Ajuba Joy, Poet
Raleigh, NC

We Are Africa 2010 Road Tour - Raleigh from ralston smith.

We’re catching up y’all! Here are some visuals from the Road:

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On Friday we left Charlotte and went up I-85 toward the Triangle Area. We actually spent two days in the area. Friday was a free-day in which we all got to take a mini-break and explore some of the area. Kea, a UNC alum, showed Gina and Ralston around her old stomping grounds. I went over to Raleigh to catch up with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin who I hadn’t seen for years. Sometimes you never realize how much you miss people until you’re reunited with them later.

Saturday we had our Road Tour event in Raleigh thanks to amazing hosts Dr. and Mrs. Palmer at the African American Cultural Complex. It was a small event filled with big surprises. For me personally, I was able to have more of my family see what inspires me to research the impact genetic ancestry testing on African Americans. Dr. and Mrs. Palmer learned about their ancestry—the Balanta of Guinea Bissau and the Fang of Gabon, respectively.

The biggest surprise however was hearing that African Ancestry has groupies. Okay they weren’t groupies—after all no one came to the event to through panties at Ralston’s camera.

But after missing the Charlotte event, they were dedicated enough to travel the two hours to Raleigh to participate in yesterday’s event. And it was inspiring to hear such a story. Traveling on the road for a week straight, you realize that each venue is completely different. Sometimes the audience seems engaged and then sometimes you aren’t sure if they got lost between “Hello” and “Welcome.” And even though the goal of the tour is to help you guys, it is a business and we too have quotas that we try to meet to ensure we’ll be able to do the tour again. Most of the time it works out, but every once in a while when it doesn’t, you find yourself questioning whether or not you made the right choice and sometimes start to agree with the people who called you crazy for having and pursuing this idea in the first place. But then when you meet Anne Lambert and Danny Byers who traveled from Charlotte just to join us on the Road Tour, you realize that regardless of the tribulations you encounter on the road, this tour does have a purpose and their no reason for us to give up now.

And don’t worry, we won’t.

The four of us are ready to end the first half of the “We Are Africa” Road Tour in Richmond tonight.

And I also want to let you all know that along the tour, Gina has been inspired for African Ancestry to have a new goal. While it is great to help the general African Diaspora, the new focus of the company is to give the children knowledge and pride in understanding our roots. Whether they are two days old or 21 years old like myself, it’s imperative that we give the youngest in our community the opportunity to know—especially when it’s available. It’s not fair for our boys and girls to have to pretend to be from a country in Africa when their peers know. I know that when I have children ten years from now, I want them to know. And that’s why I’m waiting for my results. What, however, will you tell your children—because as a person who grew up in the 1990s wearing kente cloth outfits, no number of African hairstyles or clothing is enough to overshadow being devoid of knowledge.

We want to change that and we hope you do too.

Although it has been great going through the southern gulf states the first few stops on the tour, I was completely elated to finally bring the tour to my home state of North Carolina! Some call it North Cackalacky, but I have to say the most important thing was finally being in a place where people know that a Barbeque Sandwich is best served with vinegar and seasonings topped with hot sauce (not blasphemous barbeque sauce) and cole slaw. Not to mention all of my family and most of my closest friends are from the “First in Flight” state. After being abroad for a semester in Ghana and living in Maryland for the summer, it was good to finally be HOME.

On Thursday, we held our event at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture in North Carolina’s Queen City, Charlotte. We had a royal welcome: (1) Charlotte’s Cracker Barrel’s Kim was a phenomenal server; (2) we had our biggest turnout yet at an event, which was only fitting because (3) we were revealing the Queen City’s reigning King, Mayor Anthony Foxx.

The program began with a performance by Charlotte’s own African dance group Oneaka Dance Collective, providing drumming, traditional African dance to spoken word poetry.

The presentation was a tad bit different this time. The room in which the presentation was held had top to bottom glass window siding so screen powerpoint presentation was out of the question. Instead we used printout powerpoint slides, in which my sister and I were acting Vanna Blacks for the night. I guess it’s good to know that if my dream to become a genetic anthropologist doesn’t work out, I will be qualified to work on “Wheel of Fortune”.

In the end, however, we revealed that Mayor Foxx shared maternal ancestry with the Fulani in Nigeria.

I have to say Charlotte brought up some really great points during the question and answer session. Although we at African Ancestry are determined to help people of the African Diaspora trace their roots to people on the continent, it is not necessarily guaranteed that every person will get an African result. Consequently, one audience member asked Gina what database we reference when we receive a non-African sequence. We search the World Wide ancestry database. The interesting thing about the World Wide database, as Gina mentioned answering the question, is that Africa is ostensibly missing. Apparently the people who compiled that information felt that the second largest continent with the second largest population that is undeniably heterogenous failed to meet recognition standards for the World Wide database. All I can say is that it’s good that people like Rick and Gina realize that our questions deserve answers and are willing to do all that they can to provide the resources to do so.

Look here for video from the Charlotte event!

Today we’re off to Richmond for the last stop for the first half of the tour. We’ll be posting information about the Raleigh event soon!

We Are Africa 2010 Road Tour – moments from the road from ralston smith on Vimeo.

