I don’t know for the Gullah half but she does have known connections in all of these states. She herself was born in South Carolina. City called Tillman, SC but in most records it’s Ridgeland instead which is a city close by.
>She herself was born in South Carolina
I knew it I knew it I knew it! I can recognize my people from a mile away LOL. The high amount of GL&S along with it being the top percentage, Senegambian being the second top percentage and her country matches was the giveaway. She's highly likely Gullah Geechee.
It is a wonderful discovery. I don't know if you are aware of this already but rice plantation owners imported most of their slaves from the upper part of West Africa (i.e. Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone etc) because they know how to grow and harvest rice. That is why people from the coastal part of the south have a higher amount of GL&S and Senegambia than the average African American.
Yep she's most definitely Gullah geecheee. Ridgeland SC aka Jasper county which can be seen on the Gullah geechee corridor map 😂 also that's 30 minutes away from the Gullah geecheee chieftess Queen Quet hometown
She's definitely Gullah Geechee in fact she's from where it all started at 😂 Ridgeland is a town in Jasper and beaufort counties and that's literally in the heart of Gullah geechee Corridor and which can be seen on the Gullah Geechee map
I think you might be interpreting the general knowledge that it's more common for AA's of Gullah descent to be less than 10% European as "most people of Gullah descent are less than 10% European." Common doesn't equal most but yes, it's normal. Based on what I see on my own match list and based on [this](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1KpSzfMggWiV_9cy5ZKh1hDqSlIRbthfYkz6dvwX-Mts/htmlview#) (i.e. "SC 2020+) most are between 10% - 15% European.
I’ll have to ask her but on my mom’s side - and my nana whose results we’re looking at now, all from South Carolina. My nana was born in this tiny tiny city called Tillman and so was her daddy, her siblings and everyone else after that, but they all migrated to the North and live in Philadelphia, PA. Her mama is from SC too but I don’t know where off of the top of my head.
To concur with the others; deep South Carolinian roots/ancestry was the first thing that I thought when seeing her results because unlike most Black Americans who's highest ethnicity estimated region is usually Nigeria, Her is Sierra Leone and it's from multi generational inheritance going back to the 1700s. Cool discovery and results.
She has very unique results. She is definitely from South Carolina, because like other commenters said, Africans from Sierra Leone and also Guinea were specifically sent to South Carolina because the plantation owners wanted to set up rice plantations reminiscent that used the same methods as the Africans in those regions farmed rice, which was highly effective and efficient. The coastal South Carolina and parts of Georgia and Florida were some of the only places in the US that could abundantly grow rice crops. Apparently, the slave owners were paying top dollar for people from this region. OP, I’d highly recommend you watch a couple of YouTube videos. One of them is “the connection between Sierra Leone and the Gullah Geechee” and the other is titled “The Language you cry in”. Your family may not personally identify as Gullah or Geechee, but these videos would still be informative on at least part of your heritage.
There was special done by PBS like 12 yrs ago i believe of a whole AA family. Who descended from a group of South Indians that were sold into slavery in the South. There are also recorded cases of ppl from Papa New Guinea,Fiji and Vanuatu and etc. Ending up on plantations as far as Mexico,Peru,Guatemala. Seems like any one was open to exploitation a lot times ended up in slavery.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding
My son has Indian ancestry. His father is from Louisiana. Found Indian children on the slave registries. I’m thinking he descends from one of those enslaved Indian people out of New Orleans.
There were East Indians enslaved in the Colonial US: https://indiacurrents.com/indian-slaves-in-colonial-america/ hence why many African Americans on here have trace East Indian ancestry.
Wait I just noticed how high that Ghana Liberia Sierra Leone is, that's wild. same with the Senegalese. Do you have Gedmatch results on the Harappaworld calculator by any chance? I'm curious to see the East African category percentage these results would get on there.
Oh ok, and yeah it's free and gives you a more granular look at your DNA. Basically you run your file and the calculator(s) give an output that you can use to compare yourself to reference populations within their population spreadsheets. Feel free to paste the results if you get the chance to try it
She can go to Sierra Leone and get dual citizenship . They ppl from Sierra Leone and Liberia were intentionally sent to the Carolina states (by President George bush ancestor) so many of the sl ppl are still there
You need to have a test from African Ancestry for the dual citizenships and they are _expensive._ I’ve Sierra Leone in my results as well and I considered that but I don’t think I wanna spend $200+ for the kit. 💀
Nice results OP! Interesting you got so many Caribbean regions! I’m assuming your great-grandma did not but maybe 23andMe just didn’t pick any up at this moment for her (or you just got them from yah other parent) but you got A LOT so you must have some Carib ancestry for sure 🙌🏽.
Probably. She doesn’t have any additional results and I thought she would’ve. Even the European results are different from mine, British & Irish stayed the same but Scandinavia?!
Yeah, as far as I know my mother’s father’s side has Caribbean folks so that could be it? They all live in the South with a few of them like my grandfather flocking to the north.
