This week I received an email with a link to an excellent article. It is written by a Kenyan writer and director of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Literature and Languages at Bard College, Binyavanga Wainaina. His satirical look at how not to write about Africa underscores part of the mission of African Ancestry: to transform the way that people view Africa. Those of you who prefer to read the article can click here.
How do you think about Africa? Take some time today to view it through a different lens!
Two weeks ago extraordinary attention was placed on the family history of our first lady, Michelle Obama. Her mixed ancestry was found to be a surprise by many Whites in America. Similarly, the European and East African ancestry of President Obama was seen as an exotic mix. For African Americans, mixed ancestry is no surprise; it is part of our history and can be uncovered in most families through traditional genealogy research as well as DNA testing.
The story of Melvina Shields, the great-great-great-grandmother of Michelle Obama who was enslaved and impregnated by a white man is a consistent theme heard in many narratives of African American family history. Noted sociologist, E. Franklin Frazier, explained in “Black Bourgeoisie” that the nearly 600,000 mulattoes in the U.S. in 1860 were mainly the result of the sexual association of white men and enslaved African women. We also see this reflected in the DNA of African Americans. When we test the paternally inherited Y chromosome DNA we find that 3 out of every 10 (30%) African American men have European Y chromosomes while less than 5% of the maternally inherited mtDNA is of European ancestry. This is called sex-bias gene flow and is largely the result of the behavior of many slaveholders and/or their male relatives.
The increased focus by the media on uncovering white ancestry in African Americans is interesting to some but is also disturbing to others, especially when these stories portray mixed ancestry as the reason for African American achievement. It is important to understand all of your family history. However, for most African Americans, including Michelle Obama, we cannot trace our family history using traditional methods beyond the Melvina Shields and others enslaved in the mid 1800s. This is because of the lack of adequate records on the enslaved and why DNA testing offered by African Ancestry is so important and exciting to African Americans.
The recent posthumous pardon of Tom Joyner’s great uncles is a great lesson. It teaches us the value of family and the value of persistence.
In 1915, Joyner’s great-uncles, Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed in 1915 for a murder they didn’t commit. After they were electrocuted, his grandmother (their sister) was moved to Florida and was never told the story of her brothers. So, the Joyner family had always believed that their family history began in Florida. When researchers for the series African American Lives II told Tom about this part of his family’s history, he set out on a mission to have his great uncles pardoned.
While the pardon is something to be celebrated, I think the bigger lesson here is the importance of researching your family’s history. Our elders hold so much information about our family’s collective and individual experiences. Sometimes these experiences inform our personal experiences in ways that we don’t even realize.
One Thanksgiving, my father’s family sat around a large table discussing a plan to purchase the house next door to my grandparents’ house. The conversation turned to getting the mortgage and we began laughing about how no one in the family had “a job”. We were all self-employed. That lead to my grandmother sharing a story about the family work history. She and my grandfather had owned a barbershop and grocery store for most of their adult lives. Her father (my great-grandfather) built houses in Virginia, where she grew up. His father made the cinderblocks that were used to build the houses. Apparently, I come from a long line of entrepreneurs! When we traced one of my father’s lineages to the Hausa of Nigeria, I then learned that the Hausa women were the business people of the culture. Who knew that the line of entrepreneurship was that long!
My African Ancestry Experience has allowed me to meet some amazing people. Today has brought yet another one of them into my life. Sheila Kenner stopped by the office today to pick up a MatriClan Test Kit.
Sheila at the African Ancestry Headquarters
Her brother, who is the family genealogist, turns 50 on Saturday and finding their roots is her gift to him. She told a story of getting her sisters’ opinion of her gift idea. She wanted them to guess what it was, so she gave them the following clues:
“It is tangible, although you can’t kick, see or touch it. It will touch you and you can feel it deep down inside.”
“It’s not a trip, although it does involve a journey.”
“It involves technology although it doesn’t require upgrading. It can be built upon.”
“You may only use it once although its usefulness and value will serve over and over.”
“It is a mirror unto yourself that helps to you to see, project, and appreciate a bigger picture.”
All of us in the office were touched by the depth of her perceptions of our service. I had to share it with you. We’re excited to get her brother’s reaction to his gift and the entire family’s African Ancestry Experience. I’ll let you know what happens!
Oh, and by the way, her sisters are getting him a GPS. He’ll have two tools to help him navigate through life!
There is no peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Do you know that years of combat, sexual violence, and other humanitarian abuses are devastating this country?
Do you know that it is considered one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world?
Do you know that coltan, considered to be the “blood mineral” of the Congo, is believed to be financing this crisis? Coltan is used in the production of popular electronics like cell phones and DVD players.
Congo Week 2009 (www.congoweek.org) will take place October 18-24. Please take a few moments to visit their site and learn more about how you can educate yourself on the Congo and how you can make a difference.
Here are some other links that provide information about the current conflict. Check them out or find some others on your own. Then share what you’ve learned with a friend, family member, or colleague.
African Ancestry has provided these links for information purposes only. Their content does not necessarily reflect the views of African Ancestry or its employees.
On Thursday, September 17th, African Ancestry was invited to a graduation ceremony in mid-town Manhattan. But not the kind you might expect.
This was the culmination of a project called Journey For Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service fostered by The Angelrock Project and its Founder and Director, Malaak Compton-Rock. Aimed at providing a life-changing experience for at-risk youth, Journey For Change targeted 30 youths from Bushwick (an area of Brooklyn) between the ages of 12 – 15 with the hopes of empowering them to live a life of purpose and service.
Last summer, all 30 youth traveled 8,000 miles to South Africa to volunteer in shantytowns and help disadvantaged children, while learning to appreciate the advantages they had here in the US.
We were touched and moved by these kids and their journey when we first saw it on CNN’s Black in America 2, so you can imagine our excitement when Malaak Compton-Rock reached out to us several weeks ago. As many of you know, we tested her husband, comedian, Chris Rock on PBS’ African American Lives I, and she wanted to give that same gift to these kids at their graduation ceremony.
It was quite a magical experience. Of the 30 students, 24 have African ancestry, 5 have Native American ancestry, and one has European ancestry. Watch CNN’s recap of the evening and interview with one of the teens, Donovan.
Below are also some pictures from the evening:
Malaak Compton-Rock
The boys of Journey for Change
The girls of Journey for Change
At African Ancestry, we believe that every young person should know their roots. Any field that they can dream of pursuing was created in Africa: dance, medicine, music, law, math, science…the list goes on. I encourage you to engage a young person in your life in an exploration of the African origins of one of their favorite things or subjects.
Thank you Malaak for allowing us to be part of this journey for change. Visit The Angelrock Project at www.angelrockproject.com.
My maternal grandmother, Margaret Marianno, turns 90 today. We are blessed to have a living part of our family’s history here with us to share ninety years worth of stories and experiences. I encourage you to look at the living history in your life. Give them the opportunity to leave a legacy that can be passed on to future generations. Don’t wait until next week, next month, or next year. Document their stories and experiences today!
From the Mandinka yell to the Fulani queen strut, discovering your roots inspires a tremendous sense of pride and powerful connection. After more than six years on the front lines of delivering this transformational information, I thought that I had seen every possible type of reaction to finding your family’s roots. People are overwhelmingly happy about their results. But sometimes….the reactions aren’t so positive.
One thing we experience every time we send a batch of results is…the call. The call almost always begins with, “I think you sent me the wrong results”. The call almost always comes from someone who has just received a letter saying that their paternal ancestry is found in Europe. For some reason, probably an emotional one, many people cannot get their heads around the fact that there is a white man in their paternal line. “My father is African American.” “My father is as dark as tar.” These are just two of the many justifications that we get for why there cannot be a white man in their paternal family tree. After about 10 – 20 minutes discussing the behavior of slaveholders and slave traders, the intellectual psyche kicks back in and folks give in to the possibility.
