Years of wondering are now over for Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond.
In a matter of moments, McQuinn’s ancestral lineage to Africa was revealed today in the auditorium at Franklin Military Academy — the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria on her paternal line and the Ibo tribe of Nigeria on her maternal line.
She said it was something she’s thought about since she was a little girl and is excited to finally know the answer.
“It’s an awesome feeling ... to be able to share this with the entire family, to know that this is part of our history,” said McQuinn, who is also the chairwoman of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission. “We want to connect the dots, and this adds to that.”
McQuinn and Maureen G. Elgersman Lee, executive director of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, traced their African lineage with the help of the Washington-based company African Ancestry.
Elgersman Lee’s maternal lineage was traced to the Mandinka tribe in the Senegal. Less than 30 minutes after she received the results, she said the news hadn’t sunk in yet. She knew previously that her birth parents were from Barbados.
“I’ve done slave-era research on the Caribbean and ... I have files of newspaper ads from the Caribbean that talk about slave ships arriving, and where people are coming from,” she said. “Senegal is very prominent in that. It will mean a little more to me going forward as far as research is concerned.”
African Ancestry has traced the lineage for 20,000 people since the company was founded seven years ago. A simple swab inside the cheek — and a fee of about $350 — is enough to get researchers started. The DNA is broken down — mitochondrial DNA traces the maternal lineage and the Y chromosome to trace the paternal lineage. Once the sequencing is determined, it is compared with a database that features more than 25,000 genetic sequences.
Richmond was the seventh stop during the company’s 14-stop, 19-day “We Are Africa” road tour. African Ancestry has been featured on the PBS documentary “African-American Lives” and traced the lineage for such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee and Forrest Whitaker.
African Ancestry president and co-founder Gina Paige said the company wanted to hit the road in a grassroots effort to inform others their services are available to anyone.
“We want to transform the way people view themselves and the way they view Africa,” Paige
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement