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Rebecca Lobo (basketball player) was the one whose great-grandfather was Jewish. Billie Jean King came up 100% European, which she said was "boring!" Good grief!
I also agree that they seem to be skimming over some of the details. For example, though they didn't find the identity of her Ashkenazi Jewish great-grandfather, they were able to determine that he represented the 10% Jewish in her overall results from the same kind of maps/charts most of us are familiar with. Dr. Gates mentioned "special" DNA tests (beyond what most of us get through FTDNA, 23andMe, etc.) were taken to isolate that, but if so, I wonder how one goes about it and how much it costs? Did they contact people who had already been tested to find a chromosome match?
If you recall, that when asked about knowing her ancestry, BJK had mentioned that it was said that she had some Native American in her lineage. Although I don't know what the protocol is with other DNA companies, when my DH presented the same exact "family folklore" tale to FTDNA for testing, they said they could run a special test to see if that was indeed correct. Although everyone in the family was sure that the test would prove the Native American lineage, when my DH got his results back, the paperwork simply stated "100% Indo-European".
When DH and I were watching this episode, I mentioned to him that BJK's family folklore sounded an awful lot like his. So when she got the results that simply said 100% European, I didn't find that odd at all since that is exactly what the test results said for my DH.
While I agree that the show was lax in showing the breakdown of ethnicity which is what a basic DNA test should provide, I suspect that when running the test for Native American ancestry, this special test itself is limited in scope to only proving or disproving the lineage through certain markers. But...I'm only guessing here .
If you recall, that when asked about knowing her ancestry, BJK had mentioned that it was said that she had some Native American in her lineage. Although I don't know what the protocol is with other DNA companies, when my DH presented the same exact "family folklore" tale to FTDNA for testing, they said they could run a special test to see if that was indeed correct. Although everyone in the family was sure that the test would prove the Native American lineage, when my DH got his results back, the paperwork simply stated "100% Indo-European".
When DH and I were watching this episode, I mentioned to him that BJK's family folklore sounded an awful lot like his. So when she got the results that simply said 100% European, I didn't find that odd at all since that is exactly what the test results said for my DH.
While I agree that the show was lax in showing the breakdown of ethnicity which is what a basic DNA test should provide, I suspect that when running the test for Native American ancestry, this special test itself is limited in scope to only proving or disproving the lineage through certain markers. But...I'm only guessing here .
RVcook
I think I caused some confusion by discussing two people in the same post. 1) I was pointing out that Rebecca Lobo was the one who was 10% Ashkenzai Jewish. 2) Billie Jean King was the one who thought she had Native American ancestry, but got 100% European.
My question was directed toward 1) Rebecca Lobo, and how they were able to determine a particular ancestor was "the one" who made up that 10% of her Ashkenzai Jewish profile. I didn't know they could do a test to determine from whom we get a certain percentage of our results. I didn't think it was that simple. Or is it? Can it be that exact? If anyone knows how and where to take these special tests that delineate which ancestor gave us our smaller percentages, I'd like to take one.
My question was directed toward 1) Rebecca Lobo, and how they were able to determine a particular ancestor was "the one" who made up that 10% of her Ashkenzai Jewish profile. I didn't know they could do a test to determine from whom we get a certain percentage of our results. I didn't think it was that simple. Or is it? Can it be that exact? If anyone knows how and where to take these special tests that delineate which ancestor gave us our smaller percentages, I'd like to take one.
They did not get that info from a test. They surmised that one of her great grandparents had to have passed down the DNA and they then ruled out 7 of the 8 by the ancestry, geography and other non-DNA factors specific to those 7, leaving the one who could not be ruled out.
I think I caused some confusion by discussing two people in the same post. 1) I was pointing out that Rebecca Lobo was the one who was 10% Ashkenzai Jewish. 2) Billie Jean King was the one who thought she had Native American ancestry, but got 100% European.
My question was directed toward 1) Rebecca Lobo, and how they were able to determine a particular ancestor was "the one" who made up that 10% of her Ashkenzai Jewish profile. I didn't know they could do a test to determine from whom we get a certain percentage of our results. I didn't think it was that simple. Or is it? Can it be that exact? If anyone knows how and where to take these special tests that delineate which ancestor gave us our smaller percentages, I'd like to take one.
Yep...totally misunderstood your point. Sorry about that...
Oh, no, Ken Burns has Tory ancestors who lived in *gasp* Canada!
I thought he was really cute and his emotions were genuine. He was so thrilled at the end to finally be related to Robert Burns. He's got a little bit of Abraham Lincoln too and he has happy about that. His documentaries tell the story of America and I guess he really must be a true, patriotic American. Moreso than I am--I have Tories but I don't care one way or the other. My Tories went to Canada too. It's just part of the story and you accept it for what it is.
I thought he was really cute and his emotions were genuine. He was so thrilled at the end to finally be related to Robert Burns. He's got a little bit of Abraham Lincoln too and he has happy about that. His documentaries tell the story of America and I guess he really must be a true, patriotic American. Moreso than I am--I have Tories but I don't care one way or the other. My Tories went to Canada too. It's just part of the story and you accept it for what it is.
I watched last night and it was pretty good. One thing I kept thinking though was about the Biggs family that went from West VA to Penn., had a farm and was part of the underground railroad. It kept coming to me that one of the people on Who Do You Think You Are? had an eerily same story, except they were white. I'm thinking Kelly Clarkson but could be wrong. Also was wondering if any of the Clarkson's in one of the family lines were related to Kelly's.
I was a little bothered by Professor Gates and Anderson Cooper chuckling about the ancestor who was killed by his slave. Now, I have a pretty dark sense of humor, and yes, I believe slavery was very wrong. But to laugh about this and chuckle about how he deserved it? Come on. The whole story was tragic for all involved, with the owner being murdered, and the slave then being murdered by a lynch mob. Horrible story, and they were joking about it like it was just a funny story of some zany screw-ball ancestor.
Then I was also annoyed when they said, more than once, that "contrary to popular belief, all Southerners did not own slaves." Popular belief? It was wealthy plantation owners who owned slaves, and the population of wealthy plantation owners was quite small compared with the general population, most of whom were poor or as least modest farmers or tradesmen. Who has this "popular belief" that all Southerners owned slaves? Professor Gates and his colleagues in academia. Then once they said that the poor ancestor and many other Southerners fought in the Civil War for the Southern way of life that they were not even a part of. Huh? I'm sure many of them would say they were indeed fighting for "the Southern way of life," and to the poor folks, owning slaves was not part of their idea of the southern way of life. I'm sure if you could go back in time and interview Confederate soldiers, they would not be saying "we're fighting for the right of the rich guys who also oppress us to own slaves!"
Of course slavery was wrong, and of course most people today, including myself, believe that the North was the "right" side. But many people down south still believe in the South's cause--not the slavery thing but the rights of States thing, and they are still supportive of their ancestors who fought on the side of the south. It's not like every ancestor who fought for the Confederacy was evil.
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