African ancestry Tag

05 Feb

Posted at 16:38h in Newsletter

I WAS ALWAYS CURIOUS ABOUT WHERE HER NAME CAME FROM, AND HOW DNA TELLS THE STORY Caryn Elaine Johnson was born in Manhattan, New York City, on November 13, 1955, the daughter of Robert James Johnson Jr. , a Baptist clergyman, and Emma Harris, a nurse, and teacher. She was raised in the public housing project, Chelsea-Elliot Houses, in NYC. She has stated that her stage forename ("Whoopi") was taken from a whoopee cushion: "When you're performing on stage, you never really have time to go into the bathroom and close the door. So if you get a little gassy, you've got...

30 Oct

Posted at 21:12h in Newsletter

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT EUGENICS IN MY JAMESTOWN VISIT In 1924, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the Racial Integrity Act. The Act reinforced racial segregation by prohibiting interracial marriage and classifying as "white" a person "who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian." The Act, an outgrowth of eugenist and scientific racist propaganda, was pushed by Walter Plecker, a white supremacist, and eugenist. He held the post of registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics. The Racial Integrity Act required all birth certificates and marriage certificates in Virginia to include the person's race as either "white" or "colored."...

18 Sep

Posted at 17:53h in Newsletter

AN ODD APPROACH TO ENDING SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806 – February 1, 1873) was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, educator, and naval officer for the United States and then the Confederacy. He was a devout Christian and, after reading Psalm 8:8, was determined to find "the paths of the seas". He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas" for his extensive works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), the first such extensive and comprehensive...

20 Feb

Posted at 19:01h in Newsletter

Happy belated Valentine's Day! Above is an advertisement from 1750 London (in those days the letter "s" was written as "f"). If you would like to know if this is how your ancestors got married, click on the red button below and let Dancestors get the answer!   DNA is big business. In December 2020, Blackstone purchased Ancestry.com. Now, 23andme (which interestingly was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, the spouse of Google co-founder Sergey Brin) is going public by merging with Richard's company Branson. Maybe they will become Virgin DNA? Does gaining the knowledge of our DNA and our ancestry give us the proper...

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