The Heirlooms of DNA

[browngirl]

(typed fast into the comment box.)

I have recently read and/or seen several reports (print and TV) about people investigating their genetic heritage and being startled by the results. This amuses me, in a fond way.

I guess what amuses me most are the surprise and bemusement from people who are Black and find they have White ancestors and relatives or vice versa. (OK, especially vice versa.) I could try to say something inspiring about how we are all related, one great human family, but my heart's not really in that message of togetherness right at the moment.

Instead, I'm looking at the coffee-with-a-spoon-of-milk tone of my arm and my face in this userpic, and thinking of my grandfather who prided himself on (supposedly) being of pure-blooded African ancestry, my caramel-colored grandmother, and how much darker anyone I've ever met from West Africa is than I am. I've had people debate with me over whether I have any European ancestors; if I ever have the money maybe I'll go in for one of these tests and see, but what would surprise me would be if I didn't. One way of looking at one's ancestry is to divide it into phases across time; one of the phases my ancestry passed through was being slaves in the New World, which all but guarantees that I have some masters and overseers in my ancestry as well. That's what people with power do to the powerless, after all.

(And no, I don't think that's shameful to relate. I'm proud of my ancestors for surviving that and a million other indignities, and I'm grateful to them since if they hadn't I and the rest of my family wouldn't be here.)

These ethnohistorical suppositions of mine have been borne out by genetic studies of various Black populations in the Western Hemisphere (frex, researchers have found high incidences of mDNA from Africa and Y-chromosome markers from Europe) and are showing up in people's lives now as they research their genetic history. To say nothing of more recent dramas in people's ancestry; humans lie and have secrets and secret affairs and "pass" and all sorts of things. One article noted how its author had been told his family had Native American ancestry and not only did that turn out not to be true he found that they had Black ancestry, and on reading that I found myself wondering about/making up two sisters, daughters of a slave, and how one was light-skinned enough to say she was part Indian and part White so she did, and the other "looked Black", and their great-great-great grandchildren finding each other through one of these genetic geneaology programs in the modern day, one a White woman and one a Black one. But then I don't have to theorize that, when that very event has been happening and has been the subject of some of the articles I've read and news segments I've seen.

If one genetic lineage can contain people of two or more racial groups, what does that say about the very concept of race?

Comments

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I thought it was common knowledge that ANYONE from the New World and whose family has been here a few generations has blood from all over Europe, Africa and Asia.

I have an ancestor from the 1840s who was this beautiful, rich French orphan from New Orleans. I wouldn't mind getting a DNA test to confirm my speculations on the subject.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I thought it was common knowledge that ANYONE from the New World and whose family has been here a few generations has blood from all over Europe, Africa and Asia.

You'd think people would know this... it's really odd, how people think of race and ethnicity as these monolithic things.

I wish I could ask my grandfather more about his ancestry.

[rosefox]

I'm one of the whiter white people I've ever seen. When I was growing up, I figured my maternal grandfather was just tanned and weathered from spending so much time out of doors, until I saw a photo of him as a young man. It's a black-and-white photo, so you can't gauge skin tone with any real accuracy, but his features have some unmistakably African aspects. There's no family lore to explain it. As far as I'm aware, his family is German Jews all the way back. It's always intrigued me.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

There are historical fiction plotbunnies abounding in this tale you've told me. Wow.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

The story of Barack Obama being a distant cousin of Dick Cheney leaps to mind.

pagawne's people have been here in North America for a long time, slowly migrating across the southern tier of states toward Texas where she was born. I have yet to confirm a direct black ancestor of hers, though I do have my suspicions, but she's a distant cousin of the first African-American to be elected to the US Congress in the 20th century. (Oscar Stanton De Priest)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

The story of Barack Obama being a distant cousin of Dick Cheney leaps to mind.

You would not believe how hard I laughed when I heard that. :)

she's a distant cousin of the first African-American to be elected to the US Congress in the 20th century. (Oscar Stanton De Priest)

Oh, that's SO cool!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Here, let me give you some more Obama humor. One of the mailing lists I'm on is for County Carlow (in Ireland) genealogy. A few months ago we got a researcher there looking into Obama's Irish ancestry. It turns out he's Irish on his mother's side, like many other Chicago politicians. Some of the Irish (as in still living in Ireland) on the list have taken to calling him Barry O'Bama.

As for Paula and the De Priest connection, I think it's cool too. He's a distant cousin to be proud of, that's for sure. (She's also related to that poor Welch girl who married that transplanted yankee. But we don't generally mention that in polite company.)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

And now you have made me giggle aloud at work. TWICE. *grin*

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Perhaps that race is, in fact, more of a social construction than anything else?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Well, it is a social construction, full stop. Which doesn't mean it's not real, as well. It's all really interesting, innit?

