We did it every time we started our circle introduced ourselves through our mother's line. I am Dionne daughter of Jeanine, daughter of Winifred, daughter of Sally...and there I would stop. I had no connection past my great grandma, "Big Grandma" is what I called her or so I'm told. As I listened to the other women go back through their mothers I felt a longing to know more. Where did I come from? Though my mom tried to help very few of the stories of my family were written down let alone shared with her. There were whispers that we had Native American blood within us. I discovered this was a common story in many African American household; a testament to the level of shame and sadness the legacy of slavery has left with us. We'd rather claim that heritage as if trading one painful history for another was better. "Besides all of that was grown folks business", she would tell me, "In my day kids weren't allowed to listen to grown folks talk." As the grown folks aged and past on coupled with the sad history of this country, our stories...my stories were lost. I felt lost. The question of identity has plagued many African Americans. Like many before me, I longed to know more than what little was safe to teach us in a few paragraphs of a history book in school. Among others, author Terry Pratchet is quoted as saying “If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.” What was my starting place and where the heck am I going? This question burned within me. Though the Internet proved useful in my initial search (I found my great, great grandmother), I had reached the great divide where no records of slaves were kept. And still the longing to know consumed me. I wanted to know what contribution to life in this country we made beyond the shame and heartbreak of slavery. I want to know what tribe my people came from. Inspired by the show African American Lives, I decided to take a DNA test to find out where my mother's people originated from and reclaim them surrounded by circle of women. I have to tell you I went back and forth on the decision because the information effects all the women from my mother's side; aunts and girl cousins, my daughter and any girl children that come from her. Would knowing and sharing this information do harm to them? Would it shatter our long held family beliefs about our place in the world? Or would it elevate us, make us wiser and connect our family to something deeper? Either way i had to know. The process was painless; several cotton swaps rubbed in my mouth sealed in a capsule and returned to a lab. Within a few weeks I had the results. We gathered in circle, my then tribe and me, placing pictures on the altar and sharing stories of our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers. With each retelling we breathed life into them until the room seemed to me filled with their presences. The results were read. With 98% accuracy my mother's line came from Ghana. My mother ancestors were welcomed back and celebrated. ![]() Knowing where I started out has helped me focus on where I'm wanting to go. Knowing has brought a level of comfort when thing along the journey get rough because there's a well of strength from the ancestors within me waiting to be drawn upon. Knowing gave me a deeper perspective of which ancestral gifts to keep and which to walk away from. This is one act which is without a doubt part of my legacy; my way to touch seven generations into the past and seven generations into the future. Knowing means I can say without a doubt I am Dionne, daughter of Jeanine, daughter of Winifred, daughter of Sally, daughter of Mary a daughter of Ghana. |
Blessings!I'm Dionne, a Natural Rhythms Creation Coach and Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle Reader. I teach people how to tune into to the power of the elements and rhythms of nature to design a life they love I WRITE:
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