Carl Zimmer writes about the muddled genetic state of race in the United States. We’re a mongrel nation, even if many people don’t want to admit it — but a recent analysis of data from the 23andme program shows a substantial mixing of races in the US. Well, except for Minnesota. Look how white we are up here!
The percentage of self-identified European Americans who have one percent or more of African ancestry.
Actually, it’s more complicated than that. What that data says is that if you are a Minnesotan who claims to be white, you probably are a product of the mixed German and Scandinavian history around here — your family didn’t have much opportunity to mingle with anyone but Northern Europeans. But if you’re from South Carolina, your ancestors did have opportunities to mix with ancestors of other skin colors, and being human, they did. And at least among the population of 23andme subscribers, a significant fraction of Americans are less than pure-blooded.
On average, the scientists found, people who identified as African-American had genes that were only 73.2 percent African. European genes accounted for 24 percent of their DNA, while .8 percent came from Native Americans.
Latinos, on the other hand, had genes that were on average 65.1 percent European, 18 percent Native American, and 6.2 percent African. The researchers found that European-Americans had genomes that were on average 98.6 percent European, .19 percent African, and .18 Native American.
It makes it all rather silly to point at any one person and declare what their racial identity is based solely on the color of their skin — and it makes the continuing discrimination against people on the basis of such a superficial characteristic that much more unjust.
Hey, look at that! South Carolina, the state most eager to start the Civil War, is the most “blended” of the states. Did the “white” people who insisted on their right to own their cousins know that?
One of the most laughable conclusions of US race laws was the so-called ‘one drop’ rule, under which my pale, blue-eyed self would count as mixed race: one of my great-great-grandmothers was a !Kung woman, to great scandal in their Boer community. So I know, quite certainly, that I’m one-sixteenth Black.
I’m descended from those people that you mentioned, the Scandinavian and German people that arrived rather late in the 19th century and settled in Minnesota. The Ojibwa and the Dakota were long pushed out when my people arrived, so I can’t even passably make the claim that I’m mixed with them.
As white as wonder bread and only half as flavorful.
I’m English/Welsh, which makes me, in all probability, a mixture of Celtic, various Scandanavian, various Germanic and Norman/French plus gawd knows what other influences from around the Roman empire. Apparently though I’m racially ‘pure’ because those peoples all share a vaguely similar skin-tone.
If pure = good, then in truth, most white people are fucked from the get-go.
Funny story: one of my high school teachers commented on how my sister and I looked alike. I didn’t have the heart to tell him my parents adopted her out of Guatemala.
Well, there’s evidence that the Romans brought people from Africa to settle Londinium end Eboracum, and likewise the IX and XX Legions also had African soldiers…
Germanic people are probably a mixture of Indo-European speakers with a pre-exisiting Scandinavian population, and certainly there was later gene-stirring with Finnic speakers, Huns, Celtic and Romance speakers, and others. And none of those contributing groups were homogeneous in any way other than, perhaps, language. Same everywhere, and going on all the time. ‘Pure’ was always a silly word to use about any human lineage.
And note once again, that there is more human genetic diversity in sub-Saharan Africa than in all the rest of the world, so the traditional racial categories are, from that standpoint, quite meaningless.
How unsurprising, the states that are the most racist / the most republican also happen to have the most average racial mixing. Turns out that a history of owning black people goes hand-in-hand with a history of slave owner on slave rape, probably involving the same people most vocally opposed to miscegenation.
And here I thought we all had 100.0 % African ancestry …
#5 oualawouzou
Exact same thing happened to my grandparents with my (adopted) sister, meeting some neighbors in the elevator. (She was mixed Turkish-German ancestry. With, apparently, the Turkish element visible enough that strangers occasionally commented on it – I couldn’t see it myself, not that that proves anything.)
Would be nice if they went for a slightly less white shade of white on this map. I have to tilt my laptop screen back to catch the gradations.
Kinda surprising about Nevada.
How good are the 23andme results for this sort of thing? I have a vague negative impression of how they do this, but it’s not a very well informed impression.
I’m not saying this to cast doubt on the results, which I find very plausible. I am wary of the overselling of this sort of genetic analysis, but would be happy to hear it’s basically sound.
Looking at the map, it’s clear that whiteness is an adaptation to winter, especially in Minnesota where the season is eight months in length. But what about black bears, you say? They’ve adapted by hibernating. Evolution is very clever that way, don’cha know.
