Ancestor Search Blog: African-American Genealogy

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Blair Underwood's African Roots on WDYTYA?

"I am loving this ride" That's what Blair Underwood exclaimed while he was learning the story of his family history during the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?. That same sentiment pretty much sums up why so many people are delving into their own family trees and are actually finding it fun.

The professional genealogists on the TV show Who Do You Think You Are? talked about the difficulty of African-American genealogy because a "Wall" is reached once the African-American family traces its family tree back to the time of slavery. Since the US census is one of the foundations in building a family tree, many times the African-American genealogy trail stops in 1860 during the time of slavery. While the census of the free population lists every family member by name in the 1860 census, the slave population is only listed by their owner's name plus the slave's gender, age and race (black or mulatto). The slaves are not listed by name. Because of this, many African- Americans hit "the Wall" in 1860 when the paper trail stops.

DNA testing was able to help Blair Underwood go beyond the paper trail to find his roots in Africa.   Through Ancestry.com DNA testing, they were able to find Blair Underwood's 10th cousin (or so) living in Africa today. A 10th cousin means they had a common ancestor about 250 years ago - assuming 25 years per generation - which would mean they had a common ancestor sometime around 1700 - 1750 during the time of the slave trade.

His 10th cousin,  Eric Sonjowoh, is a college student in the African nation of Cameroon. In last night’s episode, Blair Underwood flies to the village of Babungo in Cameroon with his father. They are met by Eric and his father and all take part in the celebration and watch the tribal dances.

I wondered how it came to be that his cousin had submitted his DNA to the Ancestry DNA database, but Eric explained that "a guy" told him that many African-Americans are looking for their African roots, so many in Africa are contributing their DNA to help them.   Because of this, there is the possibility that other African-Americans could find also find a distant cousin in Africa.

Dr. Kenneth Chahine, general manager of Ancestry DNA, walked Blair through his DNA analysis. DNA analysis determines ethnicity and found Blair is 26% European and 74% African which Dr. Chahine said is typical of African-Americans today.

Not only can the DNA test tell African-Americans the country in which their ancestors originated, but also the tribe. Blair's ancestors are associated with tribes found in the western part of Africa: 27% Bamoun, 22% Brong, 13% Yoruba and 12% Igbo.

What the TV show didn't mention is that the Ancestry.com DNA test performed on Blair Underwood has not yet been released. The new autosomal DNA test was announced at RootsTech in early February and will launch in late March or thereabouts. You can put your name on the contact list at Ancestry.com DNA, and they will notify you when the new DNA testing is released.

At the end of the episode while he is standing in the African town of Babungo, an obviously moved Blair Underwood said, "We have come full circle to reunite our family. When we started this odyssey, who I thought I was, is different than I know I am today."

Want to know more about your family? Start your FREE family tree online to enter what you already know about yourself and have Ancestry.com help you find your family story.

Friday, February 04, 2011

African-American Genealogy

Start Your Family Tree
If you watched the compelling TV show Who Do You Think You Are? which led Vanessa Williams on a journey back in time as she discovered more about the ancestors that came before her, you may be wondering how to do your own African-American family tree. Like any genealogy project, you start with what you know and take your research back step-by-step.

Begin with yourself and work backwards as they do in the TV show. Start your FREE family tree online to enter what you already know about yourself, your parents, your grandparents, and as far back as you know.

Invite your parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins and other family members to contribute what they know to add to your online tree - fill in names and dates, tell stories and upload photos. Ancestry.com will automatically use what you enter to try and find more about your family in the world's largest online collection of historical records and family trees. Look for the green leaf.

Talk to the older people in your family. You may be surprised what they know but never talked about because they thought no one was interested. Here are some suggested questions to ask them to get the ball rolling.

African-American Genealogy at Ancestry.com

African American Collections at Ancestry.com
Start searching the world’s largest online collection of African American family history records now. You could find ancestors who served their country in wartime, learn about their homes, their careers and much more.. Ancestry.com is a subscription database, but you can examine all the records for free for 2 weeks with a Free Trial.

African-American Research
Step by Step Guide to finding your African American family tree. Learn how to do the different phases of African American Genealogy from gathering oral history to finding the slave owner to going back to Africa.

African American Research Center
Learn how to begin building your African-American family tree. For many African Americans, tracking down ancestors can present a unique set of challenges. Fortunately, a vast collection of resource materials are now available.

African-American Heritage Search Tips
Tips and hints for getting the best results when searching Google and other search engines for African-American genealogy

Additional Websites
Here are some other free online resources for finding African-American ancestors.

Here are further resources to begin your genealogy search. And here is a unique African-American search engine that searches multiple African-American genealogy sites across the web.

If you would like to use the same professional genealogists that helped with the research for Who Do You Think You Are, Contact ProGenealogists for a free estimate.

Your family story is waiting to be found. "To know who you are you, you have to know where you came from." Your journey can be as exciting, as emotional, and as surprising as the stories on the TV show because it is your personal family history. The excitement and surprises happen as you uncover that story