Earlier this year, I had the honor of revealing the maternal ancestry of Dr. Marilyn Gaston to her family, friends, and colleagues.

Dr. Gaston is a historymaker with a fascinating story. Beginning with her medical school experience as the only African American woman in her class at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, her career has been committed to improving the health of poor and underserved Americans. She has been an Assistant Surgeon General and as the director of  the Bureau of Primary Health Care in the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, was the first woman to direct a public health service bureau.

Dr. Gaston shares ancestry with the Mende women in Sierra Leone. Mende woman participate in the Sande society which is responsible for initiating girls into womanhood. If Dr. Gaston were living in Sierra Leone today, she would definitely be recognized as a Sowei.

In her book, Radiance From the Waters: Ideals of Feminine Beauty in Mende Art, art historian Sylvia Ardyn Boone describes the Sowei as the teacher, healer, and judge of the women. She is an arbiter and creator of feminine beauty in Mende society.

Today, Dr. Gaston and her partner Dr. Porter are the creators of Prime Time Sister Circles. Their approach encourages midlife Black women to take charge of their lives.

Post your response in the comments section of our blog and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

Each year, February is a big month for African Ancestry. We are fortunate to have opportunities to share the African Ancestry Experience, meet new people, and engage in conversations across the country. This year, we thought a contest would be a good way to reach even more people and hear your perspective on finding your roots. We will pose a question each week and reward the most thoughtful and insightful response with a free MatriClan or PatriClan Test Kit.

We celebrate Black History every month at African Ancestry. For obvious reasons, we pump it up during the month of February. This year we’ve been celebrating by giving away free kits and other prizes. There’s one more chance for you to win a test kit this week by answering our FINAL contest question. Good luck!

This week we’d like to know: HOW DOES YOUR FAMILY CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH? HOW DOES KNOWING YOUR ROOTS ENRICH YOUR CELEBRATION?

Post your response in the comments section of our blog between February 22nd through 28th and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

The winner will be announced on March 5th and will be chosen by President, Gina Paige and Scientific Director, Dr. Rick Kittles! See full contest rules here.

UPDATE 03/01/10: This contest is currently closed.

Black History Month might be officially over but we celebrate African Heritage all year long! Thank you to everyone who participated in this month’s contests!!! Your responses were very inspirational! We’ll announce the winner of the last blog contest and the mailing list later this week. Trace your DNA. Find your roots. Today.

UPDATE 02/26/10:

It is very inspiring to know that there are families upholding the observance of Black History Month. Thank you for sharing the traditions that your families follow. This week’s winner is Nikki. She and her family have had a full month of remembrance, recognition, and celebration! Congratulations Nikki on winning an African Ancestry Test Kit for your family.

Read Nikki’s response:

On February 1st, we always begin by referencing The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: “If you teach this nigger to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” Thus, we celebrate by participating in the National African American Read-In [Chain], stressing the importance of literacy and of black literature.

We visit the National Civil Rights Museum to view the permanent and temporary exhibits. Soul Soldiers, the first national exhibit to commemorate the Black Experience in the Vietnam War, is currently displayed. We discuss our people: What can they tell me about Gil Scott-Heron or Van Jones? (both having lived in our hometown)

We celebrate our creative spirit: This year, we attended Hattiloo’s performance (a black repertory theatre) of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. We also attended a staging of Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind in our neighborhood theatre.

Around Valentine’s Day, we pause to remember our sister-survivors of the Democratic Republic of Congo–survivors of rape used as a weapon of war.

We attend community lectures; we invite all our non-black friends to celebrate with us all month long; in short, we celebrate like “this may be our last time.” Seriously. It’s a celebration not limited to February, but surely amplified during this time.

Most importantly, we remember our ancestors, both cultural and biological. This year, we focused on Ida B. Wells-Barnett, editor and proprietor of the Memphis Free Speech, who wrote of the 1886 lynching of a black woman in the courthouse square of our hometown, Jackson, TN. (Something we were never taught in grade school.) We remember my maternal ancestors, the first black landowners within that same county who donated land to build the Friendship School for African Americans, and who left a legacy that still stands proud and firm today.

Post your response in the comments section of our blog and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

Each year, February is a big month for African Ancestry. We are fortunate to have opportunities to share the African Ancestry Experience, meet new people, and engage in conversations across the country. This year, we thought a contest would be a good way to reach even more people and hear your perspective on finding your roots. We will pose a question each week and reward the most thoughtful and insightful response with a free MatriClan or PatriClan Test Kit.

