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By the way my African ancestry on my mom's side (this is from research no dna test) is Bakongo from the Northwest Angola area and the Coastal Congo. On my father's side I have not found out where we came from but it was probably Nigeria since I do not do dna test because they are not reliable for African Americans, Afro-Latinos, West Indians. I do know on my dad's side I had some ancestors that left Mississippi for Liberia in the 1800's. They are Americo-Liberians. They wrote a book about this called Mississippi in Africa.
By the way my African ancestry on my mom's side (this is from research no dna test) is Bakongo from the Northwest Angola area and the Coastal Congo. On my father's side I have not found out where we came from but it was probably Nigeria since I do not do dna test because they are not reliable for African Americans, Afro-Latinos, West Indians. I do know on my dad's side I had some ancestors that left Mississippi for Liberia in the 1800's. They are Americo-Liberians. They wrote a book about this called Mississippi in Africa.
It is very unlikely that your ancestry is from only one place in Africa. Indeed when many white Americans say that they are Irish, often its that they have an Irish last name, but might be even more German by ancestry.
Blacks of the transatlantic slave trade do not have last names, so we can trace, with some level of accuracy, using DNA samples. This will not track all of our ancestries, and we cant cast in stone the % that might be revealed. But will give some indication of which regions in Africa one might have ancestry.
Over time the descendants of people from various regions in Africa mixed with each other as specific ethnic (tribal) affiliations became less important. Many planters also preferred to mix the ethnicity of the slaves for fear that people from a single group, sharing their own language, could more easily mobilize to rebel. Also slaves from different parts of Africa had stereotypes. So the Igbo and Congo were seen as hard workers, the Yoruba/Benin were seen as good trades men. Slaves from the "Windward Coast" and Sierra Leone were renowned for rice farming, etc. So the slave owner procured slaves on that basis.
I just had my DNA ancestry test done so I did additional research and discovered these facts. Its completely unlikely that your father and mother will derive ancestries from only one place in Africa. And of course most of us have ancestries from other parts of the world as well.
The only cool Africans I have met have been from Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia or Congolese.
I am glad that you raise this point, though I need to inform you that Congo/Angola exported far more slaves than any other region in Africa (40% of the total). This trade was done by alliances between various African kingdoms/empires and the Portuguese. Given its small size Sierra Leone exported lots of slaves too. I am not sure that these people are any "cooler" than say people from Ghana. [Yes even other Africans have a tough time with Nigerians]
Indeed even as former slaves from the Caribbean/UK/Canada were settling in SL, and American blacks in Liberia, they had to fight against local chiefs who were still engaged in the slave trade, after it was declared illegal by the British. The local chiefs resented the unwanted attention to the region that their settlement brought, as the British did monitor that region to protect their "experiment". Indeed the men who were freed under the Amistad fiasco, after their return to SL, disappeared. It is suspected that some might have been recaptured and sold again into slavery.
So when the Reparations folks exempt the Arabs and the Africans from their debate they are being truly dishonest.
Yes one might argue that in certain ways the Transatlantic slave trade was worse in that it gave rise to a separate "caste" of people, whereas slavery in Africa and the Arab world didn't damn the descendants to the same degree. But slavery is slavery, and there were many actors involved. The African kings knew full well what they were doing, but, as with today's blood diamond trade, the money was too big a temptation.
Plenty of working-class AAs with roots in Minneapolis were living there when Somali refugees began coming over. They settled in poor neighborhoods where AAs lived. The clash between them and AAs was inevitable.
Somalis, though, have a very foreign, Islamized culture which comes off as hostile a lot of the time.
Most black Americans can trace some part of their heritage to Scots-Irish, Welsh and rebel British slaveholders. Many Africans were subject to colonial rule by continental Europeans. The influences on each persist to this day. Our differences come not from the expression of blackness, but in the type of "whiteness" that integrated (even if only a little) into our culture.
In the same way that a hillbilly from Kentucky shares many commonalities (and differences) with their Irish cousin in County Cork, it parallels the divergent yet coalescing cultures of AA's and Africans.
