How common is it for White Americans to have Native American ancestry?
With respect to European Americans, the percentages are much more different than African Americans or Latinos, with European American genomes being 98.6 percent European, 0.19 percent African and 0.18 percent Native American.Claims that US is a genetic melting pot appear overblown--if you're white | Genetic Literacy ProjectThe average African-American genome, for example, is 73.2% African, 24% European, and 0.8% Native American, the team reports online today in The American Journal of Human Genetics. Latinos, meanwhile, carry an average of 18% Native American ancestry, 65.1% European ancestry (mostly from the Iberian Peninsula), and 6.2% African ancestry….More than 5% of African Americans are estimated to carry at least 2% Native American ancestry genome-wide…With a lower threshold of 1% Native American ancestry, we estimate that about 22% of African Americans carry some Native American ancestry.At least 3.5% of European Americans carry African ancestry, though the averages vary significantly by state. In South Carolina and Louisiana, about 12% of European Americans have at least 1% African ancestry. In Louisiana, too, about 8% of European Americans carry at least 1% Native American ancestry…. African ancestry in European Americans is strongly correlated with the population proportion of African Americans in each state. We estimate that a substantial fraction, at least 1.4%, of self-reported European Americans in the US carry at least 2% African ancestry. Using a less conservative threshold, approximately 3.5% of European Americans have 1% or more African ancestry.We estimate that European Americans who carry at least 2% Native American ancestry are found most frequently in Louisiana, North Dakota, and other states in the West. Using a less stringent threshold of 1%, our estimates suggest that as many as 8% of individuals from Louisiana and upward of 3% of individuals from some states in the West and Southwest carry Native American ancestry.We find very low levels of African and Native American ancestry in Europeans with four grandparents born in Europe. We estimate that only 0.98% of Europeans carry African ancestry and 0.26% of Europeans carry Native American ancestry. These levels are substantially lower than the 3.5% and 2.7% of European Americans who carry African and Native American ancestry, respectively.
Why do so many Americans have some Native American ancestry?
They don't.Native Americans make up just over 1% of the total US population today. And this represents a rebound, from a population that plummeted to just over 250,000 individuals alive by 1900. Most non-Hispanic Americans have no Native American ancestry whatsoever. The White American average genetic makeup is 98.6% European, 0.19% African, and 0.18% Native American. The figures for African Americans in not much different when it comes to Native admixture – just 0.8%.http://www.geneticliteracyprojec...Of course, you have to consider that the level of admixture or rate cited above is based on averages. That extremely low percentage doesn't represent a default level of Native admixture for White and Black Americans, but rather a small cluster pattern that then shows up a very low rates for the entire population. Most Americans have no appreciable Native ancestry at all.And this modern disposition is simply based on demographic realities and American history. European colonization of north American did not allow for significant gene flow - or, Native genetic contribution to the larger White population, anyway.However, there is a true American phenomenon where Americans will claim "blood" based on family lore or theories. However, when real research is done, it simply mirrors what the genetic testing has shown. Anyway, this is a long way of saying that the prevalence of such claims is quite different than Americans actually having said ancestry.And after years of answering these kinds of questions, let me just give a final qualification...this is not a matter of being insular and trying to diminish the claims for some personal agenda. No. This is a matter of looking into the issue comprehensively and coming to a conclusion based on concrete research. I actually WISH there were more Native and our tribes were larger, and could exert more demographic weight. But, that is not the case, whether speaking about those with tribal national affiliation or even just those of some significant level of Native American ancestry. It's just not the case.
Do any South Africans have Native American ancestry?
There are likely to be very few, and if they exist they would not be classified as Coloured. If they were in South Africa during the Apartheid era then they would have had US passports which means that automatically they would have been classified as White, regardless of skin color. However the current ANC government has a policy of "fair discrimination" whereby Black people are given preference in awarding of government tenders, jobs, and allocation of state resources. This means that a US citizen who doesn't have a white skin would be classified as Black if they wanted to, thereby taking advantage of the government's "fair discrimination" laws.Coloureds in South Africa have always been sidelined from mainstream politics. They have always been "too Black" or "too White". The Cape Coloureds have various origins. Approximately 80% are Christian and 5% Muslim. South Africa's Coloreds are descended from the intermarriage of white settlers, African natives, and Asian slaves who were brought to South Africa from the Dutch colonies of Asia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There was no migration from any American or South American country to South Africa.
How many people in North America have Native American ancestry? And do they embrace their roots and culture?
Most people in of every ethnicity in the Southeastern U.S. who have ancestry there for at least 4 generations will have Native ancestry. While it is seldom commented on due to modern historical revisionism that insists that the South was full of racism across the board this is simply not so. The history of Native Americans in the South is very different from elsewhere in the U.S. The "Five civilized tribes" all lived among and traded with the whites and even assimilated their culture to some degree. The Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee were all on good terms with the Europeans and in fact the two former did not wage war on whites until they chose sides in the American Civil War. The Chickasaw and Choctaw were in fact paid a handsome sum for their land and relocated originally on their terms. In the aftermath of the American civil war this of course changed. The intermingling of genes that is pervasive was probably not on such happy and neighborly terms. In fact the trail of tears will account for much of this Native ancestry in people who do not appear native. Daughters were often sold along the way westward ostensibly for a a twofold purpose. One being the immediate survival of daughters and the other for material resources to meet immediate needs of the remaining family. I have two great grandmothers who were full blooded Cherokee that came about in just his manner. I do not celebrate my native ancestry as I was not raised to observe it and find it somewhat distasteful when a person who is for all intents and purposes is white tries toimitatee some caricature of their concept of what a native is. Some of the things I have learned from my grand parents no doubt originated from my native great grandmothers but they are not designated as such.
How many African-Americans have white ancestry in their heritage?
To know for sure they would all have to be tested. In addition many "white" Americans have black ancestry, because their ancestors were light skinned descendants of slaves and usually their owners and they married people of European ancestry until their past was forgotten or completely hidden even from themselves. "One-third of white Americans, according to some tests, will possess between two and 20 per cent African genes. The majority of black Americans have some European ancestors. Last year, Professor Peter Fine at Florida Atlantic University had an idea for an art class. He would gather a group of students to produce work around their idea of their racial identity. But as part of the class he asked them to take a DNA test that would break down their racial background. His bet was that most of the class - of whom the majority saw themselves as whites of European descent - had no real idea who they were. He was right. Of 13 students, only one turned out to be completely European. The rest displayed a mixture of European, Native American, African and Asian genes. The one black student turned out to be 21 per cent white. Fine himself - who admits to looking like a corn-fed stereotype of a white Midwesterner - discovered he was a quarter Native American. ‘I honestly think these tests could have a large effect on American consciousness of who we are. If Americans recognise themselves as a mixed group of people, that could really change things,’ he said." Ultimately all our ancestors originated in Africa, since we are all descended from "mitochondrial Eve," an African woman.
Why do white people claim to have Native American ancestry?
I literally do not understand this at all, it is so annoying. I am white and I find it to be extremely annoying because what is the point of lying? There is nothing wrong with being Native American but I don't understand people's need to lie about it. Do they think it makes them cool or something? So many people around here say they have Native American ancestry when they obviously don't, I don't understand why they would think it would make them "cooler," it doesn't matter what your ethnicity is, it just makes you look like an idiot when you lie about it. They always say, "My great-great grandma (or grandpa) was half native." (or something like that). How in the world would you even know that? You just say that so you can't disprove them