14 comments

  1. Hi Ramses2001.

    You should be commended for wanting to discover ALL of your heritage, even though there is a tremendous stigma attached to being Black in this country (USA). It’s folks like you that could really start to turn things around. (smile)

    I’m not sure if there’s a test to discover African blood, but I was wondering if you’ve asked any of your relatives about the possibility of Black ancestry in your family.

    It’s amazing what you can find out when you start asking questions of the oldest members of your family. That’s how I found out about my Dutch great-grandfather and other such wonderful heritage. (smile) Sometimes those old folks won’t tell a thing…they’ll say they don’t know or don’t remember. But sometimes they’ll start rambling on and give up all of the goods at once. (hahaha) You might want to have a pencil and paper handy.

    Good luck in your search!
    Saundra (Tri-racial American Métis)

    7/3/01 4:48 AM

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  2. There are companies that specialize in testing DNA for criminal investigations, paternity, etc. Some of them also test for “racial” genetic markers. I don’t have a name to give you but I’ve seen their ads on genealogy websites. If you search the web for genealogy you will probably find a company that will test for you.

    “It is a good day to die. Stronghearts to the front, weakhearts to the rear!”
    –Crazy Horse–

    10/11/01 2:15 PM

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  3. No there is no way to determine if a blood belongs to a black person or not. All humans have the same genetic make up just below the skin.
    This is another reason the Red Cross can take anyones blood and send it out to the field. If everyone were so concerned with the one drop rule the Red Cross would have a huge problem since over 60% of the donors are black or of minority status.

    Now blacks will have more genes than other sub groups, and everyone does have genetic traits that may differ from family to family. So it the family is on a DNA record you can determine if it is black, but if people in a closed off room and everyone gave a sample of blood then handed it in there would be no way to determine outside of doing a genetic test to determine what they ate, and how they live you cannot prove with any test that the blood was black.

    Something that is interesting is that blacks and whites do have closer DNA to each other, but Asians do not however the native black population in China will. This may be due to the fact that blacks and whites have been mixing for hundreds of years and it was not until the last 50 to 60 years that other groups have mixed in with the Chinese.

    For more information check out Dr. C. Loring Brace Author of Does Race Exist http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/race.html

    Genes, Peoples, and Languages by Professor Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza at Stanford.

    11/2/01 4:43 PM

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    1. That Nova link was a good one, in fact, when I first read it about a year and a half ago, it prompted me to contact Dr. Brace regarding publishing some of his work at The Multiracial Activist. Brace was a student of Ashley Montagu and spent a great deal of time with the legendary sociologist/anthropologist. Dr. Brace agreed to being published on my site, and gave me an entire chapter from one of his books, not to mention the chance to converse with a truly great mind. The finished product was published last year and is available here: https://www.multiracial.com/abolitionist/word/brace.html

      James Landrith

      11/2/01 11:37 PM

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      1. That’s great that you had a chance to actually speak with such a person.
        It’s nice to know that they do not pit themselves against the world in such a profession where everyone is against you for changing the way things have been.

        For the other poster, G-P-6-DH, the Sickle Cell trait, hemoglobin C
        all mark people having origins in West Africa is not based on actual facts, they may have come out of West Africa, but did not have these conditions while living in Africa. Those traits are something they picked up in America and possibly taken back to Africa.

        Those are conditions place on a people who had the correct climate and environment to override these traits, however due to diet, and the lifestyle forced on groups from West Africa they picked up and passed down these traits due to a very poor diet, and living conditions forced on them.

        It is almost as bad as our brothers and sisters of Native American background who have had a huge rise in Diabetic’s on their lands given to them by the US Government……doest that figure? They tried to kill us fast and that didn’t work so now they attempt a slow death?
        What goes around will come around.

        11/5/01 12:12 PM

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        1. “For the other poster, G-P-6-DH, the Sickle Cell trait, hemoglobin C
          all mark people having origins in West Africa is not based on actual facts, they may have come out of West Africa, but did not have these conditions while living in Africa. Those traits are something they picked up in America and possibly taken back to Africa. ”

          Look, the genes were there…they still are. And they came from there. Nothing was picked up in America but bad diets and forced matings. West Africans had sickle cell disease, you know.
          Sickle Cell trait (that is having one “normal” hemoglobin gene and having one sickle gene, renders the person more resistant to infection with P. falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria). This is what is called a survival advantage. Since malaria was also present in the Medditerranean basin, the people there have a similar syndrome…it is called Thalassemia….where as the sickle gene affects one chain of hemoglobin, the thalassemia gene affects the other….again, a survival advantage. the Tay sachs gene is thought to protect people from plague. No one is talking about disease states or conditions or anything other than the presence of genes.

          Just so you know I am not pulling theories out of my a**,
          I have a degree in medical technology and one in microbiology/immunology….

          Coquinegra— Mejor estar soltera que mal acompañada.
          http://www.delphiforums.com/TheRainbowTribe/start

          11/29/01 8:19 AM

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          1. If it is a genetic trait how would half of a family living in the US carry it and the same genetic family in Liberia does not? Could poor diet and living conditions in the states perhaps trigger the disease?

            12/14/01 10:58 AM

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            1. do you understand how genetics works? How come a man can produce a daughter? Obviously he didn’t give her the genes for growing a penis, right?

              diet and conditions can affect disease but not genetics.

              Multiculturalism is already here.
              Come experience it!
              http://forums.delphiforums.com/TheRainbowTribe/start
              http://forums.delphiforums.com/RainbwTribePols/start
              http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheRainbowTribe

              Quote of the week:…I may be a moron, but least i’m not you. Jim fr Phila. 5/1/05

              5/11/05 11:56 AM

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  4. There are certain genetic markers associated with ‘populations’, though not necessarily with races. A good blood banker could explain it better than I; but there are a few I can suggest:

    Blood groups Duffy, G-P-6-DH, the Sickle Cell trait, hemoglobin C all mark people having origins in West Africa. There is no universal “Black Marker”, but there are things that make it pretty likely that you do or do not have a Black ancestor. Be careful, though…if you look the wrong way, you could get some unexpected results. For example, if you were looking for maternal markers, you might use mitocondrial DNA…it is inherited from the mother….my mother has Native american maternal lineage, so if I just used that, I’d look only Native, when I am clearly phenotypically African American. That’s my caveat.

    Coquinegra— Mejor estar soltera que mal acompañada.
    http://www.delphi.com/TheRainbowTribe/start

    11/4/01 6:29 PM

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