africa, a region from which many slaves were taken.

Photo courtesy of M. Zokoswki

Family Ties

African Americans use scientific advances to trace their roots

  • By Whitney Dangerfield
  • Smithsonian.com, February 01, 2007

Article Tools

 
  • Font
    		•
  • Email
    		•
     
  • Print
    		•
  • Comments
    		•
     
  • RSS
    		•

    Photo Gallery

    The African American DNA Roots Project is a molecular anthropology study designed to match African American lineages with those in West Africa, a region from which many slaves were taken.

    Family Ties

    Explore more photos from the story



    Most Popular

    Where do you come from? It's a simple question for many Americans. They rattle off a county in Ireland or a swath of Russia and claim the place as their ancestral home. But for many African Americans, a sense of identity doesn't come that easily.

    "African Americans are the only ones who cannot point to a country of origin," says Gina Paige, president of African Ancestry, Inc., a company in Washington, D.C. that offers DNA lineage tests. "Italian Americans don’t refer to themselves as European Americans. We are the only group that have to claim an entire continent."

    Over the last 20 some years, in part fueled by Alex Haley's book Roots and the subsequent miniseries, more African Americans have tried to uncover clues about their past. A growing number of books and articles outline the fundamentals of genealogical research. State and national African American genealogical societies, many of which offer classes and host conferences for novice and advanced researchers, have aided the search. Electronic access to records has also helped.

    Last month, on Martin Luther King Day, the state of Virginia began the process of indexing and digitizing the records of the Freedmen's Bureau, a group started in 1865 during the Civil War to help provide economic and social relief to freedmen and refugees. The bureau's records, which date from 1865 to 1872, include documents such as marriage certificates, labor contracts and healthcare and clothing receipts. The National Archives made the digitizing effort possible when they put the entire paper collection on microfilm, a job that took nearly five years and resulted in more than 1,000 rolls of film.

    People searching for family clues can also comb through slave narratives, plantation and military records, census information and other government documents; but these collections only look back so far. The U.S. Census started counting slaves as late as 1870, and many documents around this time list people not by name but by gender and description. "For decades, perhaps centuries, African Americans were completely disregarded. We were no more than property,” says Betty Kearse of Dover, Massachusetts, who has been researching her own family heritage. "It's up to us to find the names in spite of the fact that many records of our ancestors don’t even include names."

    In addition to sifting through microfilm and books, people can now look within themselves—at their DNA—to understand more about their heritage dating back before the 1800s. By locating variations in genetic markers and matching them with indigenous populations throughout the world, scientists can group people into different haplotypes, which can shed light on their ancestors' geographic locations and migration patterns. The tests focus on the Y chromosome, which men share with their father, grandfather, and so on, going back for generations, and also on mitochondrial DNA, which is an exact link to the maternal line.

    "Genes tell the true story," says Bruce Jackson, a professor of biotechnology at the University of Massachusetts. Jackson, along with Bert Ely of the University of South Carolina, founded the African American DNA Roots Project, a molecular anthropology study designed to match African American lineages with those in West Africa, a region from which many slaves were taken.

    Jackson's interest in genetics began as a child listening to stories about his father's family in Connecticut and his mother's in Virginia. His father's stories all started with "an African kid in 1768,” says Jackson. No one knew the boy's name or where he came from.

    Jackson's mother’s heritage culminated in a rumor. "The story was that the matriarch was a white woman, which meant she would have had to have a child with a black man," he says, an occurrence that is historically known to be more rare than children between women slaves and their white owners.

    With a master's degree in genetics and a doctorate in biochemistry, Jackson began combining what he knew from the lab with his own family's history. He tested the mitochondrial DNA from his mother's line and found that the rumor was actually true. The sample was of Irish descent, which led him to suspect that his matriarch was an indentured servant in the United States. Going back even further, the DNA matched a haplotype originating from modern-day Russia. After doing some research, he learned that Russian Vikings were prevalent in both Ireland and Scotland.

