Africans have world's greatest genetic variation

[Number23]

Fascinating!

Africans have more genetic variation than anyone else on Earth, according to a new study that helps narrow the location where humans first evolved, probably near the South Africa-Namibia border.

The largest study of African genetics ever undertaken also found that nearly three-fourths of African-Americans can trace their ancestry to West Africa. The new analysis published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science.

Article here

Since the roots of all human life sprung from Africa, this study is being used to determine why certain populations are more susceptible to disease than others.

The study also found that about 71 percent of African-Americans can trace their ancestry to western African origins. They also have between 13 percent and 15 percent European ancestry and a smaller amount of other African origins. There was "very little" evidence for American Indian genes among African-Americans, Tishkoff said.

I've never had the first clue about my African ancestry. I have never thought that I was personally strong enough to research the particulars of how my African ancestors reached these shores. For some reason, the idea that 3/4 of black Americans come from one region is comforting and immensely distressing at the same time.

[jmm]

1. I could joke about how crushed some people would be

to learn they don't have American Indian genes but I'll be good O8).

I'm fortunate to have people on both sides of my family into genealogy so I don't have to know much about research but from what I do know occasionally you can get lucky when it comes to finding info.

As my Irish grandfather likes to say go back a few generations and everybody is named Patrick. Add to that all the people who like to confuse fact with family legend and there's not much reliable info on the Irish, French, and Scottish ancestors on my mom's side of the family but there's a surprising amount of good info about the black, Native American, and Chinese ancestors on my father's side.

[Number23]

2. lol I was sooo tempted to do the same thing

There goes that "my family has good hair because we have Indian in us" argument. lolol :)

I know precious little about my family history. The only thing I do know is that my great-grandmother (maternal) was one of the most beautiful, celebrated mulattos on the GA/FL border, according to my grandfather (her son) anyway. Of course she was never claimed by her father and her children were denied any and everything that may have even come in their direction by way of inheritance because they weren't lily white. (I'm also fairly certain that he was married at the time which would have made him an adulterer who had a child with a black woman. In that time though, I think the latter part of that sentence would have been considered much more of a crime against nature than the first). She almost died of a broken heart when her oldest son, my grandfather's eldest brother, Aaron, was lynched by a group of whites because they decided that "no nigger should be that pretty." My grandmother (again maternal) tells tales of being unable to acknowledge her Cherokee relatives in the tiny Georgia town where she grew up for fear of... something. Perhaps the idea of "colored unity" hadn't really kicked in so much back then.

My husband is Australian and of Spanish/German ancestry. He and his family are able to go back literally centuries in detailing their family history. There was even a book made about his family and where we live there are streets named after his family. He has shown me statues in Germany that bear his family's name.

I sit and listen to these stories and look at those old pictures in awe. In my family, we certainly have our share of familial anecdotes and we are able to tell family stories that go back a fair ways, but generations?? No way, no how. Everything seems to begin in my family in Pampano Beach, FL or Hawkinsville or Macon, GA in the middle of the 19th century. I don't often think about the PERSONAL impact of slavery on me, but the loss of much of my family history and heritage is one thing that I truly mourn.

but there's a surprising amount of good info about the black, Native American, and Chinese ancestors on my father's side.

Are you looking into any of that? Maybe a trip to China to see the "rellies?" :)

[jmm]

3. The closest I'll probably ever get is Thailand and Cambodia

I have a friend who might be traveling to the area this year and asked if I want to go. She's got family who in the region who could hook us up with free hotel rooms and play tour guide so if this trip does happen it won't cost a fortune.

I doubt I'd be able to find any rellies in China since the ancestors I have from there moved to the west coast, to the south, then people from different backgrounds start getting married many generations ago but another excuse to travel never hurt anybody ;-).

[Brewman_Jax]

4. That would be a good joke

but, we're being good.

