Hidden African Ancestry

23andMe helps man learn about his family's hidden history, shifting his view of his own racial identity.

 Maria felt conflicted. Here she was celebrating her parents’ 63rd wedding anniversary, and the last thing she wanted to do was upset her elderly mother. But on the flipside she...

23andme researchers have published a new study that created the a first-of-its-kind genetic portrait of the United States.

Geneticists from all over the world have converged in San Diego this week as part of the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting. A team of scientists from 23andMe...

Using anonymous aggregated data 23andMe look sat the mix of African, European and Native American ancestry in the United States to gather an illuminating genetic portrait of the U.S. that both confirms some of what we know about America’s social history but also other things that are surprising and new.

Editors note: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated the name of Mrs. Obama’s maternal great-great grandfather. The correct name is Henry Wells Shields. A story in Sunday’s New...

In this guest post, Ancestry Ambassador CeCe Moore tells the story of her brother-in-law who discovered a historical link with personal significance via DNA.

Data from the 2010 census showed that about 13% of people living in the United States self-identify as African American, but from a genetic point of view, ethnicity isn't so black and white. Most African Americans have genetic ancestry tracing back to both Africa and Europe and many Americans who consider themselves of completely European descent may actually have some African ancestry as well.

Update: A post at the blog Your Genetic Genealogist just went up with a very similar story to mine. Check it out.   It was just a few thin green...