    1 2 3

    Where do you come from? It's a simple question for many Americans. They rattle off a county in Ireland or a swath of Russia and claim the place as their ancestral home. But for many African Americans, a sense of identity doesn't come that easily.

    "African Americans are the only ones who cannot point to a country of origin," says Gina Paige, president of African Ancestry, Inc., a company in Washington, D.C. that offers DNA lineage tests. "Italian Americans don’t refer to themselves as European Americans. We are the only group that have to claim an entire continent."

    Over the last 20 some years, in part fueled by Alex Haley's book Roots and the subsequent miniseries, more African Americans have tried to uncover clues about their past. A growing number of books and articles outline the fundamentals of genealogical research. State and national African American genealogical societies, many of which offer classes and host conferences for novice and advanced researchers, have aided the search. Electronic access to records has also helped.

    Last month, on Martin Luther King Day, the state of Virginia began the process of indexing and digitizing the records of the Freedmen's Bureau, a group started in 1865 during the Civil War to help provide economic and social relief to freedmen and refugees. The bureau's records, which date from 1865 to 1872, include documents such as marriage certificates, labor contracts and healthcare and clothing receipts. The National Archives made the digitizing effort possible when they put the entire paper collection on microfilm, a job that took nearly five years and resulted in more than 1,000 rolls of film.

    People searching for family clues can also comb through slave narratives, plantation and military records, census information and other government documents; but these collections only look back so far. The U.S. Census started counting slaves as late as 1870, and many documents around this time list people not by name but by gender and description. "For decades, perhaps centuries, African Americans were completely disregarded. We were no more than property,” says Betty Kearse of Dover, Massachusetts, who has been researching her own family heritage. "It's up to us to find the names in spite of the fact that many records of our ancestors don’t even include names."

    In addition to sifting through microfilm and books, people can now look within themselves—at their DNA—to understand more about their heritage dating back before the 1800s. By locating variations in genetic markers and matching them with indigenous populations throughout the world, scientists can group people into different haplotypes, which can shed light on their ancestors' geographic locations and migration patterns. The tests focus on the Y chromosome, which men share with their father, grandfather, and so on, going back for generations, and also on mitochondrial DNA, which is an exact link to the maternal line.

    "Genes tell the true story," says Bruce Jackson, a professor of biotechnology at the University of Massachusetts. Jackson, along with Bert Ely of the University of South Carolina, founded the African American DNA Roots Project, a molecular anthropology study designed to match African American lineages with those in West Africa, a region from which many slaves were taken.

    Jackson's interest in genetics began as a child listening to stories about his father's family in Connecticut and his mother's in Virginia. His father's stories all started with "an African kid in 1768,” says Jackson. No one knew the boy's name or where he came from.

    Jackson's mother’s heritage culminated in a rumor. "The story was that the matriarch was a white woman, which meant she would have had to have a child with a black man," he says, an occurrence that is historically known to be more rare than children between women slaves and their white owners.

    With a master's degree in genetics and a doctorate in biochemistry, Jackson began combining what he knew from the lab with his own family's history. He tested the mitochondrial DNA from his mother's line and found that the rumor was actually true. The sample was of Irish descent, which led him to suspect that his matriarch was an indentured servant in the United States. Going back even further, the DNA matched a haplotype originating from modern-day Russia. After doing some research, he learned that Russian Vikings were prevalent in both Ireland and Scotland.

    After he tested his own family's DNA, another family asked Jackson to test their DNA, then another family asked, and the project snowballed from there. Now, with some 10,000 DNA samples to test, the international project is near capacity. "We’re just overwhelmed," he says. "We get responses from all over the world."

    Requests from African Americans also inundated fellow geneticist Rick Kittles, who appeared in "African American Lives," a PBS miniseries that tested the DNA of some well-known participants, including Oprah Winfrey. Kittles decided to meet the community demand by collaborating with businesswoman Gina Paige to commercialize his efforts. Since 2003, when they opened African Ancestry in Washington, D.C., they have tested over 8,000 lineages.