Also Alans – in other words Ossetes. :-)
(…Hey, that means the term “Aryan” isn’t completely wrong. I never noticed. ^_^ )
They’ve sequenced enough people to do statistics.
Makes me wonder how many light skinned African descended left their families so they could pass as white elsewhere.
Sure, PZ, but you were born in Washington State. Did the native Minnesotans say “There goes the neighborhood!” when you moved into town?
Part of me is surprised since both Wisconsin Minnesota is so white considering they were the two states that didn’t have anti miscegenation laws, but I suppose that was more just that they didn’t have enough minorities to care. (Incidentally California had those laws, but that was more to prevent asians and whites from marrying.)
One of the weirdest parts about moving to Minnesota was that it’s just this sea of white people, many of which are also light-haired. It’s like a children of the corn casting call.
I miss diversity.
So does this mean that all the white, anti-immigration protesters actually have the least possibly right to be here and ought to get on boats and go home? (Sorry, Europe)
All four of my grandparents came to the US from Italy, so I’m “pure” Italian.
However, one grandfather was from Naples, a city which has been controlled by just about every political power in Europe over the last 3000 years, as well as those of North Africa.
The other grandfather came from Milan, and was a red head with blue eyes and milk white skin. Probably German and Celtic ancestry in him.
But I’m PURE Italian! Makes me laugh.
I read somewhere that we homo sapiens have 2% neanderthal DNA. Oh Myyyy!
Hmm…does North African count?
Pascalle: In particular, Europeans have neanderthal DNA. Plus, IIRC, some other Homo genus species–I forget which one. Whites are the least human humans out there.
Ook!
My genes are in the wash and the colours appear to have run.
As long as you’re not bleaching them, Lofty.
Years ago I took one of the early genetic tests, and the results came back that I was descended from ‘The Artisans’, the people who left the cave paintings. My first thought was that that was pretty cool.
Then I thought “I’m descended from the people who settled Europe. Duh!”
dianne @23:
And some Asian populations have Denisovan DNA. Does that make them less human?
CaitieCat, I’d kill for some melanin in my genes right now, it’s too damn sunny out where I live.
I’m I wrong in reading this? This is a representation of self-identified whites with mixes they did not know about. These do not represent real numbers as far as the way this is worded. For example it is very common to claim native american mix and if someone claimed african mix then they are not represented in the above graph (?) So the graph may be representative of people (or more likely their ancestors) hiding a mixed ancestry but not representative of real ancestrys in the U.S.
My grandfather (a self-identified white person from north Florida) had very dark skin for a white person. Family lore held that his grandmother was half native-American.
My father and I recently did those DNA ancestry tests. It turns out that he is about 1/16th African, and I am about 1/32nd African (~6% and ~3.5% respectively), so my grandfather was probably 1/8th African.
It’s funny how these stories work out.
@28: I was being sarcastic. European ancestored people have a tendency to assume that they’re the norm, the most “real” people around. And yet when it comes to being a “pure” H sap, Africans have everyone beat.
If my ancestry is not at least predominantly European, it’s time to reconsider Lamarck’s theories. Nonetheless, DNA testing keeps coming up with…strangeness. My mother’s mitochondrial DNA suggests NA ancestry but the specific polymorphisms occur in only about 0.1% of the population and no one seems to be sure what tribe they map to. Her complete DNA ancestry test showed up with some European, some North African, some Mesoamerican…and 3% unknown. Unknown? Meanwhile, the report of testing of my father’s Y-chromosome uses the phrase “almost unheard of”. Several times. It is similar to exactly one other person’s in the entire database: that of his brother. I conclude that I’m not sure what race I am but I’m sure I’m descended from people who were crappy reproducers.
Is .05% of the population a reliable sample?
Let’s see… German, Austrian, Norwegian, Scottish, French-Canadian, Native American, with a little Irish and English thrown in as well.
No idea. They don’t provide nationality on bills of sale.
Johndoe, 0.05% of the american population is 15.5 million people. I’d say that’s a pretty good sample size.
I have absolutely no doubt that I have some african american ancestry. Some of my French ancestors hung around New Orleans for a century or so after emigrating from Canada and thus I’ll bet there was some intermingling. Hooray!
