DNA Quote: African-American Identity
by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted August 17, 2007 in DNA Quotes and Excerpts, DNA and Genealogy
More and more African-Americans are choosing to take DNA tests to learn more about their ancestry. For many, it’s a way of learning more about the history that was lost when their ancestors were taken from Africa and sold into slavery in America. But not everyone feels that they need DNA proof to know who they are.
Jacqueline Peavy, a business speaker from Atlanta, said:
I don’t have anything against DNA testing, but I disagree with the idea that you don’t have a history or an identity without it.
I know exactly who I am. I am an amalgamation of many ethnic Africans … I am a new world African in America.
I applaud Ms. Peavy for her strong sense of identity. Our DNA makes us who we are but we’re also a lot more than our DNA.
Tags: quotes, african-americans, genetic genealogy, genetics, genes, dna, dna testing
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The link didn’t work for some reason. Yes there is more to use then our DNA, but our DNA is our foundation for who we are. With having said that, how can a person acuratly trace back ones ancestry without some form of identification beyond word of mouth (i.e., one says that he and she were married and were sold to this country and married this person and had this and that child, and so forth)?
I have an aunt that has passed away that was able to trace back 6 generations, but that was as far back as she could get. She was able to do this just by talking to people in the family.
Thanks for pointing out the broken link. The article was from last month so I just fixed it to show what was cached.
As for your point about DNA as our foundation, I don’t necessarily agree with that. DNA is what makes our physical body, but our mind and the person we are have a lot to do with the environment in which we grew up and the society we live in. I don’t choose to define myself by my DNA sequence and I hope no one else does either.