    "This is a transformative experience for people who trace their ancestry," says Paige. "It causes them to look at their lives and define themselves in different ways. Some do it just because they are curious, some to leave a legacy for their children. Some are reconnecting with Africans in the continent, building schools and buying real estate. Others are connecting with Africans here in the States."

    Although African Ancestry claims to have the largest collection of African lineages in the world with some 25,000 samples from Africa, they do not guarantee they will find ancestry from the continent. In general, 30 percent of African Americans who have their DNA tested find they come from European lineages—a statistic that corroborates the well-known stories of white plantation owners impregnating their female slaves. Although the company also does not promise to match the person with one specific ethnic group, they do hope to connect people with the present-day country in which their lineage originated.

    Jackson is skeptical of results that are too specific. "You have to be careful," he says, stressing that there is a lot more to learn about different ethnic groups in Africa. "What you can do now, at best, is to assign people to a part of West Africa," Jackson says.

    But science is making some breakthroughs. In 2005, Jackson and his colleagues made important progress when they were able to genetically distinguish different ethnic groups living in Sierra Leone. And, although he thinks the database of indigenous African DNA samples is not nearly big enough to make an accurate match with an African American, he feels the work of his postdoctoral students and other students in the field of genetics will certainly help the research on its way. "In about 50 years," he says, "things will be clear."

    Tony Burroughs, a genealogist who wrote Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family, cautions people to avoid jumping straight into DNA testing. "If a geneticist is honest, they would say that someone shouldn't do a DNA test before they do research," he says. Burroughs advises a more practical approach to ancestry research: Talk to relatives, and write down as much as possible about the family.

    "After collecting oral stories, go to relatives' basements, attics, shoe boxes, dresser drawers to see what they have that has been passed down," he says. "Those pieces will add little pieces to their oral stories. Then leave the house, and do further research." Go to places like cemeteries and funeral homes; search vital records offices, death certificates, birth certificates, marriage records. "No one should do any genetic work until they have gotten to the 1800s and 1700s," he says. "Otherwise that DNA research doesn’t help."

    Kearse has been researching her family's roots for more than 15 years. According to her family's oral history, her mother descended from a woman named Mandy, who was taken from Ghana and enslaved at Montpelier—President James Madison's plantation in Virginia. According to the story, Mandy's daughter, Corrinne, had a relationship with the president that produced a child, a claim Kearse is now working with Jackson to try to verify through DNA. When the child, Jim Madison, was a teenager, he was sent away from Montpelier, eventually settling on a plantation in Texas.

    "The story has been passed down from generation to generation," says Kearse. "One of the important themes was that when [Jim] was sold away for the first time, Corrine [his mother] said to Jim as he was put on the wagon, 'Always remember you’re a Madison.' " For Corinne, it would be a tool, an instrumental way for her to meet her son again. They never did see each other, but the words never left Jim.

    "I hadn’t thought of trying to connect the family through DNA to Madison. I hadn't planned on doing it because the Jefferson and Hemmings story had gotten so controversial and ugly," says Kearse of the recent verification that Thomas Jefferson had children with his slave, Sally Hemmings. She reconsidered after inviting Jackson to a commemoration of former Montpelier slaves set to take place this year.

    Kearse and Jackson are still trying to locate a white male descendant of the Madisons who has a clear Y chromosome line to the family. Jackson is going to England in the spring to look for living descendants. However, even if the DNA is a match, it may never concretely link her family to the president because he had brothers who shared the same Y chromosome.

    Nevertheless, the match would give weight to a story her family has lived with for generations. "Always remember you’re a Madison" became a source of inspiration for Kearse's early ancestors. Her family, she says, "realized this name came from a president, and it means we are supposed to do something with our lives."

    Over the years, the saying came to mean something more. "When the slaves were freed after emancipation, the family added on to the saying,” says Kearse. "'Always remember you’re a Madison. You descended from slaves and a president.' "

    But now Kearse has a new understanding of her heritage. "For me, it’s more important to have descended from Mandy, a woman who was captured from the coast of Ghana, survived the Middle Passage, survived the dehumanization of slavery," says Kearse, who is writing a book about her family. "For me, she is the source of pride."


