Race, Ethnicity, National Origin and Genealogy

Genealogists, more than anyone outside of the genealogical community, should be acutely aware of race, ethnicity and national origins. Rather than looking at those distinctions as barriers, genealogists should realize that we all come from a mixture and, as is now be demonstrated, all come from a common origin. One of the most pernicious and evil myths of all time is the myth of racial purity. In addition, both ethnicity and national origin are also transitory, ephemeral concepts. The increasingly popular genealogical tool of DNA testing is demonstrating the illusion of all three categories of human existence. Though it may seem like a publicity or fund raising stunt, the Global Family Tree effort is in reality a demonstration of how inter-related the human family really is.

Another serious effort to define the human family tree is the National Geographic, Genographic Project.

To date, over 700,000 people have participated in the Genographic Project. In the genealogical community, the recent RootsTech 2015 Conference pointed out the increasing awareness and interest in the DNA testing as an integral part of genealogical research. All three of the major commercial genealogy family tree programs, Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and Findmypast.com, all have begun integrating DNA testing into their automated source discovery programs.

For more information to decide whether DNA testing will aid your genealogical research, see the following links:

• Genealogical DNA test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• 2014: Most bang for DNA bucks | The Legal Genealogist
• Hiring a DNA Testing Company | Learn | FamilySearch.org
• DNA and genealogy: Diahan Southard shares at ...
• Online Resources and Genealogical Tools to Find Your Roots
• From DNA to Genetic Genealogy
• DNA tests - MyHeritage

What I have learned about DNA testing is this: you cannot look at DNA evidence for any accurate research data without supporting historical, i.e. genealogical, research to explain and interpret the test results. If you want to get a general look at your ancestry, you can get differing results from different companies, but if you want to solve an ancestral mystery, do your genealogical research first.