A cool PBS special last night about Oprah Winfrey's ancestry. It is tough tracking geneology with US blacks. Slavery erased most of their personal histories. But with $$$ you can find a pro and that's what she did! Going back to the late 1700's he traced Oprah's family through slavery in Mississippi to Charleston, SC, a major slave trading port. She thought she originated from the Zulu. Her multi million dollar school for girls is in South Africa's Zulu region. BUT! To her (not so well hidden) disappointment a DNA test concluded she's really an Eklele, a Liberian tribe! To my surprise no South African blacks were used in the US slave trade. Liberia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Ghana, Cote 'd Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Seirra Leone, Cameroon and Angola were the only places the US stole humans for enslavement. Of course most of these countries didn't exist then but this is the region US blacks originate. The Angolans are bigger and were used along the Mississippi Delta for loading & unloading ships. Perhaps that's why there is an Angola, Louisiana, home to a brutal federal penitentiary. I'd love to have a DNA test to trace my national origins! I know I'm a mix of Swede, Brit and Dutch but how much of each I don't know. Anyone fascinated enough with Oprah's Roots can check it out at www.pbs.org
I've been considering doing this National Geographic thing for 200 dollars, to get a detailed population genetics study.
I'd love one. Mainly because my maternal grandfather informed us on his deathbed in '91 that he was an orphan in 1918 and was adopted. He had brown eyes (rare in my family) dark hair, full features. He could have been Jewish or a Gypsy! Mediterranean or something. I want to do the swab test, out of curiousity. I'm part something on top of the rest and it remains a mystery. He found his being adopted shameful for some reason. PJ, what if you have Zulu in your veins!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You can see she is not Zulu, we have been telling her for years here in South Africa that she is not Zulu Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! They dont make good slaves Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I forget the word for it, but Shaka used to do great "burnings" where is Impi would mission around the country side, destroy any opposition, and bring slaves to trade in the colonys. After Shaka was killed (et tu brute), Dingaan took control, his impi were massive and the white settlers negioted a treaty with him, he also supplied slaves. A group of zulu broke off from Shaka/Dingaan and missioned up to Zimbabwe (they are called the Ndebele and were lead by Mzilikazi) No other African tribe could stand up against the Zulu, so they became a useful love/hate ally to the colonial powers. The area I live in is a tribe called isiXhosa, they hate the Zulu more than they have issues with white people. The white settlers fought 7 frontier wars against them and eventually won... the Zulu were another matter...
You're in SA?! She said she "felt" a connection with the Zulu and swore she was herself. I guess Eklele doesn't sound as cool! I was surprised no slaves came to the US from SA. Records of the trade are surprisingly meticulous, and not one slaveship came to these shores from SA.
I dont remember South Africa doing anything with the US in those days. It was the domain of the European powers. I know they dealt with slaves, when I was in Cape Town I went to the old slave pens that is now an art gallery. I just dont think anyone went US way from here.
This sounds like it would have been really interesting, I've wondered what the different tasks performed by slaves were, where different slave jobs were performed and what kind of slave was favoured in what area for that task. It wasn't all "cotton pickin" surely. I'd love to know serena williams' history, her ancestors were probably owned by poor people who could only afford one or 2 at any time, one that could fight off bears, carry hundreds of lbs of goods to market like a pack mule and have a shelf like ass to rest your drink on in times of leisure. Why wasn't it just an episode or two of oprah as opposed to a pbs documentary? I probably would have seen it if it was just an O ep. aahhh I mean... I definately would have missed it, yeah glad it wasn't an episode of oprah, couldn't have forced myself to watch...
Was that the guy who came up with the same fighting style the Romans used? The short stabbing spears/big shields? A historically successful technique....and only 2000 years out of date.
It was a PBS docu. A DVD is out of the show. It was interesting. The big beefy Angolans were used on the Gulf Coast and Mississippi for loading & unloading ships. Also Oprah was repeatedly molested by male relatives and became pregnant at 11!! The baby died soon after birth. I don't watch her show all the time, I hate celebrity shows and 'soccer mom blues' episodes but I do watch when the subject sounds interesting.
LOL!! It took me almost an hour but I finally got it!! HA! Very cute!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