     
    Comments

    helped good withh some of my reaserch thank you .

    Posted by zach donahue on November 19,2007 | 08:36PM

    Worked wonderful for some homework I had to do.

    Posted by Amy on November 20,2007 | 03:16PM

    This article truely moved me. It is a constance thorn in my mind where do we really come from. This piece of art helps me alittle more. Love to see and hear more. Thanks, LaMerle

    Posted by La Merle Davis on November 27,2007 | 09:23PM

    My brother and I have had our DNA done through the Family Tree, Ancestry, and are always getting exact matches, but so far no direct lineage. I have on my own traced ancestors back to Lewis Barge, and found Robert Barge (African American) that is a descendant through Jeff Barge. Apparently Jeff Barge had relations with his female slave, and he loved her so together they raised their child (perhaps children,I am not sure). I would like to know if you can do a DNA test for me (caucasin female) to see if my family traces back to Africa. I do believe that everyone will eventually trace back to the Africa area (from Adam & Eve). Is that naive of me? I watched the National Geographic study, and it makes perfect sense to me. Thank you Carlene

    Posted by Carlene A. (Barge) Briggs on November 29,2007 | 11:05AM

    This is article is very interesting, I have learned alot from it.

    Posted by Patty on December 3,2007 | 03:53PM

    This to is subject that touches me. As my cousin whom live in nashville Tenn. has tryed to trace back only to be stopped becausethe owner of the family was the type of slave owner that didn't let the family'sstay togeter. He alwayssold slaves he would breakup the family we were told by grandfather. His name was v.J.Hall, but he was sold to a hristain man by the nme of Taylor. So he canged his name to V.J.Taylor nd our family started from there. V.J. was my great great grandfather who son was named Uriah,my father was uriah jr. I'm the third,my son s the fourth from Nashville, Tenn.

    Posted by Uriah Taylor III on December 4,2007 | 09:36AM

    I would like to one day trace my heritage, I am a Trinidad born African who come from that unfortunate group of humans that do not know their true lineage. It is a lost feeling to not know exactly who your people are. We have accepted a broad concept that we are Africans, however knowing where we come from on the continent will allow us some closure, pace of mind and add some heritage to our family lives. I wand my family to have the adventure to link our family tree to one tribe in Africa. I have travelled to Ghana twice and love it. My. I would like the opportunity to do the research, is this possible. Valerie O’neal-Browne.

    Posted by Valerie M. O'neal-Browne on December 11,2007 | 09:59PM

    I enjoyed the story and it was a great discusion question for my class. I never thought about tracing my DNA, but I can imagine it's a great finding.

    Posted by Jeni James on December 12,2007 | 04:00PM

    I have not yet finished this story yet but it has caught my eye and made me wonder. I came across your story because of a class I am taking at The University of Phoenix. I am going to look into the tracing of DNA also. But as a few have said we should not be two surprised with the information we find. So again I thank you for your story and I thank my teacher Nicole for placing this story as one to pick from.

    Posted by Lisa Rose on December 18,2007 | 08:43PM

    This is a very interesting piece about DNA testings and searching for your past history. I have always been curious about how to get started. Thanks for the information and helping me with my studies.

    Posted by Deborah Ragans on January 5,2008 | 08:53AM

    I was fasinated with this information. I was just discussing with my sister today on how I want to find out where my heretiage is from. We had confusing stories from all members of the family. I would like to do the DNA testing. I was told that my great, great grandfather was from africa brought to Puerto Rico as a slave. Please let me know how I can further persue this. Thanks again to Pearlie Bush, Instructor of Phoenix University for providing this information and Whitney Dangerfield for submitting such interesting information.

    Posted by Myrna Sanchez on January 6,2008 | 03:30PM

    Alaafia, I am too looking forward to finding out more about were my family come from in Africa, I went there in May of 2005 and was able to sit with an Spiritual priest too learn more about I am and I found out alot more then I knew before I went. I am going back soon to live there for about a month so I can spend time learning more about my family.