I agree with a lot of what's been said here. The two perhaps have skin tones in common...various hues ranging from timid caramel to bold mahogany...but outside of that not much holds them in a brotherly embrace. There are similarities brought on by historical struggles perhaps, but similar experiences don't make for similar outlooks and interpretations. I find it sad the two groups know so little of each other. I visited ATL some years ago and remember being told it was impossible I was from Africa, given I wasn't clad in a loin cloth. Comments like this were typically made by my black brothers and sisters. I've met quite a few AAs in my lifetime on my own home turf and found them to just be different; but it is not an uneasy difference. Us Africans find many differences between ourselves here, from community to community and nation to nation. I love my African people and I love meeting AAs, I just am careful to assume nothing and to give the relationship time to develop healthily. Time, caution and compromise are so empowering when it comes to building connections. I choose to be open-minded when meeting new people of any sort. I find AAs to be very caring and real, particularly the older ones. And from a more superficial perspective, I've noticed the two groups have a strong physical attraction to each other.
Most black Americans can trace some part of their heritage to Scots-Irish, Welsh and rebel British slaveholders. Many Africans were subject to colonial rule by continental Europeans. The influences on each persist to this day. Our differences come not from the expression of blackness, but in the type of "whiteness" that integrated (even if only a little) into our culture.
In the same way that a hillbilly from Kentucky shares many commonalities (and differences) with their Irish cousin in County Cork, it parallels the divergent yet coalescing cultures of AA's and Africans.
Yes that's true, and the same for West Indian blacks too. I am about 13% Celtic, not sure whether its Irish, English, or Welsh.
The same works in reverse too as many of these Celtics were culturally influenced by the Africans. Indeed the banjo (from Africa) is more used by the Scots Irish than by black Americans. Also Appalachian music has more tempo than that straight from Ireland.
It is very unlikely that your ancestry is from only one place in Africa. Indeed when many white Americans say that they are Irish, often its that they have an Irish last name, but might be even more German by ancestry.
Blacks of the transatlantic slave trade do not have last names, so we can trace, with some level of accuracy, using DNA samples. This will not track all of our ancestries, and we cant cast in stone the % that might be revealed. But will give some indication of which regions in Africa one might have ancestry.
Over time the descendants of people from various regions in Africa mixed with each other as specific ethnic (tribal) affiliations became less important. Many planters also preferred to mix the ethnicity of the slaves for fear that people from a single group, sharing their own language, could more easily mobilize to rebel. Also slaves from different parts of Africa had stereotypes. So the Igbo and Congo were seen as hard workers, the Yoruba/Benin were seen as good trades men. Slaves from the "Windward Coast" and Sierra Leone were renowned for rice farming, etc. So the slave owner procured slaves on that basis.
I just had my DNA ancestry test done so I did additional research and discovered these facts. Its completely unlikely that your father and mother will derive ancestries from only one place in Africa. And of course most of us have ancestries from other parts of the world as well.
Did you read my post? I said Bakongo, Nigeria (which can include many ethnic groups), and Liberia. Secondly I never said that was my full ancestry. I said that is what I have found so far in research for my African side. I am also Scots-Irish and Choctaw/Cherokee.
So do not feed me that Africans are not responsible in the slave trade.
I have no problem acknowleding African's role in slave trading. Slavery was common in many parts of the world at that time. I was just clarifying somethings with your comments about Africans "selling our ancestors into slavery". Well our ancestors are the ancestors of modern day west and central Africans also. Like I said many tribes that sold slaves to Europeans were also sold by another tribe themselves. Every tribe sold their war captives to Europeans.
I could join in this back and forth and defend Black Americans vs Africans but I will not. I purposely used Black instead of African because we are not African. Anyways biafra said only Black women work as janitors. Where do you live? Cause you really only find Black maids now in the South and Caribbean ones in New York. Most low level jobs elsewhere are done by Mexicans. Also I will add that I made the mistake of marrying an African woman from Kenya before my current (American born Black wife). I would also advise Black Americans not to marrying Africans. Africans have silly cultural traditions that do not mesh with American values. My African ex-wife abandon our marriage twice to go to Canada with her parents. Second time said she was not coming back and it was her duty to stay and help her parents (and they were not sick or anything. One is a professor and government worker and the other worked). Then she tells me she is pregnant supposedly with my child and if I try to get custody she will take him to Kenya and I never can see him. After he is born he is given a Kenyan Kalejin name and her father's last name. Anyways my point American Blacks should not marrying Africans.
The only cool Africans I have met have been from Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia or Congolese.
I place the blame at the feet of Caucasions. They brought the ships and the guns.
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