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I have noticed some posters in this forum claiming that the average Afro-American is "very mixed". Some have even claimed to be as mixed as the average Dominican, for example. How true is this? I know the majority of African-Americans are not purely black, but are they really close to being 50/50 mulattos like Dominicans, or are African-Americans just predominantly black people with a little bit of admixture?
Last edited by Antillano89; 11-04-2013 at 08:40 PM..
There's no way to ever really know how "mixed" all 45 million African-Americans are unless they were all given genealogy tests.
But I think I heard a stat in the 2010 census that around 80% of African-Americans have at least 14% European admixture. This percentage can vary of course depending on how recent that admixture took place, but generally speaking, most Black-Americans are more African than anything else, which would eliminate the whole "50/50 mulatto" theory.
Most African Americans are in fact mixed race. I'm talking SPECIFICALLY about people that are descendants of the Africans that arrived to the 13 original colonies regions and states during the colonial period. The true ethnic African Americans are mostly a mixed race ethnic group.
Many other Afrodiasporic peoples have been falsely categorized as and lumped into the African American (AA) category. Black and AA do NOT mean the same thing.
There's no way to ever really know how "mixed" all 45 million African-Americans are unless they were all given genealogy tests.
But I think I heard a stat in the 2010 census that around 80% of African-Americans have at least 14% European admixture. This percentage can vary of course depending on how recent that admixture took place, but generally speaking, most Black-Americans are more African than anything else, which would eliminate the whole "50/50 mulatto" theory.
Well keep in mind that most African Americans are mixed race. Most have somewhere between 20% to 60% European ancestry.
And then there is also notable Native American ancestral lineage as well.
I have noticed some posters in this forum claiming that the average Afro-American is "very mixed". Some have even claimed to be as mixed as the average Dominican, for example. How true is this? I know the majority of African-Americans are not purely black, but are they really close to being 50/50 mulattos like Dominicans, or are African-Americans just predominantly black people with a little bit of admixture?
The very dark skinned actor Don Cheadle has 19% European ancestry per the DNA admixture test conducted during the PBS series African American Lives.
With the help of geneticists, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. put African American ancestry in these terms:
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); and
5 percent of African Americans have at least 12.5 percent Native American ancestry (equivalent to one great-grandparent).
Judging by those genetic studies, it looks like most African-Americans are around the "griffe" range, but even blacker than that. Most are not really close to being true "mulattos". And the native influence is less significant than it is among Dominican people. The way some posters have been talking around here, I would of thought that African-Americans would be much more admixed than that.
I have noticed some posters in this forum claiming that the average Afro-American is "very mixed". Some have even claimed to be as mixed as the average Dominican, for example. How true is this? I know the majority of African-Americans are not purely black, but are they really close to being 50/50 mulattos like Dominicans, or are African-Americans just predominantly black people with a little bit of admixture?
Most African Americans have some measure of non-subSaharan African ancestry but I would not use the term "mulatto" to describe the population. However, I also would not use the term "mulatto" to describe the average Dominican either.
Most African Americans have some measure of non-subSaharan African ancestry but I would not use the term "mulatto" to describe the population.
I'm aware of that, but that's not the question I was asking though. Everybody knows African-Americans are not purely black, the same goes for the majority of black people in the Americas. There's very few "pure" black people in the New World.
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However, I also would not use the term "mulatto" to describe the average Dominican either.
Why not? You don't like the term, or do you disagree with all the genetic tests done on Dominicans which have proven them to be "mulattos" on average, with a slight European predominance.
I don't buy Henry Louis Gates Jr. stats on African Americans. Not every single AA was tested. I think there is more info that is needed to be sought and found in regards to admixture. Better yet, I should just say I'm skeptical!
I would love to see him test more people from across the color spectrum.
Certain areas of the USA are said to have higher or more heavily mixed very mixed AAs than other parts of the USA but that would need more delved in research.
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