I grew up in DC, a daughter, niece, and cousin of generations of Howard University graduates. So, I am aware of the history and pride that are inherent in our historically black colleges and universities. They continue to play a very important role in the development of our community.

Queen Mother Carr

You can imagine how excited we were to be at the historic Jubilee Hall on the campus of Fisk University. You can feel the history in that place. There is a lot of pressure to deliver the message of our movement clearly and respectfully within those walls. The Nashville community made it easy! We had a great mix of people in attendance, from the Queen Mothers of the community to the Village Church to an engaged group of excited young people.

We were honored to reveal the ancestries of several people in Nashville. Ken West and Porcha Wofford were surprised by their Yoruba and Fulani roots in Nigeria. In fact, Ken guessed that his ancestry would be Nigerian. Rep. Brenda Gilmore and Dr. Jeff Menzise appreciated learning of their Grain Coast African roots. One of the ancestries that they share is Mende from Sierra Leone. Rep. Gilmore was pleased to learn from where she inherited her fighting spirit. Queen Mother shares ancestry with our photographer, Kea Taylor, and the Bamileke people in Cameroon.

Rev. Stephens, A Proud Mandinka Descendant

The highlight of the reveals was Rev. Stephens’ reaction to his Mandinka warrior roots!

Dr. Jeff Menzise

I’d like to publicly thank Dr. Jeff Menzise, a descendant of the Mende of Sierra Leone, for hosting us at Fisk. He provided an important perspective on the history of Fisk and its current challenges. Jeff is committed to the psychological development of young African American minds. Fisk is quite  fortunate to have him as a leader within the institution.

Do you know where you’re from? Be sure to check out our schedule and join us at an event near you.

Kijani

I’m a city girl. Through and through. The only cotton I’ve ever seen has been in a bag at the drugstore or dried in a floral arrangement. The creative spirits in the Road Crew wanted to capture some cotton plants along the way. The only problem was, noone was really sure of what the cotton plant looks like. No worries. We have our iPad to answer all of our Road Tour questions. We found a cotton field and I turned the camera on Kea. I tried to capture what I saw as she meditated on her feelings standing on the land in the heat.

After a long drive from Jackson, Mississippi we finally arrived in lovely Huntsville, Alabama. First thing I noticed about Huntsville was the rocket displayed on the side of the highway. Not something that we normally encounter. But soon I remembered Terrence Vickerstaff describing Huntsville as the Silicon Valley of south. What better symbol to highlight the city’s status as a top technology hub in the United States?

Last night’s event was held at Alabama A&M University at the Ernest L. Knight Center thanks to the University’s State Black Archives Research Center and Museum.

There were a few tables set up displaying information about genealogy–Terrence even had a display about his personal genealogical and genetic journey to trace his cultural heritage.

But at 6 p.m. the fun began and the only way to truly describe it was a family affair. It

Dr. and Mrs. Hugine

began with a traditional song of the Ga people in Ghana. Then, we unveiled the ancestry of President of Alabama A&M University Dr. Hugine and his wife Mrs. Hugine. Mrs. Hugine shared ancestry to people in Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and Sierra Leone but also discovered that she was also an African Ancestry cousin to Terrence in the audience. And Dr. Hugine learned about his roots with the Yoruba people in Nigeria by Gina, a fellow Nigerian.

The Scruggs Family

We also unveiled the ancestry of the Pastor of Huntsville’s First Missionary Baptist Church, Dr. Julius R. Scruggs. His wife and brothers accepted the results for the family (about half of the audience was a Scruggs!) and they learned that the family has cousins not only in Alabama but also across the Atlantic in the Central African Republic. The ancestors were truly reuniting kin both here and abroad.

Click here to view our photo album from Huntsville!

I don’t know how people do it. It has been so hard to blog while on the Road!  We get into our hotels very late and T-mobile wireless reception has been very spotty. We’re driving through the Chattahoochee National Forest now heading from Knoxville to Charlotte. We broke up the trip from Charlotte.  Seven hours was a bit much at midnight! When we got to Knoxville, we pulled up into the Ramada Limited. Thanks to Hotwire.com, we got a great rate for a truck stop hotel! The adventures continue…

On Monday we stopped through Jackson, Mississippi and I am certain that Africa is certainly embraced, exemplified and realized by the community. We could not have asked for better hosts for the event: The Afrika Book Café! Created by native Mississippians Rico and Chantae Chapman, I was inspired walking into a café that was filled with traditional African fashion, jewelry and accessories and overflowing with books that highlight different dimensions of the Black experience. It is indeed a space that invites people to engage in a dialogue about Africa and what Africa means to them.

Like New Orleans, we had an African Ancestry presentation. And even though we didn’t have any reveals, the highlight of the event was just simply mixing and mingling with old and new African Ancestry family members with great food and smooth beats provided by Jackson’s finest, DJ Phingaprint.

More pictures and video highlighting the Jackson event are on their way!

But for now, we’re on the road to NASHVILLE!

Also look out for highlights from yesterday’s event in Huntsville, AL! Finally, as a member of the Road Crew, I just want to let you guys know that all of your support since the beginning of the tour has been and continues to be a priceless gift cherished by all four of us as we travel from city to city.