Since American Indians were roughly 1% of the population since the early 1800's, the likelihood of truth for those that claim Indian ancestry is very unlikely. It wouldn't be so bad except that they treat it like adding spice to a dish, e.g. they have a "touch" of Cherokee. Cherokee are but one of the 336 recognized tribes in the lower 48 states, and the claim is often made by some of the blondest white people. What about the other tribes? :P

I have little reliable information on my ancestry, the older folks wouldn't talk, or didn't know, about the material I wanted. I did get the story of a cousin of my great-grandfather who was killed by the night riders for reasons unknown/unsaid.

[Number23]

5. I do give black people with Southern ancestry a bit of leeway on that, though

I do think it's fairly conceivable that a black person from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida could actually have a touch of that elusive Cherokee blood. :) It's not all that uncommon among Southern blacks.

But if you're 8th generation Californian talking about your "Cherokee" roots I might give you one of these - :wtf:

:)

ETA: Yes, I do realize that with the migration of Southern blacks during the horror of Jim Crow that it is still entirely conceivable that even an 8th generation Californian may have that ever so worshipped Cherokee blood. But c'mon folks! What's the likelihood??

[Brewman_Jax]

6. That's true

My great-grandmother was obviously Indian, but she didn't talk about her past or anything like that to my mother. It was as if she wasn't proud, or so beaten down in a Jim Crow society that she couldn't acknowledge it. :(

To this day, we don't know the tribe, but I'm sure it wasn't Cherokee. :P

[kwassa]

14. My wife's grandfather looked very Indian

He really looked like a slightly black American Indian, with classic Indian features. So did his sister.

While we have little specific information about the family's geneology, in doing research we discovered that the local Indian tribe was absorbed into the black population over time, and came to identify as black. The Nanticokes on the eastern shore of Maryland. This kind of thing happened throughout the tidewater areas around Cheseapeake Bay, so Indian heritage is not as far-fetched as it sounds.

[Brewman_Jax]

15. Agree

I don't wish to discount the regular/frequent interaction between black people and American Indians, which is well documented, but in my post above, I was discounting the "supposed" interaction between white people and American Indians.

I didn't know of remnants of Indian tribes being absorbed by local black communties, but hardly impossible with the depopulation and forced migrations of many Indian tribes.

[kwassa]

7. Did you see Henry Louis Gates' show on DNA tracing back to Africa?

African American Lives

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/2006/index.html

in which half a dozen or so well-known African Americans has their DNA traced back to Africa. Like Oprah, Quincy Jones, Chris Tucker, T.D. Jakes, Dr. Ben Carson, Whoopie .... and they find their country of family origin. And, any other ancestry that they have.

there was a sequel show that I never saw.

do a youtube search on African American Lives

here is Tom Joyner, for example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=804DmW87EoM

Don Cheadle, whose ancestors were held as slaves by the Chickasaw Nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aW08mfhc1Y

Chris Rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmCPDe3_-qo

[Number23]

8. I hadn't seen it but thanks for the links, Kwassa

Lord, I'm watching the Chris Rock one and my eyes are already burning like crazy.

ETA: Kwassa, I just went to the PBS site and had a look. Thank you so, so much for posting this to me. This is definitely going in the bookmarks.

[Kind of Blue]

10. This is interesting.

:hi: I've always wanted to do the opposite, find a relative that was taken from Africa who may have ended up in the states. In my family, there's the account of one of my great-great-great(I'll stop there) grandmother youngest's son who couldn't run fast enough to get away from slavers. The family still mourns him to this day. I'm really anticipating the day when perhaps all of our DNAs will be mapped and can start looking for matches. If my ancestor survived the journey and thrived, I think it would be too cool to find a marker or perhaps several that would specifically identify his descendants as my relatives. What a reunion that would be!

Thanks to the above mentioned documentary and since I know his capture was towards the end of the trade, it is relatively easy to find the names of the ships and their destinations. It's still finding a needle in a haystack but DNA could certainly cut through years of research and only coming but so close to getting answers. YAY for DNA! :)

[Number23]

11. What an awesome post

In my family, there's the account of one of my great-great-great(I'll stop there) grandmother youngest's son who couldn't run fast enough to get away from slavers. The family still mourns him to this day.

