Oprah ain\u2019t no Zulu!<\/p>\n
But first, a short digression.\u00a0 When Arthur Haley\u2019s Roots aired in 1976, it became one of the most highly watched programs of all time.\u00a0 Nearly half of all TVs in America were tuned in to the final installment.\u00a0 It single-handedly invented the mini-series genre and caused an explosion in genealogy.\u00a0 However, in the ensuing years, scholars have questioned Haley\u2019s conclusion that he is descended from Kunta Kinte, native of a specific African village; there are few hard facts about early slaves and Haley\u2019s story was based entirely on oral tradition.\u00a0 So there has been no way to validate or refute his lineage.<\/p>\n
Jump to 2001.\u00a0 Oprah Winfrey heads off to explore her own roots in South Africa.\u00a0 She touts her heritage as a Zulu, the fiercest, most independent tribe on the continent.\u00a0 Nelson Mandela asks her to help improve life in Africa and she agrees.\u00a0 Oprah decides to build a school for girls in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Here comes the twist.\u00a0 Dr. Henry Louis Gates, chair of African American studies at Harvard, sets out on an exploration of his own, through African American history.\u00a0 He digs through the historical sources and soon comes to a genealogical dead end.\u00a0 So he turns to leading scientists to see if they can take him further back through the use of DNA analysis.\u00a0 In a nice piece of marketing, he sells PBS on the idea of mapping numerous black celebrities, including Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.\u00a0 Cameras roll.\u00a0 Blood is taken.<\/p>\n
Oh, the timing.\u00a0 After six years of preparation and $40 million spent, Oprah\u2019s school opens on January 1 in South Africa.\u00a0 And just 23 days later, PBS reveals that Oprah is not Zulu at all, but rather a descendant of the Kpelle tribe from what is now Liberia in West Africa.\u00a0 Missed it by 3,422 miles!<\/p>\n
So before YOU head off to the place your grandma swears is your native land, make sure you get your genome checked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oprah ain\u2019t no Zulu! But first, a short digression.\u00a0 When Arthur Haley\u2019s Roots aired in 1976, it became one of the most highly watched programs of all time.\u00a0 Nearly half of all TVs in America were tuned in to the final installment.\u00a0 It single-handedly invented the mini-series genre and caused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,354,478,760,864,901,1055],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","tag-arthur-haley","tag-dna","tag-genealogy","tag-louis-gates","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-oprah-winfrey","tag-roots"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}