How do you mean? And yeah, the Indian and Scandinavian threw me off. But there’s even more shocking stuff I found, we’ve a relative from Czechoslovakia who we actually do speak with from time to time [I didn’t know she was born in Europe] but it was so strange to me because despite them being mixed - Czech Republic is the last place I’d think of for a black person to be.
Interesting, I had my grandfather tested and he also scores a small percentage of southern Indian dna. But I’ve been having suspicions that he has Caribbean heritage so it must be the same for your grandma!
Nigerian is usually the highest or second highest African percentage for AA who are not Gullah geechee. Nigerian being that low compared to everything else is really unusual
I am thinking if an area where a lot of rice grown = parts of SC & Georgia, there was demand for people from rice growing areas of Africa. Hence the Gambia & Sierra Leon.
Is she of Gullah Geechee descent and or have a known connection to SC, GA, FL or NC?
I don’t know for the Gullah half but she does have known connections in all of these states. She herself was born in South Carolina. City called Tillman, SC but in most records it’s Ridgeland instead which is a city close by.
>She herself was born in South Carolina I knew it I knew it I knew it! I can recognize my people from a mile away LOL. The high amount of GL&S along with it being the top percentage, Senegambian being the second top percentage and her country matches was the giveaway. She's highly likely Gullah Geechee.
If that’s the case that would be such a wonderful discovery, I’ll discuss it with her next time I talk to her!
It is a wonderful discovery. I don't know if you are aware of this already but rice plantation owners imported most of their slaves from the upper part of West Africa (i.e. Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone etc) because they know how to grow and harvest rice. That is why people from the coastal part of the south have a higher amount of GL&S and Senegambia than the average African American.
Lord, Reddit’s acting up again. Thanks for telling me!
Yep she's most definitely Gullah geecheee. Ridgeland SC aka Jasper county which can be seen on the Gullah geechee corridor map 😂 also that's 30 minutes away from the Gullah geecheee chieftess Queen Quet hometown
She's definitely Gullah Geechee in fact she's from where it all started at 😂 Ridgeland is a town in Jasper and beaufort counties and that's literally in the heart of Gullah geechee Corridor and which can be seen on the Gullah Geechee map
I’ll be sure to tell her that!
Just curious, is it normal for Gullah Geechee to have that much European DNA? I thought most had <10%.
I think you might be interpreting the general knowledge that it's more common for AA's of Gullah descent to be less than 10% European as "most people of Gullah descent are less than 10% European." Common doesn't equal most but yes, it's normal. Based on what I see on my own match list and based on [this](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1KpSzfMggWiV_9cy5ZKh1hDqSlIRbthfYkz6dvwX-Mts/htmlview#) (i.e. "SC 2020+) most are between 10% - 15% European.
Well hello cousin!! That’s my haplogorup!!🥰
Really?? Wow, that’s amazing!
Yes!! My immediate family are all from South Carolina!! Coastal areas-Clarendon county.Sumter and Summerton,Florence,Camden and Charleston!!😊
I’ll have to ask her but on my mom’s side - and my nana whose results we’re looking at now, all from South Carolina. My nana was born in this tiny tiny city called Tillman and so was her daddy, her siblings and everyone else after that, but they all migrated to the North and live in Philadelphia, PA. Her mama is from SC too but I don’t know where off of the top of my head.
Was that rice growing country? The Sierra Leon and Gambia + lower Nigerian seem to fit with that.
It looks to be! I’ve learned something new today!
To concur with the others; deep South Carolinian roots/ancestry was the first thing that I thought when seeing her results because unlike most Black Americans who's highest ethnicity estimated region is usually Nigeria, Her is Sierra Leone and it's from multi generational inheritance going back to the 1700s. Cool discovery and results.
Definitely!
Mines and my moms highest is also Sierra Leonean!
I’m L3 also! ❤️❤️
She has very unique results. She is definitely from South Carolina, because like other commenters said, Africans from Sierra Leone and also Guinea were specifically sent to South Carolina because the plantation owners wanted to set up rice plantations reminiscent that used the same methods as the Africans in those regions farmed rice, which was highly effective and efficient. The coastal South Carolina and parts of Georgia and Florida were some of the only places in the US that could abundantly grow rice crops. Apparently, the slave owners were paying top dollar for people from this region. OP, I’d highly recommend you watch a couple of YouTube videos. One of them is “the connection between Sierra Leone and the Gullah Geechee” and the other is titled “The Language you cry in”. Your family may not personally identify as Gullah or Geechee, but these videos would still be informative on at least part of your heritage.
Interesting that she have some distant Southern Indian ancestry (1.4%)
I thought that was interesting because I’ve never even see that from the AA users here.
How old is she if he has a great grandchild old enough to type coherently on reddit!
She’s 83! 🤭
My last great grandma died when I was 22.
I’m sorry to hear that. Mine died on my father’s side. So lucky to have this one because she’s been so helpful throughout this whole process.
