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Smith found white ancestors, but he also had a DNA test done to determine where his ancestors came from. He was 81% West African, 7% Native American, and the rest European. The woman who did the testing said that 81% African is high for a black American.
There is no way to test DNA and find out exact percentages like this. I don't doubt that Emmit Smith has roughly this ethnic make-up but it simply is not possible to find out percentages based on DNA.
DNA ancestry tests just analyze mitochondrial DNA (your mother's mother's mother's mother etc) and Y-chromosome (your father's father's father etc). This is actually a very very very small part of your total ancestry.
There is no way to test DNA and find out exact percentages like this. I don't doubt that Emmit Smith has roughly this ethnic make-up but it simply is not possible to find out percentages based on DNA.
DNA ancestry tests just analyze mitochondrial DNA (your mother's mother's mother's mother etc) and Y-chromosome (your father's father's father etc). This is actually a very very very small part of your total ancestry.
I've heard that it can be limited in terms of determining ancestry, but I think it at least gives people somewhat of an idea of their ancestral background.
Reggio Di Calabria, Italy & Messina, Sicily (one half)
Cork, Ireland & Tipparary, Ireland (other half)
AND PROUD!
No wonder you like Syracuse, you would fit in perfectly, as that's were a lot of the Italian Americans and Irish Americans in the area have their origins in those places.
No real clue, other than Ireland, and the only reason I know that is my mom's maiden name is Irish. No one in either of my families kept up that stuff, nor cared about it in the least.
Some of it depends upon where in the US the black people lived. The Gullah people on the South Carolina/Georgia Sea Islands are descended from African slaves who far outnumbered the white people living on the island plantations. After the Civil War ended, the white people abandoned their property and for generations the descendants of those slaves lived on the islands in relative isolation. Their white ancestry is no more than 3 - 4%, and their Gullah dialect still contains a lot of African words and grammar structure.
I also read that about 10% of Americans who consider themselves black have 50% or less African ancestry.
Yeah I've read about the Gullah for years. Clarence Thomas has Gullah ancestry and I think spoke it as a boy. Michelle Obama reportedly has some Gullah ancestry too.
On the other thing at one time states would deem a person "black" if they had one-eighth or more black ancestry. I think Mississippi went so far as to say you were black if you were one-sixteenth black, which occasionally got people declared black when they hadn't thought of themselves as such. Anyway although forced on the black population I think some just adopted it. Something like "If they would have treated you as black in the day for being one-eighth black, and you embrace being black, than we embrace you as black." You actually see that in many groups though. The Arab League I believe states that being an Arab is about "Sharing our culture, speaking our language, defending our honor" and some such. So at least officially there are Arabs who are substantially black African or something else "non-Arab." (Although if they define Arab that way then in a sense those groups are Arabs as if they see it as cultural maybe it is in a way. Although many Arabs don't exactly agree to the Arab League view, amongst themselves, and see groups like the Northern Sudanese as posers. Likewise I've heard many Lebanese, I think more Lebanese Christian, insist they are not Arab despite appearances)
I think 17-18% and "roughly 20%" are two sides of the same coin...
I was being a bit more specific and had evidence for my statement. That's why I posted it.....It also shows how it varies depending upon where you are in the country.
I'm Chinese and Mexican.
But I know for sure I have some relatives on my Mexican side (maybe about 5 or so generations back) that came from France and Spain...
I'm definitely not white American though.
No wonder you like Syracuse, you would fit in perfectly, as that's were a lot of the Italian Americans and Irish Americans in the area have their origins in those places.
I know, it's so ironic!
I recently came across the neighborhood Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, and on top of that there's a city called "Siracusa" in Sicily (otherwise known as "Syracuse").
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