    Posted by Oyafunke on January 8,2008 | 11:16AM

    I am so very pleased to have read this article. I had actually chose this article as part of an class assignment. (I am a full time student in Axia College at University of Phoenix.)Just reading the introduction paragraph blew me away because I have always wondered where my family and I really came from. I am sad to say that most of my elders have since passed away. Now that I have read this article, my hope have faded even more because there really is no one left that I can gather information from. If you have any tips of any kind, I pray that I hear from you with it. My children and my grandchildren need to know who their people are and where we came from. I also pray that you all keep making breakthrough discoveries about African Amercian lineages. We have a right to know who we are and where we come from.

    Posted by Arna S. Gray on January 14,2008 | 11:04AM

    I have tried on sevral occassions to get information about my Afrikan heritage from my mother. For some reason she seems reluctant to give me anything past my great-grand-mother Jane Green. I would like to know more about my heritage. I am a member of the Afrikan Village Cultural Center here in St. Louis Mo. with Dr. Ray Hagins as my spirtual advisor, the web site is wblr.com Black Liberation Radio.

    Posted by Michael K. Mingo Sr. on January 15,2008 | 06:51AM

    What an incredible article. It is amazing how far technology has taken us in the last century. Reading this article was an eye opening experience regarding lineage. Tracing back the DNA lineage for all cultures is an important historical event that all families of all origin can accomplish together.

    Posted by M.Wallace on January 22,2008 | 07:23AM

    This is a wonderful article. It moved me and sadden me at the same time. I am glad to see that it is information out there for us. I have told my children so many times that every other race know their history but our race. Thanks for this article. I hope that I could learn so much more information and this gives me alot of hope. Debra Chatman

    Posted by Debra Chatman on January 22,2008 | 02:36PM

    my name is John Gak, I came from Sudan in 1995 to Kansas City Missouri as refugess now I am U.S.A Citizen I am tired, for like of know my age,in African we always gusing our age, and need to know if the DNA help me to what Day I was born and what year I was born, and also i am members of Deinka, Dienka is bigs tribte in Sudan, about we no I daes wrere we coming from, I will like to know that also Thank you John Gak

    Posted by John Gak on January 29,2008 | 08:28PM

    GO AXIA STUDENTS!!! :) Loved this article. Although I am Caucasian this still interests me. Just think, in another hundred years, American's will all be just as confused. We are a giant mixing pot (not that it is bad).I am just proud to say I am an American. That's all I need to know for sure. :)

    Posted by Jen on February 5,2008 | 08:40PM

    Wow! As I read a few comments, I was so happy to come across so many individuals that wanted to find out their heritage. I also am a part of those that are insearch of wanting to find out my family roots. To know how far the 40 acres and a mule goes back (smile) will be a great milestone to have conquered. I am wiling to research ancestory starting in and from Egypt to now. Each and every one of you that gets a step closer to knowing I thank you, my family thanks you, for defeating those that thought the day would not come that we the African American race would remain ignorant to who, what and where we come from. I thank you and I thank the scientist who started it all! God Bless You All!

    Posted by Sheneka Brassfield on February 11,2008 | 03:43PM

    I got very interested in this article. It was a school assignment but when i saw the author of the article had the last name Dangerfield i really was curious! My maiden name is Dangerfield and I don't think there are a large group with that name. Please give the author this information.

    Posted by Sadie D. Robinson on February 12,2008 | 08:30PM

    This is a very good essay, I was just going to read a little and end up read all. the comment was great. fining my family that way and seeing where we came from will make my family happy some of them will not be.

    Posted by Patty on February 19,2008 | 07:00PM

    This science is an important part of our history and culture and is something that the U.S. should put resources into. Because of this work people who don't know about the book and movie Roots can see and research their history and family ties. It is imperative that we know our lineage, and background because it was stripped from us as a race, and though this is a substanstial move for us more needs to be done to research and study our history in the classroom and life.

