Many of us carry ancestry shaped by migration, slavery, resistance, and survival. Our stories cross continents—from West Africa to the Americas—and were often hidden, erased, or rewritten.
DNA and Identity
Modern genetic testing has helped reclaim identities long suppressed. African Americans are tracing their roots to the Yoruba, Igbo, Bantu, Akan, and many other proud African nations.
Each DNA result is a window into a past forcibly severed—and a future we can now shape through truth and reclamation.
The Dawes Roll & the Erasure of Black Indigenous Identity
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. government created the Dawes Rolls to register members of the Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole. But these records didn’t honor everyone’s identity—they erased it.
Freedmen—Black people of African descent who had been enslaved by Indigenous nations or born into tribal communities—were often denied full tribal status. They were placed on “Freedmen Rolls,” separate from “By Blood” rolls, even when they had Indigenous ancestry.
In many cases, Black Indigenous individuals were reclassified as simply “Black”, severing legal, social, and cultural ties to their Native nations. This deliberate misclassification was part of a larger effort to disenfranchise and erase Black Native identities.
Identity is not binary. Many African Americans are also Indigenous—and their erasure is a wound that still seeks justice.
Structural Erasure: Black Codes, Redlining & Racial Laws
After slavery ended, freedom did not equal equality. Laws and policies were created to continue controlling Black lives, stripping away rights, land, and opportunities.
- Black Codes: Laws passed in Southern states after the Civil War to restrict the movement, labor, and rights of newly freed African Americans. They criminalized unemployment and vagrancy, forcing Black people into exploitative labor systems.
- Jim Crow Laws: Enforced racial segregation and systemic inequality in schools, transportation, housing, and public life—legalizing white supremacy and economic exclusion for nearly a century.
- Redlining: A government-backed practice where Black and minority neighborhoods were labeled "hazardous" for investment. This denied residents access to mortgages, business loans, and home equity—perpetuating generational poverty.
- Racial Integrity Acts & Reclassification: Many states passed laws that denied multiracial identities and reclassified anyone with African ancestry as “Negro” or “colored,” further erasing Black Indigenous and mixed-race identities from public records and tribal rolls.
These policies weren’t just discriminatory—they were intentional tools of erasure, designed to sever cultural memory, limit mobility, and suppress generational wealth.
Reclaiming What Was Lost
Our ancestry is not limited to the labels others gave us. It is complex, royal, and sacred. Through DNA, oral histories, and ancestral research, we honor all parts of who we are—African, Indigenous, and more.
Start Your Search
Begin your journey to uncover your roots by exploring powerful genealogy and DNA tools. These trusted platforms can help you trace family history, connect with distant relatives, and discover deeper ancestral truths—whether through documents, DNA, or migration patterns.