One of the comments I hear regularly is “Everyone wants to know where they’re from.” Is this really true? Our third question of the month is designed to understand whether or not knowing your roots would affect/has affected you and why.

This week we’d like to know: HOW WOULD KNOWING YOUR ROOTS CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION OF THE PAST, YOUR INTERPRETATION OF THE PRESENT, AND YOUR ASPIRATIONS FOR THE FUTURE?

Post your response in the comments section of our blog between February 15th through 21st and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

The winner will be announced on February 26th and will be chosen by President, Gina Paige and Scientific Director, Dr. Rick Kittles! See full contest rules here.

UPDATE 02/22/10: This contest is currently closed. But enter our Week 4 contest to try and win a free test kit.

UPDATE 02/26/10:

Thanks to all of you who entered our third contest. We were excited by the intensity of the perspectives on how knowledge of ancestry would affect you. This week’s winner is T. L. Hill who added a unique dose of creativity to the contest. Congratulations T.L. Hill on winning an African Ancestry Test Kit!

Read T. L. Hill’s Response:

Africa

A student without a teacher
A soldier without a general
A child without a mother

Africa

Post your response in the comments section of our blog and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

Each year, February is a big month for African Ancestry. We are fortunate to have opportunities to share the African Ancestry Experience, meet new people, and engage in conversations across the country. This year, we thought a contest would be a good way to reach even more people and hear your perspective on finding your roots. We will pose a question each week and reward the most thoughtful and insightful response with a free MatriClan or PatriClan Test Kit.

One of our dreams for African Ancestry is that every black child know their ancestral roots. We have begun 2010 with two steps towards that goal. We’ve partnered with the Search for Common Ground Foundation on the True Roots Project. And, we’ve partnered with George Mason University on the Science, Technology, Ancestry and Me Project (STAMP) that will hopefully receive funding from the National Science Foundation. For our second contest of the month, please share your thoughts on kids and ancestry for the chance to win a free test kit for the young people in your family.

This week we’d like to know: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR OUR KIDS TO KNOW THEIR ROOTS?

Post your response in the comments section of our blog between February 8th through 14th and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

The winner will be announced on February 19th and will be chosen by President, Gina Paige and Scientific Director, Dr. Rick Kittles! See full contest rules here.

UPDATE 02/15/10: This contest is correctly closed. But enter our Week 3 contest to try and win a free test kit.

UPDATE 02/19/10:

My dream is for every Black child in America to know their roots. Voting for the True Roots project is one way that you can help make this dream a reality. We were excited by how many of you agree with us on the importance of young people knowing their roots. Over 60 of you shared your perspectives. We were particularly moved by Monique B’s entry and selected her as the winner of last week’s contest. Congratulations Monique B. on winning an African Ancestry Test Kit!

Read Monique B’s Response:

It is important because by knowing their roots a child can truly understand that, their past history is the roadmap to their future. What they learn in school is history, but who’s history is it? Our history has been cover up by a veil of false pretenses and hidden doorways. Our children have become the product of these injustices and shackles of the mind. They look at TV, magazines and billboards, then look at their own appearance and feel ashamed of their own features. Then to offset this they attempt to live as and share the same history with a people they feel have a true history. These roots they do not know are the same as a beautiful youthful tree being uprooted then toss aside, all hope is lost. Slave stories, and the spilled blood of slaves to the youth who does not know his roots, becomes a burden that they try to hide by portraying themselves as a soul who cares not at all about his history but more about his present. But if they open there minds to what was and not what is, they can follow the trail of tears, back to the footprints in the sands, back to the villages and centers where their ancestral people once stood with their heads high, loving the place they called home.

So once again to answer that question, “Why is it important for our kids to know their roots?” This analogy puts it in simple terms: That youthful tree that was discussed earlier and was described as being tossed aside with all hope lost, has been given a second chance by being rooted again, so now all hope is regained. So the same should be with our kids, not knowing their roots gives them the sense of all hope being lost, but by knowing their roots, hope of a better day is regained.

To everyone else, thank you for your responses. There are still more chances to win a FREE TEST KIT. Answer our Week 3 question to enter for a chance to win. Our Week 4 question will be posted on 2/22. Plus, you can also sign up for our mailing list in February and be entered for a chance to win a FREE TEST KIT.

