The Blair Underwood episode just started here, but OMG, did anyone notice the receptionist at the Library of Virginia freaking out over Blair? Too funny!
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The Blair Underwood episode just started here, but OMG, did anyone notice the receptionist at the Library of Virginia freaking out over Blair? Too funny!
:hahaup I actually played that back to see if what I thought I saw the first time really happened. You'd think she'd have kept her cool, but it was kind of fun to see someone so starstruck.
I generally watch this show for the human interest part of it, as I leave the genealogy to my mother. (I wasn't raised around the majority of our extended family, so I can't keep living relatives straight, let alone deceased ones.) So I had no idea about the DNA collection project in the genealogy world. That is beyond cool and a great use of DNA science.
I was glad they finally talked about the DNA testing aspect of genealogical research. We've been thinking of having my brother do that in my family, since they can get more genealogical information from a man's DNA than a woman's. There are lots of people on ancestry.com who've done it, so you can log on after your results are in, just like Blair did, and see if you have cousins. It's not cheap, but the price has come down in the last few years.
When Chris Tucker was on Skip Gates's African American lives, they did a DNA test and found that a huge chunk of his DNA could be traced to one specific region in Angola. It was cool to see him go there.
I wondered why they couldn't find any further information about the line of free blacks in Blair's family. Wouldn't there be documentation of them being freed? I don't have any experience with that aspect of genealogical research, so I just don't know.
I'll admit, I'd be pretty starstruck if Blair Underwood walked into my work! :lol
I would think that any time you go back to the eighteenth century for records, the likelihood that you're going to find gaps in the information increases dramatically. Paper records from that time just have a greater possibility of having been lost or destroyed or just crumbling to dust. I know that there was actually a fairly active theatre in eighteenth century America, for instance, but that few scripts have survived. Mostly we know about what played where because of some newspaper articles that have survived and diary entries of audience members that mention the plays.
My guess is that records regarding African-Americans in the seventeen hundreds were probably even more poorly kept, but really, even for European immigrants, eighteenth century records can be pretty sparse. One unfortunate fire in a courthouse or church could wipe out significant numbers of records and fires were a lot more common and more difficult to control back then. Heck, my sister was born in 1947, and her original birth records went up in flames in a courthouse fire.
One "item" he and the historians kept passing over was the word Mulatto on his mother's tree. It was in the crazy (though vindicated) ancestor's side of the tree. Wouldn't Mulatto come into the picture if there was Caucasian interference in the blood line? Anyway, when he took the genetic test, Northern European was in his markers; but it makes me wonder why he glanced over that word in the census records.
I did love how he broke the wall of 1860 with the discovery of a free-man in his mother's tree. As his parents still live in Virginia, the family on his mother's side, anyway, have been true Virginians almost since the beginning. That was exciting to discover both for him and for me as a viewer.
Yes. It's VERY common for African Americans whose ancestors were slaves to have some white ancestors. I think it's more the rule than the exception. Just kind of the nature of the slave system. Maybe they didn't spend too much time on that stuff because Blair wasn't surprised :shrugQuote:
Originally Posted by Arielflies
Yet he was surprised with the genetic markers. His blood calling him to France, though he always maintained Africa first; maybe his tunnel vision opened up a bit. It was interesting they introduced the gene swabs this show. That would be interesting to do if you weren't afraid of Big Brother getting a hold on the info. The rumor in my mother's family may or may not show African markers other than the minute percentage everyone in the world has due to first ancestors.
Tonight's the night!
I'm never home on Friday evenings, so I have to remember to tape. I forgot last week & it looks like I missed a good one.
Tonight's celebrity is Reba McEntire, who comes to North Carolina to find her mother's people.
Next week . . . . the one I've been waiting for . . . . Jermone "Bus" Bettis.
When Stephen Colbert was on Faces of America, his tests came back with 100% European DNA. Skip Gates said it was unusual, but not unheard of. I'd be surprised if there was any African blood on my family tree - we're the whitest, bunch of WASPS ever....and I've gone back pretty far on the tree. I'll be surprised and pleased if, when we finally do the DNA tests, there's African DNA.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arielflies
I'm not a big Reba fan, but I'll be watching tonight anyway.