    Posted by Keith Porter on February 27,2008 | 03:08PM

    I was drawn to the title of this article. I and another family member are members of ancestory.com. We are from New Orleans, La. Our blood line goes a very long way. Both sides of my family are decendants of various races. The search of my family tree has been on going for some years now. The history that we have learned about our ancestors give me chills. I found this article to be very informative. The information in this article will help me and my family continue our research of finding out about our ancestors. Thank you.

    Posted by Ashonka Barnes, Bolden on March 6,2008 | 05:49PM

    Thanks for leting me take the time to read this it was very good to read My tacher at PHOENIX COLLAGE picked this for one of are topics It toke me a lot to read and were im from stil to this day I am me not knowing much about my family.I will get to do thisafter reading this articale thanks for sharing the information with us.

    Posted by Terry Leoard on March 29,2008 | 08:11AM

    This is an amazing story. I was very impressed and moved. I am glad that someone is finally doing something positive for the african american heritage. I am caucasion, my children are bi-raical. My 7 yr old grandson looks caucasion but he knows he is not I try to give him as much knowledge as I can on the history. And he has a terrible time with his teachers because he points things out that they don't mention.Like who really invented things and why they didnt get the credit for it. He is glad that you are doing something good.

    Posted by Charlene Woods on April 1,2008 | 09:15PM

    And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). Thank you for revealing some much needed truth to a people that has been lied to for such a long, long, long time.

    Posted by Renard "Ras I Ray" Shy on April 2,2008 | 08:28AM

    I find this article to be very fascinating. I have asked my grandmother on several occassions if she was a slave or if her family were. My grandmother was born in 1915 and states that she nor her family were slaves. I believe that my family would trace back to slaves. Our family last name "Sinclair" is not a common name, and truely believe that it was a slave name given to someone in the family a long time ago. I have ran into several people who share the last name from both races. I would love to find out where exactly my family originated from. Great job on the article.

    Posted by Autumn on April 5,2008 | 09:01AM

    This is a wonderful article.I have learn so much from this article.I thank you for this article.

    Posted by Shequilla Russell on April 8,2008 | 01:33PM

    MY family history goes back as for as 1817 from my great,great grandmother grandad.We origanated from England around the late 1700's when my great,great grandmother grandaddy got sold into slavery from there.I did a little more research and that i also and Cheerokee Indain decendant from my grandfather mother.But i dont know what Tribe i'm fro,m i don't is i'm from the indains up north or south. My grandfather came from a place called Calhun, la but i don't how he came to be in downsouth Louisiana.So i never found out anymore information from my grandfather about my indian hertiage , because in 2004 he died after my grandmama before valentines day.So there where my heritage stops at for me, so if anyone could help with anymore information about the last names Hines and Littles.

    Posted by CHRISTOPHER HINES on April 8,2008 | 06:40PM

    I am a consultant with a local genealogy center. The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints has volumes of help and information for the community at no charge, no hassle. Their goal is the same as yours. To locate their ancestors and find a sense of family. The church is in the process of launching a world-wide information system which will help all of us research and locate our ancestors. As the article indicated, check on line. Visit a local Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saint - they will be happy to help you locate the nearest Stake building location that has a Family Search (Geneology Center). I do not know much about my past either. But I have been able to locate family through on-line records from Court houses, marriage certificates, death certificates. I have search old news papers, gone through old cemetery records, on-line. It is not easy but it is interesting and amazing. The American Indian families were scattered and in a sense, we too were lost. But with this geneology search I have been able to locate my grandmoter at least. When I searched the 1800 United States Census, I found where she and her sister and two brothers had been adopted into a Scottish family. Where there is determination, that can be results. Do not give up. Ali The University of Phoenix, Axia.

