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Unless you are a recent immigrant from Africa - you are almost guaranteed to be part white. The average black person is about 24 to 30% white and a little bit Native American.
It is nothing to be ashamed of, as I said, virtually all black Americans are about that much white. If it makes you feel better, many whites have some black ancestry and don't know it....and then tragically find out...
Oh yeah. Thanks for the wonderful news. You've just brightened up my day.
I hope you're happy. SMH
It seems a petty ignorance for the author to (1) be so upset at finding out she is part white and to (2) be an educated person that did not realize that virtually all African-Americans have a similar genetic make up to her results.
It is almost as if she viewed white people as the enemy that victimizes her, so when she discovered that she was about a third white she felt betrayed by herself.
Could you imagine the outcry if a white person wrote a similar emo article if she discovered she was part black?
The author of the article did an ancestry test with her DNA. Contrary to the claim by word of mouth that she was part native American, she is 31% white and 0.6% Native American.
Of all the emotions which materialized from the results, the two strongest were disorient and shame. I thought the results would simply confirm what I was told by my family; instead they discredited their allegations.
This has apparently turned her world upside down for now.
It’s as if I’ve obscured the one thing which has guided me since I was nine years old… my heritage. Even back then I believed in Black power, creating drawings in art class titled “A Strong Black Nation”, featuring black construction paper hands reaching for the sky. Along with being a millennial and being a woman, being Black enlivens me. I’m personally and professionally compelled to clarify misconceptions and elevate all three of my squads. As inappropriate (but honest) as it sounds, I’d discovered I had the so-called “superior” race running through my veins, and never before had I felt so inferior.
She ends the article well claiming that the world is a melting pot, and it is better because of it.
While I’m no Rachel Dolezal, I must accept the fact I do have White ancestors. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but quite honestly, the road to acceptance will not be an easy one for me to travel.
I appreciate the honest assessment of her plight. I guess this is where a lifestyle based on identity has failed her, because her identity isn't what she thought it was.
To me, it's much easier to take people as individuals. There are good and not-so-good people in all races.
Agreed. It's about the individual. Too many are trying to be what they based on their race, sex or religion. People do not do things because they are black, or male or American or Christian. They do things because of what's inside them. Always judge the individual on their actions.
It only took 12.5% to be black via the one drop rule so she is still black.
Even the "1 drop rule" is dying, at least with white people. Donna Summer's granddaughters through her 1st daughter are as "white" as they can be with their blond hair, DayGlo white skin and so on. MOST hardcore white supremacists WOULD look the other way cause those young ladies may be "whiter" than them.
LMAO...I knew the Lumbee Indian thing was a canard. They don't look the least bit Native American.
When were their DNA tests done in a study?
You're white. You have the luxury to be smug. You can easily trace your history.
African Americans would be just as smug if they knew their identities. You simply can't relate. I understand what you're saying, but you don't share our unique history and our frustrations aren't your frustrations on this issue.
Yeah. But still, it's more complicated than that. We WANT to be black just like everyone else wants to be what they think they are. Identity is important when it's so intrinsic to who you are and where you were raised. In the United States, race is deeply embedded in the fabric of this nation. 600,000 people died because one section of this country wanted to hold on to an institution that codified white supremacy. That doesn't just vanish from the history books because we find it painful to come to grips with.
There was a voluntary DNA study done. I read a few years ago that the Lumbee were still trying to gain federal recognition as an Indian tribe and that they would not fully participate until their status is solidified.
I have a line of my family from Robeson County, North Carolina, which is where a large amount of Lumbees still live. I have pictures of this family from the 1870s-1900s and they look like regular black people lol.
Here is a long report done on the initial DNA tests of people with surnames associated with the Lumbee tribe and others who claim they are members. DNA Explains: Where have all the Indians gone. From the link about the Lumbees:
Quote:
A 96% non-Native frequency is unexpected high within the Lumbee project, a group who is unquestionably of Native origin, and significantly higher than the Malhi (2008) project‟s highest admixture finding of 88%. This rate may infer either earlier or more pronounced non-Native admixture, one source of which could be the Lost Colonists who also figure prominently in the oral history of the Lumbee, a Native group who claims to descend, in part, from a group of Europeans.
Bolds added by me. The link is a pretty long report that discusses the history of various present day tribes and their DNA results based on a 2009-2010 testing. The Lumbee was a tribe that had the highest amount of "non-Native" DNA admixtures, meaning they were significantly NOT native. FWIW, on this link and on the Family Tree DNA project for Lumbees, they list the surnames associated with Lumbees and one of the ones I mentioned earlier is associated with them - Bass, as is another who are people I have pictures of - Morgan (this family moved from NC to Michigan after a stint in Haiti and Canada). Also the Jones family and I have 2 Jones families in my own genealogy, one looks mixed race, the other not really.
Most people today believe that the Lumbee were a "tri-racial" people. They have some sort of distant native ancestor but are majority European and African admixtures. I'm trying to convince my grandfather to test his DNA and I do think he will.
My mom, his daughter is going to do so as well. My dad, whose grandmother was my "quadroon" great grandmother is also interested in testing. I'm going to test all of them and maybe some older family members. DNA test only go back so far and I'd rather test my older relatives than myself as they would be closer genealogically than myself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by No_Recess
I look like a very dark Puerto Rican but have no known roots there.
Never had a DNA test. The mixed bag I know I am from word-of-mouth is fine. I'm me. Not an ancestor.