This contest has ended. Winner announced below! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Each year, February is a big month for African Ancestry. We are fortunate to have opportunities to share the African Ancestry Experience, meet new people, and engage in conversations across the country. This year, we thought a contest would be a good way to reach even more people and hear your perspective on finding your roots. We will pose a question each week and reward the most thoughtful and insightful response with a free MatriClan or PatriClan Test Kit.

Our sense of identity starts to form very early in our lives. One of the first ways that we view ourselves is within the context of our family. We enter the world with many identities: our mother’s firstborn, grandmama’s baby, little sister or little brother. Throughout our lives our identity grows and evolves.

This week we’d like to know: HOW DOES KNOWING YOUR ROOTS SHAPE YOUR IDENTITY?

Post your response in the comments section of our blog between February 1st through 7th and you’ll have the chance to win a free African Ancestry Test Kit!

The winner will be announced on February 12th and will be chosen by President, Gina Paige and Scientific Director, Dr. Rick Kittles! See full contest rules here.

UPDATE 02/08/10: This contest is correctly closed. But enter our Week 2 contest to try and win a free test kit.

UPDATE 02/12/10:

The posts submitted for our first contest question: How does knowing your identity shape your roots?, were simply amazing. We are humbled and encouraged by the number of people who chose to share their feelings on the topic. The perspectives on identity were so diverse, engaging, and powerful that we had a very difficult time making a decision on one compelling response. This week’s winner is Darnell Taylor, a young man with admirable insight and passion. Congratulations Darnell!

Read Darnell’s Response:

Knowing my roots will help shape my identity by giving me something to take pride in. Most of us black youths don’t really care about our life, we don’t hold it in high value. I know this because I use to be like this, a lot of my friends are still like this. We have no clue of who we are. Everything we know about ourselves is a lie and it has been taught to us in school by Europeans and none of it is positive. So why would we care about ourselves when we’ve been taught to believe that we come from a weak people who were slaves that came from a “heathen” continent. How are we suppose to not believe what the European teaches us about ourselves when every Sunday we go worship a man that looks just like him.

The elders have no clue what the youth is going through and this is exactly why we act the way we act, because our souls and spirits have been bared for exposure without any protection. Our elders no longer share their wisdom with us, they look at us like we are heathens who don’t know Jesus. So if I find out my roots it will not only shape my identity but my friends around me who actually believe that we come from an embarrassing background. If our elders won’t help us then we have to gain the knowledge and wisdom and help ourselves.

p.s.

This is what’s needed I know because when I share the information about ancient Africa and the beauty of present day Africa with my friends I see how their souls glow, I see the decoding of slavery and oppression begin to dismantle, and instead of them going out and getting back in some trouble with the police they come over my house and ask for me to share more information and their parents have no clue that they are gaining this kind of information because they don’t care they rather believe that they are up to no good. This is what the youth NEED!

To everyone else, thank you for your responses. There are still more chances to win a FREE TEST KIT. Answer our Week 2 question to enter for a chance to win. Our Week 3 question will be posted on 2/15. Plus, you can also sign up for our mailing list in February and be entered for a chance to win a FREE TEST KIT.

In 2010, African Ancestry is focused on connecting with our African Ancestry family, the black community and the continent of Africa in even more meaningful ways!

To get the fun started and celebrate the first Black History Month of the new decade, African Ancestry is offering ways to WIN FREE test kits and prizes—all month long!

WIN A FREE TEST KIT ON OUR BLOG (4 chances to win)!

Each week in February, we’ll post a new question here on the African Ancestry blog about ancestry and heritage. The most thoughtful answer wins a free MatriClan or PatriClan test kit! A new question will be posted every Monday starting on February 1st.

All winners will be selected by President, Gina Paige and Scientific Director, Dr. Rick Kittles, and announced the Friday following the last day of the contest.

Week 4 Question now posted! Answer it here for your chance to win!

WIN GREAT PRIZES ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER!

Throughout February, we’ll be randomly posting quiz questions about African American and African history on our Facebook and Twitter pages. The first person to answer the question correctly wins prizes like PBS’ African American Lives DVD, The Black Book 35th Anniversary Edition, African Ancestry gift certificates and more.

We’ll keep you posted about our blog contest on Facebook and Twitter too, so add us today!

