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I just wonder what makes African ancestry so distasteful that many would rather find anything else but. The thought of a white American carrying any African originated dna seems more emotionally charged than if one carried the gene for some deadly disease like Tay-Sachs.
I just wonder what makes African ancestry so distasteful that many would rather find anything else but. The thought of a white American carrying any African originated dna seems more emotionally charged than if one carried the gene for some deadly disease like Tay-Sachs.
I don't think that is the case at all. There is nothing distasteful about having African dna. It is just that people are saying a lot of white Americans have African dna when this isn't what is being shown by dna testing.
A lot of Americans have had their dna tested and the vast majority don't have African dna nor do the have Native American ancestry.
I'm not American and don't have any baggage about this subject at all. I'm just stating the information I've read. If a lot of white Americans had African dna I'd report it.
I don't think that is the case at all. There is nothing distasteful about having African dna. It is just that people are saying a lot of white Americans have African dna when this isn't what is being shown by dna testing.
A lot of Americans have had their dna tested and the vast majority don't have African dna nor do the have Native American ancestry.
I'm not American and don't have any baggage about this subject at all. I'm just stating the information I've read. If a lot of white Americans had African dna I'd report it.
Exactly... I myself might have a very trace amount of African DNA and I'm a "White" American. I actually find it very interesting and am trying to confirm it through my parents DNA tests (with one grand parent still alive that might help me narrow down where it came from if it is in fact correct).
There is no distaste in my mind at all, though people are overestimating the likelihood of it. Most studies suggest about 5% or less of "White" Americans having any confirmable African DNA. That's why I'm hesitant to absolutely claim it myself, until I can confirm it further.
I (like many people involved in genealogy) value the truth above all. If it isn't true then it isn't genealogy, it's just fiction.
I also think people like to romanticize the past and think that there was a lot of intermixing. It's easy to forget that only 40-50 years ago we had the civil rights movement in America (which has been an ongoing thing, but a burst of strife and progress then). African Americans and their "White" friends tried to ride buses through the south (The Freedom rides). They literally were attacked in Alabama, their bus was fire-bombed. The local authorities hardly did anything (and at times watched)... They had US marshals come in while the city and state police did nothing. They eventually had to call in the National Guard to defend them in a local church.
People who were involved in that (which was a large amount, if not all, of the people there) are still alive. They have children, grand children, and great-grand children now.
That was 1961... not that long ago. That was about sharing a bus, nevertheless inter-racial marriage and children.
Yes intermixing happened, it always does... though again people forget how much was working against it happening and we owe it to our history (the good and the bad) to not forget it.
I don't think that is the case at all. There is nothing distasteful about having African dna. It is just that people are saying a lot of white Americans have African dna when this isn't what is being shown by dna testing.
A lot of Americans have had their dna tested and the vast majority don't have African dna nor do the have Native American ancestry. That's what their white kids and grandkids think is their ancestry because the blacks who passed never told them that they were black.
I'm not American and don't have any baggage about this subject at all. I'm just stating the information I've read. If a lot of white Americans had African dna I'd report it.
Okay, but a lot of black people were passing for white and married white spouses and had white kids, white grandkids, and so on. Those black people who passed usually claimed they were Italian, Portuegese, Spanish, or Native American.
I've read about many white people finding out that they do, in fact, have black ancestry, including a White Supremacist who was on a talk show.
Plus, I read a book where a black woman (who was passing for white) stated that many white celebrities appear white, but actually are black or at least have some signifcant amount of African ancestry. But it was not her place to name them. There are even lots of white celebrities who look like they have African DNA, even if they don't admit it, or perhaps they honestly don't know. But all races come from Africa.
btw -- I know of someone (not a friend, but an acquaintance) who passed for white and their spouse, kids, grandkids, great-grandkids have no idea. They think they only have Italian and Native American in their bloodlines. A few of the kids/grandkids are blonde and blue eyed with pale skin.
Okay, but a lot of black people were passing for white and married white spouses and had white kids, white grandkids, and so on. Those black people who passed usually claimed they were Italian, Portuegese, Spanish, or Native American.
I've read about many white people finding out that they do, in fact, have black ancestry, including a White Supremacist who was on a talk show.
Plus, I read a book where a black woman (who was passing for white) stated that many white celebrities appear white, but actually are black or at least have some signifcant amount of African ancestry. But it was not her place to name them. There are even lots of white celebrities who look like they have African DNA. It makes sense, since all races come from Africa.
The problem is that you are using "a lot" when you should be using "some."
Some, not a lot, passed for white. Some, not many, white people are finding out they have black ancestors. That includes some white celebrities.
That is why you are overestimating the number of whites with African ancestors.
All of us have genes that go all the way back to Africa, but that is not what we mean when we discuss admixture. We are talking about approximately 500 years ago, not many thousands, except for Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA.
No. I disagree. I mean there were a lot of blacks passing for white.
Do you have a source for that statement? Because the very act of passing resulted in severing ties with the black community. How do you count them? It was not an easy thing to do.
Okay, but a lot of black people were passing for white and married white spouses and had white kids, white grandkids, and so on. Those black people who passed usually claimed they were Italian, Portuegese, Spanish, or Native American.
I've read about many white people finding out that they do, in fact, have black ancestry, including a White Supremacist who was on a talk show.
Plus, I read a book where a black woman (who was passing for white) stated that many white celebrities appear white, but actually are black or at least have some signifcant amount of African ancestry. But it was not her place to name them. There are even lots of white celebrities who look like they have African DNA, even if they don't admit it, or perhaps they honestly don't know. But all races come from Africa.
btw -- I know of someone (not a friend, but an acquaintance) who passed for white and their spouse, kids, grandkids, great-grandkids have no idea. They think they only have Italian and Native American in their bloodlines. A few of the kids/grandkids are blonde and blue eyed with pale skin.
I tend to be emotionally involved in this subject because the scenario you describe is evidenced so much in my own family. I come from several generations of African-Americans that have had fair-skinned and fair-haired individuals, some who "passed" inadvertantly due to other peoples' perceptions of them. I don't have the actual numbers, but I tend to believe that the bloodlines crossed more frequently than most expect.
As far as the celebrities you mention, Carol Channing is a fair example.
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