Should black americans recognize their european ancestry? (descent, Latinos, Scottish)

[TylerJAX]

One thing that you have to understand is that in the US, White and Black are as much cultural/historical/legal groups as they are any sort of racial or genealogical groups. I don't think most Black Americans would deny that many Black Americans do have European and even Native American ancestors, but this doesn't have any effect on their "Blackness" or identifying with being Black. This is fairly complicated due to factors such as: legal hypodescendancy, the fact that being Black has become less stigmatized is the US than other New World countries; the common historical experience of slavery, jim crow/segregation, and discrimination; forming a solid social block to combat racism and discrimination; etc. The ironic thing about hypodescendancy laws is that they formed a more coherent and well defined group to combat racism and discrimination even though the laws were racist and stratifying(more blacks=more slaves).

[Texan_Azteca]

If blacks have to acknowledge their European ancestry, then the 1/3 of American whites who have African ancestry must acknowledge theirs. Yes, there was a study that indicated 1/3 of white Americans have African DNA. Probably more who have Native American ancestry.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Texan_Azteca

If blacks have to acknowledge their European ancestry, then the 1/3 of American whites who have African ancestry must acknowledge theirs. Yes, there was a study that indicated 1/3 of white Americans have African DNA. Probably more who have Native American ancestry.

The mixture is there, but not to the degree you indicate. Do you have a source?

23AndMe is finding more like 3 to 4% of its customer base of those who identify as white having hidden African ancestry. The data base includes some people from modern Europe, so the percentage may be underestimated, but I doubt it will reach one third. The percentage of black Americans with European ancestors is about 25%.

This author is one of the ones who discovered hidden African ancestry and found it quite surprising --- of course --- and is trying to identify the source.

Our Hidden African Ancestry | The 23andMe Blog

The experience of Charles Holman is very relative to the question in the OP:

Your Genetic Genealogist

This article explains the difficulty in analyzing DNA in mixed African and Native American populations, which is confounded by the European ancestry admixture in both:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...an-dna-testing

[CMichele]

Per 23andMe and Gates ALL black Americans have admixture. They have yet to find a black American who is 100% African.

The admixture is almost always European so I don't understand the 25% info.


Gates believes that genetic genealogy is deconstructing the notion of race; never has FTDNA or 23andMe returned an African American’s testing results and reported 100% African, for example. In other words, science is demonstrating that things are much more complicated than we would have guessed without the benefit of DNA.

http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com...ouis-gates-jr/

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by CMichele

Per 23andMe and Gates ALL black Americans have admixture. They have yet to find a black American who is 100% African.

The admixture is almost always European so I don't understand the 25% info.


Gates believes that genetic genealogy is deconstructing the notion of race; never has FTDNA or 23andMe returned an African American’s testing results and reported 100% African, for example. In other words, science is demonstrating that things are much more complicated than we would have guessed without the benefit of DNA.

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. – The Genetic Genealogist

Thanks. It appears that the 25% figure is the average amount of European admixture in populations that self identify as African American:

Did You Know? Ancestry is Not So Black and White | The 23andMe Blog

[CMichele]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

Thanks. It appears that the 25% figure is the average amount of European admixture in populations that self identify as African American:

Did You Know? Ancestry is Not So Black and White | The 23andMe Blog

Yes, that is the figure that I've heard before as well.

[caribny]

Originally Posted by Mac15

Yes they should. They should stop being so uptight and just get over it.

If it were not for the European ancestry they would not be alive.

So should whites who have African ancestry acknowledge it, and yes more than a few do?

[nj185]

Genealogically speaking, I believe one should "recognize" whomever your ancestors were/are. It's especially helpful if you can somehow dig up the actual story behind the relationships.

That said, it's not always possible, and "mixing" carried/carries with it all kinds of ingrained messages. In general[& that doesn't mean everyone]for African Americans, is it often assumed that the relationship was non-consensual and a result of power vs powerlessness & abuse. For whites, it is often assumed that it was a perhaps loving but disguised relationship due to attitudes once prevalent about "race", but without the stigma of abuse.

I have done genealogies which disproved these attitudes for individual families but the archetypes exist. If I knew that whatever mix I had was the result of an unwilling abusive relationship no matter the ethnicity, I would acknowledge but not celebrate it. I am who I am.

[Sprite97]

Originally Posted by Mac15

Yes they should. They should stop being so uptight and just get over it.

If it were not for the European ancestry they would not be alive.

But the same can be said for white americans. Many whites american would not be alive if it were not for African ancestry. There were many black people passing for white (it still goes on today) and they married whites and had children, grandchildren, great-granchildren and so on who may look white and even have pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes and not even know (or some might actually know) that they have black ancestry.

Why doesn't white america embrace their african ancestry? Heather Locklear, Carol Channing, Carly Simon, Denise Richards, and Johnny Depp have. Will others follow their lead?

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Sprite97

But the same can be said for white americans. Many whites american would not be alive if it were not for African ancestry. There were many black people passing for white (it still goes on today) and they married whites and had children, grandchildren, great-granchildren and so on who may look white and even have pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes and not even know (or some might actually know) that they have black ancestry.

Why doesn't white america embrace their african ancestry? Heather Locklear, Carol Channing, Carly Simon, Denise Richards, and Johnny Depp have. Will others follow their lead?

Actually, they are.

Our Hidden African Ancestry | The 23andMe Blog