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

My ancestors even lied at one point about being from Poland - that was unfashionable so they said they were from Austria-Hungary ;-) And another great-aunt would not identify as a Jew.

[ookpik.livejournal.com]

You too, huh? My paternal grandmother claimed to be from Austria-Hungary, and we only learned that she was Polish after she died. (My paternal grandfather claimed to be from Romania and be three-quarters Jewish and one-quarter Gypsy, a combination which always seemed highly improbable to me.)

And just to add to the mystery: the family legend was that when he first brought her home, his family refused to give their blessings to the match because, well, Beatrice Harris? with red hair and blue eyes and very fair skin? obviously she was Irish! and on the other hand her family looked at his dark olive skin and eyes and black hair and figured he was probably Italian. So they eloped.

Now, of course, I wonder whether there was any truth to the story at all...

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, *families*.

True or half true or not so true, it's a grand story. :D

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I remember being a kid and learning about the Immigrant Experience, and finding out just how dumped on the Polish were in the US 100-120 years ago. I think that was a seminal moment for me, realizing how arbitrary ethnic bigotry is.

I'm glad that in the end you know your family's heritage. :)

*uses thinky icon*

[mtgat]

I have been pondering this since I saw your post this morning, but still have yet to come to any useful conclusions. I come two long lines of rednecks. One side claims Native American ancestry four or five generations back, and now you have me wondering. It'd come to something both ironic and sad if part of the Ick that is my family could be assigned to a smattering of denial and self-loathing on top of everything else. And it's not that I don't want to get into the other side, where (according to my dad) at the big extended family reunions, there's a large contingent of family members with my last name and much darker complexions, and Dad's pretty sure that's due to the really shitty things our family did before the Civil War, but right now, it would mean I once again make a race discussion All About Me.

So, thinky. We know race is a construct, and even the construct is a joke considering how blended we are (as the other commenters pointed out). I try to use it as a reminder that someone who grew up Black in the U.S. is going to have had different experiences than I did in my insular little redneck world. But then, I need to remind myself as well that everyone has had different experiences, because that's how life works, and that keeping those differences in mind is good for context, but the important part is what I've got in common with them.

*continues to make it All About Me*

*sucks*

*posts anyway*

Re: *uses thinky icon*

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Hey, no, you didn't make it All About You, you told me about your own particular history and family, which I'm really glad you did. *huggles you*

unfortunately

[andreas_schaefer]

I had reason to look at the concept of "race" ( just by being German in my age-group ).
If there is one thing that DNA tests have shown it is that the concepts of race of the 20th century ( and before ) are meaningless.
If the genetic variance within any given 'race' is by far bigger that the differences between any two 'races' than race is not a usefull classification concept. Given the nasty ballast race has here ( in Germany ) and in the US the whole concept should be ditched. ( actually here it is pretty much - nobody would dare even inquire about racial background on a form ( not that this will help if looking for a job and/or a flat and/or a so - I am male wishy-washy white average tho discrimination is rarely against me, does not mean I do not notice it occasionally )

I suspect that even within the very limited scope where race makes some slight sense ( as a sorting criterion) US Americans tend to be more mixed than some Europeans - at that I suspect that rural communities are less 'mixed' than urban ares: let a remote village exist for a ccouple of hundred years off the main travel routes and everybody there is related to everybody.
On the other hand take a crossroads on several main traffic lines and the resultant locals WILL be mixed : http://www.gh4acws.de/zuckmeier_rhineland.html

Re: unfortunately

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

If there is one thing that DNA tests have shown it is that the concepts of race of the 20th century ( and before ) are meaningless.

Oh, *so* true.

That monologue is *gorgeous* and inspiring (I'm going to add it to this entry in a comment). Thank you so much for sharing it with me!

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of people researching their DNA as genealogy. I don't know why it surprises me but it does. I have heard of people doing DNA research to find markers for genetic anomalies that might be helpful for investigating health issues but that's something completely different. That said, I'm proud of my mixed heritage whatever it may truly be. Since I've known from the beginning I'm of "mixed race" I've never really understood why people make a big deal of their genetics. I don't really know why I'm surprised, look at how many people pay big money for "researching their families Coat of Arms." As an aside, these folks always seem to claim royalty at some point in their past. Why do they never claim to be just plain folk, a much likelier probability. My family legends claim all sorts of things, but the only "pure" thing we all agree on is that we are 100 percent American.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Well, some of it is because we tend to mark the more unusual or important people in our backgrounds and gloss over the less important people, except as links to the important people.

