Why Do African Americans Have European Ancestry? (influences, slaves, origin)

[eastmemphisguy]

Yeah, photography wasn't invented yet in Jefferson's day.

[Atai J.]

Originally Posted by VGravitas

Overall, African Americans look different than Africans. They have much greater variation in skin color, hair texture, bone structure, and even hair & eye color. I once read that:

58 percent of African Americans have at least 12.5 percent European ancestry (equivalent of one great-grandparent);

19.6 percent of African Americans have at least 25 percent European ancestry (equivalent of one grandparent);

1 percent of African Americans have at least 50 percent European ancestry (equivalent of one parent)




Why is that? Why would African Americans have European genes?

From where did it originate?

Black women + white men = your answer.
Is it?

[thriftylefty]

In her book "Diary from Dixie," Marry Chestnut Boykin was told by a British visitor that Uncle Tom's Cabin painted Slave owners as evil. Marry Boykin responded by saying "The book saved us from the greatest indignity." It was assumed she was referring to Slave owners and their Slave mistresses. Wilberforce University founded in 1856 was a private school largely for the education of the offspring of white men and their slave mistresses. One of the reasons church leaders were early abolitionist, (the called it a moral wrong) was that too many White men were not ethically suited to own women.

[Matzinger]

A very interesting book is King's blood. Another reason was that mulattoes were more expensive, many were trained for clerical works and were considered smarter.

[Osito]

Either because of the history of slavery and rape that sometimes went with it, or black and white intermarriage/coupling.

[Motion]

Originally Posted by VGravitas

Overall, African Americans look different than Africans. They have much greater variation in skin color, hair texture, bone structure, and even hair & eye color.

1. Black Africans can have a variety of physical looks. Ethiopians and Ghanaians generally look different from each other.

2. Black-Americans being "black" has much to do with U.S racial standards. Many blacks in the U.S wouldn't be considered black in some other countries. Rapper Ice T is black in the U.S but in Haiti and Brazil each of those countries would view him as something else.

[The Dark Enlightenment]

Originally Posted by Bmachina

America is called the Melting Pot for a reason. Most people here are mix of many races, unless they are recent immigrants coming from a culturally/genetically isolated foreign country.

This notion is not supported by genetic evidence. A majority of white Americans have no non-European ancestry.

[VGravitas]

Originally Posted by Motion

1. Black Africans can have a variety of physical looks. Ethiopians and Ghanaians generally look different from each other.

Most slaves sent to the Americas came from along the Western coast of Africa, especially present-day Nigeria and Ghana.

[sbyman]

im black and my great grand father was white, so marriage i suppose.

[Rubi3]

Travel.