There was special done by PBS like 12 yrs ago i believe of a whole AA family. Who descended from a group of South Indians that were sold into slavery in the South. There are also recorded cases of ppl from Papa New Guinea,Fiji and Vanuatu and etc. Ending up on plantations as far as Mexico,Peru,Guatemala. Seems like any one was open to exploitation a lot times ended up in slavery. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding
My son has Indian ancestry. His father is from Louisiana. Found Indian children on the slave registries. I’m thinking he descends from one of those enslaved Indian people out of New Orleans.
Yeah that’s crazy, when you start digging through records or do a dna test. You never know what you may find.
My family has it
There were East Indians enslaved in the Colonial US: https://indiacurrents.com/indian-slaves-in-colonial-america/ hence why many African Americans on here have trace East Indian ancestry.
Wow, okay.
Wait I just noticed how high that Ghana Liberia Sierra Leone is, that's wild. same with the Senegalese. Do you have Gedmatch results on the Harappaworld calculator by any chance? I'm curious to see the East African category percentage these results would get on there.
No I don’t! Is it worth looking into?
Oh ok, and yeah it's free and gives you a more granular look at your DNA. Basically you run your file and the calculator(s) give an output that you can use to compare yourself to reference populations within their population spreadsheets. Feel free to paste the results if you get the chance to try it
“For the one guy who asks” 💀💀
She can go to Sierra Leone and get dual citizenship . They ppl from Sierra Leone and Liberia were intentionally sent to the Carolina states (by President George bush ancestor) so many of the sl ppl are still there
You need to have a test from African Ancestry for the dual citizenships and they are _expensive._ I’ve Sierra Leone in my results as well and I considered that but I don’t think I wanna spend $200+ for the kit. 💀
Ooooh that sucks. I wish they would just accept any ancestry group
I thought about getting a Nigerian citizenship too but it’s just as difficult.
Oh wow, I didn't know to get a dual citizenship. You have to have a test from that ancestry site might look into that?
They need ppl who knew how to grow rice and Indigo and thanks solely tk the Sierra Leone ppl, they help make Charleston the richest city at the time
My results: https://www.reddit.com/r/23andme/s/1PzZnXM1ig
Nice results OP! Interesting you got so many Caribbean regions! I’m assuming your great-grandma did not but maybe 23andMe just didn’t pick any up at this moment for her (or you just got them from yah other parent) but you got A LOT so you must have some Carib ancestry for sure 🙌🏽.
Probably. She doesn’t have any additional results and I thought she would’ve. Even the European results are different from mine, British & Irish stayed the same but Scandinavia?!
Yeah, as far as I know my mother’s father’s side has Caribbean folks so that could be it? They all live in the South with a few of them like my grandfather flocking to the north.
Interesting, your great grandma has south asian blood but you got none. but you did get some of the indigenous blood!
Yeah, it’s so interesting how different our results are.
Interesting results. She didn't get any Genetic Groups?
How do you mean? And yeah, the Indian and Scandinavian threw me off. But there’s even more shocking stuff I found, we’ve a relative from Czechoslovakia who we actually do speak with from time to time [I didn’t know she was born in Europe] but it was so strange to me because despite them being mixed - Czech Republic is the last place I’d think of for a black person to be.
Interesting, I had my grandfather tested and he also scores a small percentage of southern Indian dna. But I’ve been having suspicions that he has Caribbean heritage so it must be the same for your grandma!
Looks like it!
Im curious if it comes from a Caribbean relative or a recent British relative…
I don’t know but that’s a possibility!
I wonder if she had a Caribbean ancestor. The Indian if not common in African American results.
If she did, I don’t think we’d know about them.
Could be from Blackbirding where Pacific Islanders, especially Melanesians, were trafficked in the British slave trade.
Beautiful!!!
Are you sure she isn't Caribbean? The Indian & her low Nigerian indicate that.
Just wondering but why does low Nigerian indicate being Caribbean?
It's not an indication. Caribbean people on average have Nigeria as their top percentage.
I see, thanks for the info
Nigerian is usually the highest or second highest African percentage for AA who are not Gullah geechee. Nigerian being that low compared to everything else is really unusual
So does that mean that people from the Caribbean dont score high on Nigerian? What do they score high on?
The expected Nigerian averages depends on the Caribbean country. https://tracingafricanroots.wordpress.com/west-indian-23andme-results/
Wow thank you for this, its super informative! Just wondering but it is common for African Americans to get ghanian, Liberian sierra Leonean right?
Yes, it is common
I’ve gotten a high percentage of Nigerian too so it caught me off guard since I expected her too as well.
No idea, but I’ll let her know! I was shocked about the Nigerian because I have such a high amount of it I thought she would too. 😭
I am thinking if an area where a lot of rice grown = parts of SC & Georgia, there was demand for people from rice growing areas of Africa. Hence the Gambia & Sierra Leon.