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Strictly in terms of phenotype, would an average African-American fit in amongst a group of Nigerian people? Or would the African-American stand out and be seen as being too light or mixed/exotic looking?
African Americans don't really look like any Africans from any particular country since Black Americans are a mixture of different African nationalities from all over the continent.
African Americans don't really look like any Africans from any particular country since Black Americans are a mixture of different African nationalities from all over the continent.
Black Americans descend from West and Central Africans mainly. According to some genetic studies, Nigeria appears to be the largest source of their ancestry. Of course they don't look identical since AA's have some other African influences, but I believe there's definitely a significant overlap between these two groups.
Black Americans descend from West and Central Africans mainly. According to some genetic studies, Nigeria appears to be the largest source of their ancestry. Of course they don't look identical since AA's have some other African influences, but I believe there's definitely a significant overlap between these two groups.
So, there you go. You just answered your own thread.
Well most black americans (traditional definition of ancestors who arrived during the slave trade) have some admixture on non-african genetics such as Native American and European. So no we dont look alike.
Strictly in terms of phenotype, would an average African-American fit in amongst a group of Nigerian people? Or would the African-American stand out and be seen as being too light or mixed/exotic looking?
The answer to both will be no. AAs typically don't have enough European ancestry (20%) to be light skinned, even within a Nigerian context, as there are more than a few brownskinned people in south eastern Nigerian.
Note that AAs are mixed with a variety of African ancestries, the largest being the Senegambia/Guinea, followed by Congo/Angola, and then by SE Nigeria/Cameroon. People from these regions don't look like each other, so there is no surprise that a typical AA, comprised of many different African ethnicities, and usually about 20% European will look like one.
And of course this is further complicated by the fact that many enslaved Africans who were dropped off in islands like Barbados and Jamaica, were transshipped to the USA, following a period of "seasoning". This being the process of breaking the spirit of a captured person so that they could be converted into a slave.
Well most black americans (traditional definition of ancestors who arrived during the slave trade) have some admixture on non-african genetics such as Native American and European. So no we dont look alike.
The majority of African-Americans have minor European ancestry, about 10-20%. That's usually not enough to affect a person's phenotype significantly. And the Native American influence is very minimal.
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