Obama a descendant of African slave: site
Source: Agencies |
August 1, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A TEAM of genealogists has found evidence that United States President Barack Obama could be a descendent of an African slave - but not through the lineage of his black father, the most likely route researchers had followed and exhausted.
The link, genealogists with Ancestry.com said on Monday, is, in fact, through an examination of his white mother's family history.
"We were surprised and excited to make that connection," said Joseph Shumway, a member of the Utah-based Ancestry.com team.
Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas, US. It had been generally assumed that the president had no slave ancestors because researchers couldn't find it through the lineage of his father. But no one had yet performed any exhaustive research into the lineage of his white mother, who turns out to have a mixed-raced family history.
Ancestry.com now said the maternal line traces back to one of the first documented African slaves in the US.
The company said Obama could be the 11th great-grandson of John Punch, an African slave in colonial Virginia. He is believed to have had children with a white woman, starting a family line that led generations later to Obama's mother.
The White House declined comment on Monday.
The Ancestry.com team used DNA analysis and marriage and property records to trace Obama's maternal ancestry. The company says it can't establish a definitive link because of gaps in family history. Researchers are missing a record connecting Punch to a presumed son who by his early 20s owned 182 hectares and grew tobacco in Virginia.
The records pick up when a grandson of Punch petitioned a court to marry a white woman - and was turned down, presumably because the grandson appeared of mixed-raced heritage, said Elizabeth Shown Mills, a former president of the American Society of Genealogists.
Mills said she was not surprised by the slavery link that came through the lineage of Obama's white mother.
"There are many Americans discovering they have African ancestry. It's something that is whispered, not something families want the world to know," she said. "This is what is so fascinating about American history."
The link, genealogists with Ancestry.com said on Monday, is, in fact, through an examination of his white mother's family history.
"We were surprised and excited to make that connection," said Joseph Shumway, a member of the Utah-based Ancestry.com team.
Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas, US. It had been generally assumed that the president had no slave ancestors because researchers couldn't find it through the lineage of his father. But no one had yet performed any exhaustive research into the lineage of his white mother, who turns out to have a mixed-raced family history.
Ancestry.com now said the maternal line traces back to one of the first documented African slaves in the US.
The company said Obama could be the 11th great-grandson of John Punch, an African slave in colonial Virginia. He is believed to have had children with a white woman, starting a family line that led generations later to Obama's mother.
The White House declined comment on Monday.
The Ancestry.com team used DNA analysis and marriage and property records to trace Obama's maternal ancestry. The company says it can't establish a definitive link because of gaps in family history. Researchers are missing a record connecting Punch to a presumed son who by his early 20s owned 182 hectares and grew tobacco in Virginia.
The records pick up when a grandson of Punch petitioned a court to marry a white woman - and was turned down, presumably because the grandson appeared of mixed-raced heritage, said Elizabeth Shown Mills, a former president of the American Society of Genealogists.
Mills said she was not surprised by the slavery link that came through the lineage of Obama's white mother.
"There are many Americans discovering they have African ancestry. It's something that is whispered, not something families want the world to know," she said. "This is what is so fascinating about American history."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