Just wanted to note you are a combination of your ancestors. So you are your ancestors. And you asked earlier if I am part white - I am. I stated I have not taken a test so don't know percentages but I have traced my family back via research from 6-10 generations and I have recent European ancestry via two of my 8 great grandparents. My "quadroon" great grandmother's paternal ancestry is from Scotland. I have met quite a few of our distant cousins on this line as they are very into genealogical research and all of them have tested and most have about 2% native ancestry and the rest split between black (African) and white (European). Most of them are more white than black and almost all of them could "pass" for white. My dad and his family are very light skinned. A couple of my cousins also have East Indian hits and we have discussed the fact that one of our distant relatives was probably an Asian Indian slave in the colonial period. Not many of them were brought here but they did have a presence in the colonies and one in particular is well known about on this line as they lived in the town the family settled in Indiana in the early 1800s.
Genealogy and ancestry research is an interesting hobby and especially for those of us interested in the history of this country. It is interesting to me that all of us with very early colonial ancestry are connected in some way. I'm a member of a few genealogical groups and most of the people who I share some surname lines with when I do additional research, I find we are very distantly related whether they are black or white or in between. I actually have a lot of white distant family members who did not find out they were "part black" until they took an ancestry DNA test.
It seems a petty ignorance for the author to (1) be so upset at finding out she is part white and to (2) be an educated person that did not realize that virtually all African-Americans have a similar genetic make up to her results.
It is almost as if she viewed white people as the enemy that victimizes her, so when she discovered that she was about a third white she felt betrayed by herself.
Could you imagine the outcry if a white person wrote a similar emo article if she discovered she was part black?
Not sure where you get the bold from
The lady said her family told her she was native American. All I took from the article was that she believed her family and was excited to find out "how much Indian" she was and was disappointed to find out that she was not native American.
She didn't mention being victimized...
FWIW I did mention one of my great grandmothers also had an Indian story and she even made up a story about visiting a reservation and told me this (I have it on tape) when I was a teen and was interviewing her when I started out researching our family.
This great grandmother didn't like white people. She thought they were morally inferior to black people because of whites perpetuating discriminatory acts against people of color and various other reasons. I feel she and her mom probably made up the Indian story in order to not admit they were part white. They didn't like white people.
I think this woman felt betrayed by her relatives who told her she was native, not by "herself." I was also upset when I found out that my great grandmother lied to me, on tape!! I wish she was still alive because I would love to talk to her about the lies and we could laugh about it.
She's upset by it because she wants to be black no more so than you want to be white! She's stupid for being so naive, but these things happen when your heritage is nebulous and records are poor.
People wanna know where they come from. African Americans feel robbed, and for good reason. It's easy for you to be smug because your name reveals your heritage. Blacks look at their surnames and see that they're meaningless.
Yeah, Skip Gates accepts it...but not without lots of consternation. And he still considers himself to be black.
I'm not being smug about anything. And I really only know about two or three generations back on my ancestry, though my sister's DNA test revealed we are 51% Irish and never knew it. We also have some Jewish ancestry. I just thought it was interesting because the past is the past. And I'm just as ignorant of it as you are (though for poor record keeping mostly and not through kidnapping and enslavement).
And my surname is meaningless too, because who knows if it's not something that was changed at Ellis Island? What's the point of taking the DNA test if it's just going to **** you off? We all know African Americans have white in them. Otherwise, you would look like Africans. Why did they make a point of the difference if not for that reason?
The past is the past. I just can't get worked up over stuff that happened two to four hundred years ago.
It seems a petty ignorance for the author to (1) be so upset at finding out she is part white and to (2) be an educated person that did not realize that virtually all African-Americans have a similar genetic make up to her results.
It is almost as if she viewed white people as the enemy that victimizes her, so when she discovered that she was about a third white she felt betrayed by herself.
Could you imagine the outcry if a white person wrote a similar emo article if she discovered she was part black?
There is the whole black is beautiful movement though. That was created for good, defensive reasons decades ago. We're going to get a few people who are just really into their culture as a kind of hobby. I don't see much of are reason to worry about it.
I'm not being smug about anything. And I really only know about two or three generations back on my ancestry, though my sister's DNA test revealed we are 51% Irish and never knew it. We also have some Jewish ancestry. I just thought it was interesting because the past is the past. And I'm just as ignorant of it as you are (though for poor record keeping mostly and not through kidnapping and enslavement).
And my surname is meaningless too, because who knows if it's not something that was changed at Ellis Island? What's the point of taking the DNA test if it's just going to **** you off? We all know African Americans have white in them. Otherwise, you would look like Africans. Why did they make a point of the difference if not for that reason?
The past is the past. I just can't get worked up over stuff that happened two to four hundred years ago.
Just wanted to note that changing surnames at Ellis was not done. Sometimes they would Americanize the spelling but not change them. Surnames have been spelled in various ways for generations even within this country. Immigrants sometimes later changed them themselves, especially those of Jewish heritage or ethnic Europeans who were looked down upon like the Polish would change their names.
Also FWIW blacks, after slavery,a significant amount of them did not keep their master's surname and they made up their own as well.
Nearly all [...] name change stories are false. Names were not changed at Ellis Island. The proof is found when one considers that inspectors never wrote down the names of incoming immigrants. The only list of names came from the manifests of steamships, filled out by ship officials in Europe. In the era before visas, there was no official record of entering immigrants except those manifests. When immigrants reached the end of the line in the Great Hall, they stood before an immigration clerk with the huge manifest opened in front of him. The clerk then proceeded, usually through interpreters, to ask questions based on those found in the manifests. Their goal was to make sure that the answers matched. (p.402)
Also, not all immigrants came to America via Ellis Island. There were other ports of entry.
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