Sign up for our mailing list throughout February and you’ll also be entered to win a free MatriClan or PatriClan test kit!

SPECIAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH PRICING: $275 per kit

Plus, we’ve discounted all African Ancestry MatriClan and PatriClan test kits down to $275 throughout February. You save $75! Order your test starting Monday at shop.africanancestry.com.

See Black History Month Sweepstakes Terms and Conditions.

Today I met with professors from George Mason University and Howard University about our Ancestry Education Project. The topic of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest report: Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds came up.

One of the key findings shows that Black and Hispanic youth consume significantly more media than White youth. “Substantial differences in media consumption emerge between White youth and Black or Hispanic youth, with the latter two groups consuming nearly 41/2 hours more media daily (13:00 of total media exposure for Hispanics, 12:59 for Blacks, and 8:36 for Whites). The difference between White and minority youth is largest for TV: Black youth spend an average of 2:18 more per day with TV than White youth.” (p. 37)

Now, we don’t need a study to tell us that the media our kids are consuming sends them very poor messages of who they are and what they can become. It’s alarming to now be told that our kids are spending ridiculous amounts of time engaged in media that feeds them negative images of self.

Then, I get back to my office and receive an email with a youtube video called “Scholar Ladies”. Thank goodness there are people out there who are using the power of the media to positively influence our kids. There is hope!

Among all of the coverage of the devastation in Haiti, I was pleasantly surprised to read the AP article about Senegal offering land to Haitians. The headline reads, “Senegal’s president offers voluntary repatriation and land to any Haitians that want to come”. President Abdoulaye Wade made this offer to our brothers and sisters in Haiti because they are the descendants of enslaved Africans, many of whom likely were taken from Senegal.

It is encouraging to see the intensive outreach to Haiti from all over the world. It is particularly empowering to see this type of outreach from Senegal. It is at the core of our mission at African Ancestry that we see ourselves differently and that we see Africa differently. I am glad to know that it works both ways.

Today, Dr. Kittles and I decided to make a commitment to Haiti as well. We are going to donate 2% of all African Ancestry sales this month to the CARE Haiti Earthquake Relief effort.

We encourage you to also find a way to give to the people of Haiti. There are many credible organizations that are on the ground in Haiti making a difference.

I’m excited about our newest partnership with the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the oldest African American fraternity in the United States!

Today marks their 103rd Founders Day celebration as well as the launch of the Brother Simon Alexander Haley Initiative. Through this initiative, African Ancestry will help Alphas across the country research their family histories and trace their ancestral pasts.

Over 30 years ago, it was Alex Haley, the son of an Alpha man, who opened our collective eyes to the rich and valuable histories of our families. We sat glued to the TV set night after night with a sense of pride in our African roots. Haley had a rare gift, the gift of family stories that had been passed down, intact, through the many generations. Sharing his gift with the world sparked an unprecedented interest in genealogy among African Americans.

Most of us quickly learned that we were not going to find our Kunta Kinte. However, Haley’s legacy lives today through genetic ancestry tracing. Technology enables us to make transformative connections with our African roots. We are honored that Alpha President Skip Mason chose to partner with African Ancestry to move his organization forward while keeping them grounded in their powerful pasts.

What started out as an evening celebrating DC-area teens who have beaten the odds, turned into a blog post to raise awareness about child slavery in Africa. I recently attended the Children Defense Fund’s “Beat the Odds” Dinner in DC where I met Martha Newton, Executive Director of the Touch A Life Foundation. Her organization is doing great work to financially support the care of Ghanaian children rescued from slavery.

There’s child slavery in Ghana? There’s child slavery in DC? What?! As African Americans, we still experience the psychological, economic, and sociological effects of slavery and its legacy, as individuals and as a community. The idea of our little brothers, sisters, and cousins living as enslaved people is unimaginable. Not here. Not today.

Her organization’s work led me to other sites and articles about the prevalence of child slavery not only in many African countries but also here in the United States (not to mention other parts of the world). Can you even begin to imagine children enduring a system of slavery today?

Please take a few minutes to educate yourself and your family about the present-day issue of child slavery and more importantly, how you can make a difference. Click on the images or the links below to get started. We’ve come too far and we have too much to not stand up for others.

MSNBC Story: One child speaks for the thousands in silent servitude

Oprah.com Story: Sold into Slavery