How sad but how wonderful that he is still remembered and cherished by your family. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of the reunion if you're ever able to find out about your gggguncle and reunite with any of his descendants.

[Kind of Blue]

9. Thanks so much for posting this link.

:hi: Coming from the opposite end of the AA spectrum, African immigrant - here since I was a child, it's really heartening to read your discussion of the Indian blood. As a kid, and too many times to count, my classmates were quick to point out that they had Indian blood. I always felt it was an efficient way to quickly distance themselves from me.

I'm wondering if your distress is about the countless number of people taken from West Africa?

[Number23]

12. Thanks, Kind of Blue!

Where is your family from?? I've had African friends my entire life and I'm happy to have even a few here in Australia. Linda from Ghana (who is married to a white Englishman); and "T" from Zimbabwe. Many years ago, I had a white (Jewish) friend from South Africa. She was very, very interesting but I loved her anyway. :)

There is no question that lots of blacks claim "other" heritage as a way to distance themselves from being "regular" black people. Never underestimate the affect of almost 400 years of being made to feel stupid, worthless, ugly and lazy has on a group's psyche. :)

I'm wondering if your distress is about the countless number of people taken from West Africa?

That's exactly right. When I think about the people torn from their homes, their families, their cultures, thrown on disease-infested ships and forced to move to a foreign land where they were treated like animals, it is just too much. What in the world was the impact of this cultural upheaval on West Africa?? What is the ECONOMIC impact of this on West Africa?? On ALL of Africa?? Where would Africa be today if not for the kidnapping and murder of so many of its citizens for the slave trade??

[Kind of Blue]

13. I'm reluctant to say recently

because of all the con artists coming out of Nigeria :rofl: but that's where I'm from.

Never underestimate the affect of almost 400 years of being made to feel stupid, worthless, ugly and lazy has on a group's psyche.

Oh, never do and believe me, Black is Black. In my experience racists do not distinguish between an African and an African-American. Thank goodness, I have parents who knew enough about African history and civilizations to maintain some kind of balance from daily experiences and negative images from the media about all things African.

Number23, I can't even bear to think of the slave trade's overwhelmingly devastating impact on both sides of the Atlantic, let alone what the world could have been without it. It's too much and I handle it in parcels, especially with what I can do to educate and keep awareness up as far as our civilization, I guess because that's what bothers me the most.

[Number23]

16. One of the most beautiful women I have ever personally known was from Nigeria

She was a good friend of mine when I worked at CNN. Last I heard she was living in New York. She was simply STUNNING. But don't worry about the Nigerian con artists. From what I've been seeing in my inbox lately, Russia and the Ukraine are certainly catching up to the Nigerians in the "con" game! :)

Thank goodness, I have parents who knew enough about African history and civilizations to maintain some kind of balance from daily experiences and negative images from the media about all things African.

Yes. Africa is struggling and has been for a long time, but there is great beauty and wealth there. It never ceases to amaze me that even in 2009 there are people in Western countries who are shocked, SHOCKED to learn that there are cities and universities in Africa!! What is WRONG with people??

I can't even bear to think of the slave trade's overwhelmingly devastating impact... It's too much and I handle it in parcels

I am exactly the same way. I am not uninformed; I know that slavery has been an institution that has built many of the world's societies. But there appears to be something uniquely sadistic about American slavery. This was not the case of a war being fought and the losers becoming the slaves of the victors as has been done throughout history. And this was not even about enslaving a part of the citizenry based on religion or race, also done throughout history.

Folks boarded ships for weeks, MONTHS to travel to the other side of the world to enslave and murder individuals based on the concept that because of the color of their skin, they would be good "strong" workers. That they were animals who could take orders and perform tasks like humans. Who gives a damn about their lives? Or their language/culture/religion/families?? I think this level of inhumanity is a uniquely American slave trade experience. In other countries, slaves were even able to buy their own freedom and become assimilated into the culture. Black folks in 2009 are in many ways, STILL trying to assimilate into the culture of the country that our ancestors built.