PBS: African American Lives

#1 06-16-2008, 10:17 AM

I have heard so much about this program on PBS that I was compelled to watch it this weekend. In a nutshell it is a series in which DNA is used in an attempt to trace the roots of a couple celebrities. Also they were able to recover ship logs(business documents) and court documents which in some cases (like Maya Angelou) determined the region of Africa their ancestors were from and how they ended up in the slave trade. They even traced european roots which revealed some had irish, french and jewish heritage. In all a great show.

http://www.pbs.org/previews/africanamericanlives/

Rockhound · #2 06-16-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby Seale

I have heard so much about this program on PBS that I was compelled to watch it this weekend. In a nutshell it is a series in which DNA is used in an attempt to trace the roots of a couple celebrities. Also they were able to recover ship logs(business documents) and court documents which in some cases (like Maya Angelou) determined the region of Africa their ancestors were from and how they ended up in the slave trade. They even traced european roots which revealed some had irish, french and jewish heritage. In all a great show.

http://www.pbs.org/previews/africanamericanlives/

Nice to see they are also tracing the European roots. The racial prejudices against blacks and the "any drop of black blood makes you black" means too often those of mixed blood were forced to choose only one heritage.

#3 06-16-2008, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockhound

Nice to see they are also tracing the European roots. The racial prejudices against blacks and the "any drop of black blood makes you black" means too often those of mixed blood were forced to choose only one heritage.

I wonder how many whites would be shocked to learn they have some west african heritage. They traced the roots of this one lady from Louisiana always thought she might have had some mixed roots. I believe it was 20% west african and the rest was some mix of french and irish according to DNA analysis. I think it would certainly have an effect on a lot of people if they found out their blood isn't as pure as the think.

Also it disspelled the myth that african americans have some indian/native american heritage since it was very little if any trace. Mostly west african and european.

Jonas Grumby · #4 06-16-2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby Seale

I wonder how many whites would be shocked to learn they have some west african heritage. They traced the roots of this one lady from Louisiana always thought she might have had some mixed roots. I believe it was 20% west african and the rest was some mix of french and irish according to DNA analysis. I think it would certainly have an effect on a lot of people if they found out their blood isn't as pure as the think.

Also it disspelled the myth that african americans have some indian/native american heritage since it was very little if any trace. Mostly west african and european.

That was a GREAT show, I wish I'd known it was on again...watching HL Gates' own personal discoveries was part of the interest.

IIRC Oprah did have some native american ancestry, didn't she?

#5 06-16-2008, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonas Grumby

That was a GREAT show, I wish I'd known it was on again...watching HL Gates' own personal discoveries was part of the interest.

IIRC Oprah did have some native american ancestry, didn't she?

I can't remember anyone having more than 3%.