Just wanted to ask a question to those concerned, bcos i also have this at heart to.
What African country do African Americans originate from?
Thank you all
Pls your reply will also be beneficial to me and probably to @humanearl
Just wanted to ask a question to those concerned, bcos i also have this at heart to.
What African country do African Americans originate from?
Thank you all
Pls your reply will also be beneficial to me and probably to @humanearl
There is no one country in Africa from which African-Americans originate. While historical and DNA records show that most of us have ancestors who came from West Africa, neither science nor history can currently say ‘you have 20 percent this African DNA’ etc. Unfortunately, many people believe that DNA ancestry companies can provide them with this information. I, myself, thought this before doing more research. The methods used for current ancestry testing, cutting edge though they are, are identifying genetic markers you share with someone else in their current database, which is fine except that these markers are likely to be passed down from one ancestor, or at best a few ancestors, who probably lived many generations ago. This is not the same as knowing grandma or grandpa came from say Ireland in 1860 and can lead people to falsely believe that they have a connection to a place and people, that really represent a fraction of their entire genetic makeup. Though for some people, even this minor connection may be enough given the absence of a definitive cultural identity
It wasn't documented anywhere. People seem not to realize that black people weren't willing immigrants to America. There was a cultural genocide of any African culture the slaves brought to America might have had. Slave owners didn't really treat black people as people. All most black people know is that they likely originated from somewhere in West Africa. Some people do DNA tests to see specifically where they came from.
Okay very interesting questuon i must say.
This is the best i can answer.
black Americans are ~80% descendant from West and Central Africans from Senegal to Angola...most of the rest of our ancestry is from the British Isles, Ireland, and France, acquired during slavery. We have no direct relationship to most North Africans, East SubSaharan Africans, or people of the Sahel other than in Senegal, but maybe a handful of slaves taken from modern Mozambique, but most of those ended up in Brazil.
If I can add my humble contribution to this question.
I’d would say that most “african nation-states” that we see today were unexisting at that time. So, trying to go by the country lineage seem biaised.
A nation-state born from 1 - An ideology that people sharing a common interest, culture, language (mostly by imposing a language majority) etc… 2 - An arbitrary territory. By thus we obtain a nation. Which is rathed a mosaic of different people stuck together.
In “africa” people living in the nation-states think themselve as nation/tribe within in the nation subdivised in clan e.g main tribe/sub-tribes.
You are correct that these nation states did not exist at the time. At that time there were just regions or areas. And then these regions were comprised of tribes and villages. Nation states did not exist until Europeans decided to colonize Africa.
Most of my students are African Americans and will gain greater insight about their
history. It will help them to become more prideful and increase their sense of self worth.
Many times they want to learn about their contributions to the history of the United States
and the world in which we live, but do not have the resources in which to find out this
information.Thank you @humanearl and everyone for the answers. Its very much appreciated.