Dennis Richmond, Jr. has dedicated over a decade to uncovering his family’s distinctive history. His research reveals that he is descended from a long line of free Blacks, a discovery that challenges conventional narratives of African-American history in the U.S.- Stefano Giovannini
July 27, 2024 Story by: Editor
Black Americans born in the early 1960s typically have over 300 African and 50 European ancestors, dating back to the arrival of captive Africans in North America in 1619, according to a new study using computational genetic data analysis.
Why it matters:
Many Black Americans descended from enslaved Africans have lacked detailed ancestral information spanning several centuries. This research by USC and Stanford University could help illuminate their lineage.
The study does not specifically identify individuals whose genetic data were used or their ancestors.
Zoom in:
The study, published in Genetics, estimates that a random Black American born between 1960 and 1965 is descended from, on average, 314 African and 51 European ancestors dating back to 1619.
The computational analysis of publicly available genetic data from thousands of Black Americans found that European ancestors appear in family trees during the time of enslavement, a period marked by violence and sexual abuse of enslaved men and women. Many African ancestors survived the horrific Middle Passage over more than two centuries, researchers said.
The USC and Stanford researchers used aggregated data from various studies and created a 14-generation model divided into three periods: 1619 to 1808; 1808 to 1865; and 1865 to 1965. They used the average percentage of African American and European genetic data for people born from 1960 to 1965.
State of play:
The study comes as Black Americans increasingly take DNA tests to explore their African ancestry, influenced by the popularity of Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s PBS shows.
New initiatives like Enslaved.org gather records about the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants through massive, crowdsourcing-powered efforts. The New York Times Magazine’s “The 1619 Project” also drew attention to the first enslaved Africans sold at Jamestown, marking the beginning of the slave trade on the East Coast of what would become the United States.
Some previous studies on Black Americans’ genetics used data from over 15,000 individuals, which were included in this new study.
The historical record and genetic data:
“The historical record gives a general storyline, and the genetic data place descendants at crucial moments of enslavement such as 1619,” said Jazlyn Mooney, professor of quantitative and computational biology at USC’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and one of the study’s authors.
“For the African ancestors, we can actually figure out when they entered their family tree and what time period they showed up,” Mooney added. “They tend to enter their family tree during the period when the transatlantic slave trade was happening.”
What’s next:
Future studies will likely explore Black Americans’ ancestral links to Native Americans, said Mooney, a descendant of enslaved people, Indigenous, and early Spanish settlers of present-day New Mexico. This research could reveal more about the nation’s genetic history. Source: AXIOS