For me in general from what ancestry is actually known, I’m about 1/4 French, about half a mix of scotch/irish/english and a smattering of Italian, German, Moldavian and I am a whopping 1/64th native american, though with the French Canadian ancestry that might very well be a tiny bit higher. Also, my Campbell ancestor smuggled himself aboard a boat traveling to America by hiding in a coffin. I come by all weirdness legitimately through genetics. And things have only gotten stranger in the years since.
Dianne, it might be more appropriate to say that you are the descendent of very highly selective reproducers. They went for quality, not quantity. :P
I’m Hungarian peasants on one side and English peasants on t’other.
Guess I’m totes White™.
This wins an internet
ceesays
Rowan vet-tech, I think you better check your maths. I get 155 000, still not a tiny number.
I saw a good comment about this in Swedish following the recent election result:
“I wish Sweden could go back to the way it was before all these immigrants turned up.”
“You mean covered with a couple of kilometres of glacial ice?”
@2 … Harridan …
I’m an average light-eyed, light brown haired, pale skinned Caucasian of dubious ancestry, 11th-generation American, totally WASP appearance.
It came as a total shock to me in my 1960s high school civics class to find out that I was legally black in most of the USA’s southern states. I always knew my great-grandmother had been a slave, but I didn’t realize the life-long implications of being unable to pick the correctly coloured ancestors. As I recall, my reaction was to loudly exclaim, “WTF, in Louisiana I’m a NEGRO! I can’t be Indian in Louisiana even though I have more Blackfoot ancestry than Black? Must be powerful genetics there.”
And yes, G-G-mom was “passing”, with what we are sure was the connivance of her husband/owner … he bought her (listed as a house slave and a skilled needlewoman on the bill of sale we think is hers) and then she vanishes from the records, but a dressmaker of a similar name pops up across the river in a free state, works for a while, and then marries the purchaser of that slave … and then the two of them went to California before the Civil War. I’ve got one picture of her – she looked like Lena Horne. BTW, happy marriage, 13 children.
@37 …. Rowan “Also, my Campbell ancestor smuggled himself aboard a boat traveling to America by hiding in a coffin.”
Was the army after him? We’ve totally dead-ended trying to ID one female ancestress. Family lore says she hopped a boat one step ahead of the law, and when it reached Canada kept heading west to Saskatchewan. There must have been a name change along the way, because we can’t find any trace of her in Scotland or Eastern Canada.
More than adequate sample-size, yes. IF the sample is representative.
The problem is that these sorta services are biased toward curious and affluent people.
Sili @43: Lofty @40 is correct; the number is more like 155,000 (one twentieth of one percent). The article itself says 160,000.
Tsu Dho Nimh @42 (cute pseu do nym, BTW):
Maybe he didn’t meet his quota of MacDonalds at Glencoe.
A fellow from Minn. once told me that they did have racial troubles in that state. “We have the Swedes vs. the Norwegians”.
The… er… family legend associated with him is that he got some gal pregnant and didn’t want to marry her. Which goes along great with the accidental bigamist that was from my dad’s side. And the Great-great-great grandfather who, because of alcohol withdrawal insanity murdered someone in a saloon and then died from the withdrawal 2 days later in prison. We have a copy of that newspaper article confirming it all.
My family is plain weird.
Thanks for correcting my super late-night maths. Brain farts abound, wheeeeee.
Skin colour is a particularly touchy subject in Australia, where people who consider themselves aboriginal are judged as opportunistic or even racist if they look very light skinned (the Australian Aboriginal dark skin seems to almost completely vanish very quickly in mixed ‘race’ ancestry).
…No. Everyone outside of Africa has 2 to 4 % of Neandertal DNA, and the southeastern branch – mostly in New Guinea and Australia – additionally has up to 6 % of Denisova DNA.
Some Africans instead have a bit of DNA from an otherwise unknown group.
Sandi @ 46,
I had a coworker in Minnesota who was Lakota. Sounds like he had some trouble with anglo Minnesotans in the past.
I’d win any ‘whitness’ competition: just look at my hair (whats left of it!!)
I left out an ‘e’ there and I need to update that ancient pic…I’m MUCH more white now.
My mother was a product of a mixed racial marriage in Minnesota. Swedish and Norwegian. Big scandal. In all seriousness, though, while my mother’s side of the family is pretty Nordic aside from a suspiciously dark-skinned ancestor from Sweden, my dad’s side is a mess, so I know I probably have some interesting alleles hiding out beneath the phenotypes.