Though in America, you're more likely to get a mixed bag of what counts as 'important'. Oddly, in my family, few of my direct ancestors were nationally important (though there were a couple), but we have lots of famous uncles. (One of whom, oddly, was Oliver Cromwell... I'm not sure if that counts as being related to royalty or the antithesis of being related to royalty.)

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

We have lots unsavory characters in our family, liars, horse thieves, politicians, lawyers, that sort of thing. Especially the liars. *grin*

Seriously though, I'm happy with the current interest in genealogy, in part because I'm a historian, and in part because I would really like to know more about my ancestors. I grew up traveling and did not have the benefit of being around my extended family.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had the benefit of my grandmother on one side, and my grandfather and uncle on the other side, both being interested in geneology; so, I got the benefit of other people doing most of the research. It also helps that on my mother's side we actually have a book put together by someone in the family which starts with the ancestors who came over from England before the Revolutionary War and lists all known members of that family line through about 1950. And on the other side, we have family bibles which go back a number of generations.

It would be interesting to get the DNA work-up, though.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am amazed at your family's recordkeeping!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

s an aside, these folks always seem to claim royalty at some point in their past. Why do they never claim to be just plain folk, a much likelier probability.

I so hear you. And honestly, so much of that being descended from royals happened much the same way all those European Y-chromosome markers got into the Western Hemisphere Black populations. Ah, people.

100% American indeed! *cheers* In all the wonderful diversity of heritage that so often implies.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

As someone who may or may not be part-Maori, but is not in a flap about it either way, I find this interesting. That people get in a flap about it, that is. Their DNA, wherever it came from, is a part of what makes a person who they are, and once it's all combined it can't be _un_combined, so if your KKK member finds out he's part black, that can't be undone. Better learn to deal, hey? And, even better, think.

(I remember a discussion I had with some of my friends about the fact that nine of my fingerprints are of a type almost unknown among Europeans but very common among Polynesians, and I have this one thumb with a European-type thumbprint. One of my Maori friends cracked up and said "that's your Pakeha thumb!")

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

hat people get in a flap about it, that is. Their DNA, wherever it came from, is a part of what makes a person who they are, and once it's all combined it can't be _un_combined, so if your KKK member finds out he's part black, that can't be undone. Better learn to deal, hey? And, even better, think.

Amen!

Your Paheka thumb, hee! *giggles* A White friend told me a similar story about a comment made her by a Black former boyfriend of hers, about a particularly large and dark mole she has... I'll leave the rest of the story as an exercise for the reader.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

gh4acws gave me the link to this in the comments above, but I wanted to add the text here.

"Monologue from a play / film „des Teufels General“ Carl Zuckmeyer
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=89371

"on lineage, and nobility and racial purity ( a fatherly peptalk to a young officer who has been picked on by hif 'fellow' (very prussian) officers because he did not have a lineage like them but a rather dubious grandmother of unknown provenance) "

Think - what may not have happened in an old family from the Rhine
- from the Rhine I say
the people-mill
the blending-vat of Europe
Now lets imagine your ancestors Since year one
There was a Roman centurion
A dark guy , brown like a ripe olive
Who taught a blond girl Latin .
And then a Jewish spice-merchant came into the family
an earnest man
Who became Christian before even marrying - and fonded the catholic familytradition
And a greek physician or a celtic legionary
A mercenary from Grisons, a Swedish horseman
A soldier from Napoleons army, a deserted cossack , a raftsman from the Blackforest
A wandering millers journeyman from Alsace
A fat Rhineskipper from the Netherlands
A Maygar, a Pandur, an officer from Vienna, a french gambler
A musician from Bohemia
They all lived on the banks of the Rhine, lived, scuffled, drank and sang
and fathered children and
And Goethe came from that melting pot and Beethoven
And Gutenberg and Mathias Grunewald and
Eh - look it up in the encyclopaedia
They were the Best, my dear, the best in the world
And Why?
Because there the people mixed
Mixed like the water from wells and brooks and creeks and small rivers
Flowing together to a great living river
From the Rhine, that means from the occident
That is natural nobility
That is 'race'

sorry to niggle

[andreas_schaefer]

I seem to have misspelled the author Carl Zuckmayer ( although the spellings are close ) and I should point out that the translation is totally unauthorized - namely an attempt by me to get something I can quote. While In Germany the passage is quoted often enough I could not find a translation and so translated that bit myself - with all the limitations and errors this may imply. (and typos )
And the reason I wanted to quote it is that Cologne, my home, is very much on the Rhine - and on my fathers side we have been around these parts for about 400 years, so I presume I am mixed. And proud of it.