When I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis I was asked if my heritage had either Scandinavian or African as these people were more susceptible to getting Sarcoidosis. According to what I knew, I had neither of those heritages in my DNA. 

I have always been fascinated with my genetic heritage because my family is so different. My paternal grandfather would be classified as white and so would my father. 

My father had light brown hair and intense green eyes and the funny thing is, the rest of his siblings are not like him at all. They all have black hair and various degrees of brown skin, from light to very dark. 

My mother’s side is the same. My mother is light brown with her siblings ranging in skin tone also. Between my brothers and me, I look the most like my father but with light brown skin and brown hair. My brothers have black hair and medium brown skin. 

My father’s side claims (and is proud) French heritage with a little English and native Carib Indian (Amerindian) blood. My mother’s side claims Dutch, Chinese and Amerindian also. 

Supposedly my great grandmother on my father’s side was half Amerindian and my great grandmother on my mother’s side also. 

I took all the info that I could get from my family and came up with the following percentages of my ancestry. 

• 43.75% Amerindian 
• 18.75% French
• 12.5% English
• 12.5% Dutch
• 12.5% Chinese 

I received my AncestryDNA results and turns out it is quite different to what I thought. Here is what my actual DNA is. 

• 26% African (Descended from Slaves)
• 23% French
• 10% Chinese
• 12% Irish
• 9% British
• 7% Scandinavian 
• 4% Spanish
• 2% Finnish
• 2% European Jewish
• 1% Greek
• 1% Polynesian

Notice the bold italics? African and Scandinavian – together, in the same room. Hello Sarcoidosis heritage! 

Further research revealed that when Columbus came to The Caribbean, many of the Amerindian people died from European disease, so there were not many left. 

Freed slaves that were lighter in color would say that they were Amerindian to be better accepted into society. The same is true for US slaves. Many said they were Cherokee to be accepted and so many American blacks falsely believe they have Cherokee heritage as well as many Caribbean people think that they have Amerindian heritage, but it is indeed black slaves. 

There you have it. I don’t have a drop of Amerindian blood, but a good bit of African slave blood, so the next time anyone comes and tells me that they are descendants of an oppressed people as a badge of honor, I can tell them that I know that I am. Show me your proof. 

One last point is that in doing my family tree I am able to trace back my father’s family six generations and they were all slave owners. Ironic twist in genetics.