    Posted by Alice Steiner on April 14,2008 | 08:59AM

    This article makes you want to seek about your family history and appreciate more. The struggles of it very existence makes you want to dig more into the family history and tell it's story if you have not found the family history already. This story continues to reach me in ways one could not reach me on emotional roller coaster. I am changed forever togrow as an invividual. I do not know my father or his parents are. I only heard stories about him. I only have other father figures my mom's side to guide me how a man treats a lady. A lot infidetity and misguided deceitfulness arose when growing up. These were my role models men who live their lives to suit them. This article brought me closure in my life to prove my father whomever he maybe that I am prime example what he never had the opportunity to see me flourish in all God's glory. I have children who never feel they are neglected or abandoned. thank you for writing this article to open america to this epidemic which is swepting America.

    Posted by Verneatha Britt on April 14,2008 | 08:20PM

    This is a very interesting articile. I read it as part of a school assignment. My father is very interested in keep us informed about who my family are, especially since he has 7 children in different states. Him and my mother come from the same small town in the south.(Lauringburg, NC) If you speak to some from this town there is 4 last name and I am desendent from all 4, some of my cousin can attend a family reunions on both my mother's and my father's family. This is a real WOW!! in itself. I would like to trace our roots back to see where we really come from.

    Posted by Zina Williams Johnson on April 15,2008 | 06:27PM

    You're kidding me, right? "Italian Americans don’t refer to themselves as European Americans. We are the only group that have to claim an entire continent." I understand the point of finding ones own roots, but why create the illusion of difference? At what point in your life have you seen "Italian American" on a government form? When have you ever seen Italian History Month and Day as federally recognized? When have you EVER heard anyone refer to themselves as Italian American? Its either one or the other. The biggest irony is that its NOT African Americans that dont know their roots,its most of the Caucasians. AA's only came from one region/continent. C's came from everywhere else in the world. See if you can find yourself a single neck-of-red that can trace their lineage.

    Posted by Kari Gibb on April 19,2008 | 09:14PM

    I think this process is amazing. I want to personally that the inventors. However, my sister Crystale and my cousin Dutches just to name a few have been doing research for the past 5 years, and they seem to discover new information daily. How ironic, that I didn't give it much thought that they were attempting to trace our roots. Then while studying I come across this story on how more and more African- Americans are tracing there history. This goes to prove we really don't know were we are going until we discover were we come from... Thanking you in advance for your dedication to all of us.

    Posted by Michael Wrice on April 21,2008 | 09:37AM

    This article was amazing! Myself and my grandmother were on the phone together when I was reading the article. I had to include her in on the article and what it said. The article gave a new meaning to life it's self. I have been asking my family about my ancestors and where they originated from and can't always get a clear respone. I always knew that my great grandmother( whom I have never met) told me about her and how she had strawberry blonde red hair and was caucasion and that my great grandfather was very dark with straght black hair. With this article in mind, I shall continue to search for all my roots. Ericka Coleman-Moore Axia college student

    Posted by Ericka Coleman-Moore on April 24,2008 | 07:34AM

    This story was ver interesting. I will try to do some research on my own to find about my own family tree.

    Posted by Maurice S. Vanison Jr. on April 29,2008 | 05:59PM

    I recently was able to clean out a mansion owned by my Grandparents when I was a child. It is a 1800's Mansion that was part of the Underground Railroad. I found 4 family history record sheets, one listed a birth in 1795. I am retyping up those pages, if I am able to buy the Mansion, I will frame the pages & have a "Museum" within the Mansion of some of the artifacts that I found. I wanted to mention, that some postcards were marked 1908 to 1910 had a message from a 'Warren Taylor" to my Step-Grandmother, I initially thought Mr. Taylor was white, now I question, was he Black??? Maybe, who knows???? Have a Good Day!!!! Lori Bowles

    Posted by Lori Bowles on May 6,2008 | 03:22PM

    Post a Comment


    Name: (required)

    Email: (required)

    Comment:



    Advertisement

    In The Magazine

    May 2008

    View Table of Contents

    Advertisement

    Marketplace

    Gifts, Gadgets & Great Finds!

    Now you can visit the sites of select advertisers directly!

    Smithsonian magazine presents

    5th Annual Photo Contest

    Review and discuss the 50 finalists now >>

    ECOCENTER

    Greener Living

    Celebrate Earth Day with Smithsonian.com