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How can I claim something I don't know about? That probably doesn't exist anyway, and even if it did, if I told people they would laugh at me or be like"wtf?"
Well, there was a topic that suggested that black people should claim their white heritage.
However, we are finding that that only about 5% of self identified white Americans can be shown to have DNA from African ancestors. I would not consider that "a lot".
To me, "passing" implies keeping African ancestry a secret. That would account for the surprises some whites are getting when they get their admixture results back.
On one of the geneology shows, I *think* the first pbs one, but might be wrong, one of the people profiled had a grandparent who when traced back the family just sort of appeared, and yet they hadn't changed the name. Tracing the name led to another area, where a black/mulatto family had lived of the same name. They had dna traces done of both families and they were the same. For multiple generations the white portion had absolutely no idea. What was cool was all of them were quite happy to meet their distant cousins.
If a mixed race black moved on and assumed white status, its very likely they wouldn't have left a trail to follow for other generations.
Also, in the time before the race card sharply divided the shipped in help, contact and births between black indentured and white indentured were not uncommon, so whites who's ancestry goes back that far could have had a black ancestor or two from then.
No. It's from things I've read/seen........personal experience, library books, and TV specials, among other things. And white celebrities that hint of African ancestry.
First of all, you cannot go by appearance. If you see a "hint of African ancestry", you may be way off base.
Unless you can provide a source for statistics on the number of white Americans with black ancestry, you are merely expressing an opinion that there are "a lot." DNA is telling us that the number of whites with admixture is about 5%. Perhaps you consider 5% "a lot", but it is actually a rather small minority.
On one of the geneology shows, I *think* the first pbs one, but might be wrong, one of the people profiled had a grandparent who when traced back the family just sort of appeared, and yet they hadn't changed the name. Tracing the name led to another area, where a black/mulatto family had lived of the same name. They had dna traces done of both families and they were the same. For multiple generations the white portion had absolutely no idea. What was cool was all of them were quite happy to meet their distant cousins.
If a mixed race black moved on and assumed white status, its very likely they wouldn't have left a trail to follow for other generations.
Also, in the time before the race card sharply divided the shipped in help, contact and births between black indentured and white indentured were not uncommon, so whites who's ancestry goes back that far could have had a black ancestor or two from then.
Yes passing did happen, though DNA evidence suggests it was in fact quite rare... on the range of 5% or less of white Americans having any significant amount of African DNA.
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.
Passing did not entail severing ties with the black community. Many people were able to pass when they went to work, but when they went home or back to the colored community they would be "black".
You also had people that were openly known to have black ancestry but the white community accepted and embraced them as white even though it was known that they had black ancestry.
Keep in mind that the one drop rule only existed from 1931 to 1967. Not before or after. USA has been a mostly multilayered society and mulatto and other mixed race categories legally existed before the ODR began and after the ODR ended. IJS
First of all, you cannot go by appearance. If you see a "hint of African ancestry", you may be way off base.
Unless you can provide a source for statistics on the number of white Americans with black ancestry, you are merely expressing an opinion that there are "a lot." DNA is telling us that the number of whites with admixture is about 5%. Perhaps you consider 5% "a lot", but it is actually a rather small minority.
Nope. I'm not going off of 5%. Some might have 5%, but others have a lot more.
Nope. I'm not going off of 5%. Some might have 5%, but others have a lot more.
Ah, you are misinterpreting the statistic.
The 5% applies to the number of whites who have any amount of identifiable African DNA. In other words, five out of a hundred have some African DNA. Of those that do have African DNA, that amount could be 5% or it could be more or it could be less.
The other 95 out of 100 have no identifiable African DNA.
The 5% applies to the number of whites who have any amount of identifiable African DNA. In other words, five out of a hundred have some African DNA. Of those that do have African DNA, that amount could be 5% or it could be more or it could be less.
The other 95 out of 100 have no identifiable African DNA.
Where did you get the 5% statistic?
Certain things in our history were repeated until they became a mythology of sorts. While its true there was racial mixing during slavery, after while the antimiscegenation laws banned racial mixing and these were tightly enforced. Also keep in mind the late 1800s and 1900s up until the 1960s saw a huge influx of whites from Europe and that would have substantially lowered the number of whites with identifiable African dna. Go to places like the Northeast and the Midwest and a huge percentage of the whites have grandparents or great grandparents from wherever in Europe.
I personally think there's no such thing as passing. If someone LOOKS white, they genetically are MOSTLY European. You can't pass for something you're not.
However, the stories of passing remain big among some Blacks who have fantasies of passing (but they can't, they are obviously Black).
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.
A lot of white Americans are relatively recently arrivals to the US who came during the industrial age or afterwards! So they only way they'd be involved in mixing is if they were to marry a Black or other non white and have children together.
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