Three genealogists describe the brick walls and breakthroughs in researching African American ancestry
As an adoptee, Dena M. Chasten often felt disconnected from her family. That feeling correlated to her experience of being an African American in the United States. She always wondered where she came from and where she belonged.
"The difference is when you are adopted, for the most part, you are wanted. I was very fortunate that a nice family raised me," said the Philadelphia native. "I even looked like them, but I was keenly aware that we were not genetically connected. I still felt lost."
That experience emboldened Ms. Chasten not only to find her biological parents but also to explore her ancestry. She embarked on a genetic and genealogical search that yielded more questions than answers.
Throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Ms. Chasten has shared her journey at libraries, historical societies and even the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
Now that she has found her birth parents, she works as a genealogist assisting other African Americans in mending the broken branches of their family trees.
Paper trails
"The system of slavery broke families apart, but DNA brings those families back together," said Nicka Sewell-Smith, a senior story producer for Ancestry.com.
People should not rely solely on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), she said. "Those of us who are really into genealogy want to find the paper trail to make those connections."
The system of slavery broke families apart, but DNA brings those families back together.Nicka Sewell-Smith -- Nicka Sewell-Smith, Senior Story Producer, Ancestry.com On the docuseries Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr., viewers follow many African Americans as they trace their lineage back to their enslaved ancestors.
"African Americans faced a unique genealogical brick wall in those first 10 to 20 years coming out of slavery and the Civil War," said Nick Sheedy, lead genealogist for the show. "The 1870 Census is the first federal census that enumerated everyone by name," Mr. Sheedy told Africa Renewal, adding that those names could change based on ownership, personal choices and other reasons beyond explanation.
Tracing the roots of enslaved Africans, who were considered property, usually required checking estate sales, probate records, tax documents and deeds, Mr. Sheedy explained. During the Civil War, he added, troops torched county courthouses which housed most of the slave-era records.
"There is no centralized list of enslaved Africans," said Ms. Sewell-Smith.
While most records are not online, she noted that the 3.5 million documents from the Freedmen's Bureau - now available on Ancestry.com - is a good place to start.
One of Mr. Sheedy's paper-trail breakthroughs related to Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, the drummer from the hip-hop band The Roots.
"We found that his ancestors came over on the Clotilda," Mr. Sheedy said. "It was the last known slave ship to arrive in the United States."
DNA matches
When Ms. Sewell-Smith reveals her own ancestry, she does not trace her origin to one African country; she claims the entire continent. "You have to factor in how many generations there were since the 1808 ban on the importation of enslaved people from Africa," she said.
Counting back six generations would involve tracing the roots of 64 great-grandparents from different parts of Africa.
We are all related.Nick SheedyLead Genealogist, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Ms. Sewell-Smith cautions that people miss the point if they focus on a country or on percentages. "For African Americans, all of our sub-Saharan ancestry comes from a multitude of places," she said. "I know the 'where'. I want to know the 'who'."
In Ms. Sewell-Smith's family, the "who" includes her 99-year-old grandmother, whose grandparents were enslaved.
"My grandmother shares 30 centimorgans of DNA with a Nigerian woman who is the first generation in her family to be born in America," she said. "That's a fourth cousin!"
People are making these discoveries every day, she said.
Even Mr. Sheedy could trace his roots back to the continent. "My grandmother, Betty was lily white with blond hair and blue eyes. All of her grandparents were California pioneers, and she carried around three per cent of sub-Saharan African DNA," he said. "We are all related."
Genealogists can solve more mysteries if more people take a DNA test, said Ms. Sewell-Smith.
"The power is in the DNA matching," she added." That's what is going to tell the stories, give us the clues, send us into the archives and connect us with folks who we never would have known were relatives."
Distant cousins
Awaiting the results of several DNA tests, Ms. Chasten said she was expecting to identify a place where she could represent. "I was going to find my country and have my connection."
You can't depend just on the DNA. You have to do the research.Dena M. Chasten Genealogist Instead, her mitochondrial test revealed that her oldest maternal ancestor was a European woman, and her autosomal test indicated percentages of DNA from regions in all four cardinal directions of the continent.
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Flabbergasted and confused, Ms. Chasten said she had more questions than ever. This time, however, she knew where to look. "You can't depend just on the DNA," she said. "You have to do the research so that it all makes sense."
Ms. Chasten found a solid DNA match in Ghana, the country that carried her highest percentage. She contacted this distant cousin and heard a story that still gives her chills.
"There was a legend that her [Ghanaian cousin's] grandmother would always go to bed praying for forgiveness because she knew of her ancestor's role in the slave trade," Ms. Chasten said. "It was something she needed to atone for."
The story evoked conflicting emotions for Ms. Chasten: she could not condone her ancestor's actions as she consoled her cousin.
"I told her, 'Don't worry about it. We are coming back. I can't explain what happened then, but now we are making it right.' So many of us are coming home."
Ms. Chasten made her first trip to the continent late last year.
Ms. Beard is a writer and educator based in New York.
