Via Done With Mirrors comes this entry from Booker Rising:
About six weeks ago, I took a mitochondrial DNA test which traces the mother's mother's mother's line, etc. [. . .] The results represent only about 1 percent of my total genetic makeup, but identifies this matrilineal line. I'll take a little information, over none at all. Especially since my oldest known ancestor in my mother's mother's mother's etc. line, my great-great-great-grandmother C.D., was born in 1845 in Mississippi and the trail stops there.Posted by Ben Brumfield at April 19, 2006 09:33 PM[I]t is very nice and exciting to have more specific information about at least one line in my family tree. It also made for very interesting conversations with family members over the weekend. More importantly, it provides concrete scientific information about my past and is a tangible reminder that our family's history did not begin with slavery. Although this question crossed my mind: have I now gone from African-American to Mafa-Kotoko-Masa American? Or is that Cameroonian-Chadian-Nigerian American? I have settled on American of Mafa, Kotoko, and Masa descent.