Occasionally we get the call from people who are upset because their results are not Native American. This reaction does not surprise me either. If your family’s oral tradition has told you that your great great grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee with long straight black hair and a finely shaped nose, and then we find that her maternal roots are African, I can see where you might be disappointed, upset, or maybe just embarrassed.
But what still has me scratching my head is the call I got from a Black woman who was upset because her paternal roots were AFRICAN! She was ashamed to tell her family that their paternal ancestry was African since they had believed for so long that they were descendants of a plantation owner. One possible explanation was that the story got passed down through the generations incorrectly. Questioning the oral tradition would be difficult. Another possible explanation was that the information showing “mulatto” were recorded incorrectly. Questioning the validity of the genealogy research would also be difficult. And yet another possible explanation was that the man who took the test wasn’t actually part of the family line. That was definitely a can of worms that she didn’t dare (nor did she want) to open.
These experiences reflect the power and emotion involved in discovering your roots. While it is difficult for some of us, for most of us the African Ancestry Experience is deeply enriching and exciting for our entire family. Whatever their origin, our roots are an important part of who we are.
I remember as a young person frequent family reunion gatherings with games, trivia, good food, and lots of excitement. New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia are cities that come to mind when I think about the memories.
Family reunions have come a long way! One of our African Ancestry Family Members, Melvin Collier, recently helped to organize the reunion of the Beckley and Reed families. They learned of their common ancestral tie to a slave couple, Lewis and Fanny Barr in Abbeville, SC. The couple had been separated and taken to different parts of Mississippi, given new surnames, and never saw each other again. In August, over 250 family members paid homage to their history by coming together for the first time in 150 years. The event included a bus pilgrimage to the family cemetery, a gala dinner, and the reveal of their African roots.
I am excited about attending an even BIGGER family reunion event this weekend…the Tom Joyner Family Reunion in Orlando!
This is our second year partnering with Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores and Tom Joyner during this major Family Reunion event. Last year, we revealed Sybil’s ancestry as well as the ancestries of the contest winners. Listen to the 2008 Reveal. This year we’re back to share the African Ancestry Experience with Tom and his family of listeners. We will have a booth in the Expo hall if you’re in the area, stop by and say hello!
Today a friend showed me a picture of his adorable 1 year-old daughter dressed up as a princess. The picture was taken at a birthday party where the boys (3 – 6 year olds) were superheroes and the girls were princesses. I immediately “attacked” him questioning why the girls couldn’t be superheroes. Why, I asked, did they have to be princesses? (I had just finished reading The Warrior Method by Dr. Raymond Winbush.) My concern was that the boys were being conditioned to view their sisters as stereotypes. Of course my friend thinks that I was blowing it out of proportion.
Well, for the record, I have no problem with our girls being princesses. Princesses come from Queens. And, most importantly, Princesses become Queens!
Queen Nzingha of Angola defeated the Portuguese repeatedly when they refused to respect the country’s peace treaty. She was smart, strategic, charming, beautiful, strong, and well-respected.
Queen Amina of Nigeria was famous for her bravery and military exploits and was successful in conquering cities to extend the state of Zazzau. She was also an architect known for creating strong mud walls to protect her military conquests.
Queen Yaa Asantewa of Ghana was an Ashanti leader. She led the rebellion against British colonialism known as the War of the Golden Stool. When the Asante government couldn’t agree on how to rescue their king from exile by the Europeans, Queen Yaa Asantewa is quoted as saying “…if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.”
I encourage you to spend some time learning about our superSHEroes and share the knowledge with the superheroes and princesses in your life!
i am back here again, to my suprise, i was lookingat 1835 cherokee east census-georgia, pretaining to the new echota treaty.my parents, my grand parents and my great...
Even if she was a disappointment—no, a torture—to them, they remained a comfort for her. Hed tried to get his men to turn back, then, when they wouldnt, to fight. Gala chuckled softly....
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This was the culmination of a project called Journey For Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service fostered by 
