http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/13/nyregion/13penn.html?
DNA Tells Students They Aren't Who They Thought
By EMMA DALY
Published: April 13, 2005
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - When Don R. Harrison Jr. was growing up in
Philadelphia, neighborhood children would tease him and call
him "white boy," because his skin was lighter than theirs. But Mr.
Harrison, a "proud black man," was still unprepared for the results
of a DNA test, taken as part of a class at Pennsylvania State
University, to determine his genetic ancestry.
"I figured it would be interesting. I'm light-skinned and I wanted to
know my whole makeup," said Mr. Harrison, a 20-year-old sociology
major. But he was shocked by results showing him to be 52 percent
African and 48 percent European: "which I had no clue about,
considering both my parents are black," said Mr. Harrison. "So I'm
half white."
Samuel M. Richards, who teaches Sociology 119, Race and Ethnic
Relations, to 500 students each semester, said the DNA tests, which
were conducted last year for the first time, were very popular with
the class.
"Everyone wants to take the test, even students who think they are
100 percent one race or another, and almost every one of them wants
to discover something, that they're 1 percent Asian or something.
It's a badge in this multicultural world," he said.
About half of the 100 students tested this semester were white, he
said, "And every one of them said, 'Oh man, I hope I'm part black,'
because it would upset their parents.
"That's this generation," he said. "People want to identify with this
pop multiracial culture. They don't want to live next to it, but they
want to be part of it. It's cool."
The tests also help to deepen conversations about race, he said.
"When I teach I try to demonstrate to students how complex race and
ethnicity are," Dr. Richards said. "My secondary goal is to improve
race relations, and when people discover that what they thought about
themselves is not true - 'I thought I was black, but I'm also Asian
and white' - it leads them to have a different kind of conversation
about race. It leads them to be less bigoted, to ask the deeper
questions, to be more open to differences."
Mark D. Shriver, associate professor of anthropology and genetics at
Penn State, took cheek swabs from about 100 student volunteers in Dr.
Richards's class for the DNA tests.
Many students were surprised by the results of the test, which was
created by Professor Shriver and his commercial partners at DNAPrint
Genomics Inc. to measure genetic mixing in populations, because of
the potential importance of racial or ethnic background to drug
trials, and also because of the researchers' curiosity about their
own ancestry. The company analyzed the test results free; the results
will go into a database for Dr. Shriver's research.
The test compares DNA with that of four parent populations, western
European, west African, east Asian and indigenous American, and the
company claims it is more than 90 percent accurate.
Many unexpected results can be explained by family history. Mr.
Harrison, for instance, recalled a great-grandfather who "would cross
for white, he was so fair."
"The white women apparently found him attractive, and black women
would flock to him because light was in back then." Mr. Harrison
added, "He worked on the railroad, and he looked white in a black-and-
white photo."
Natasha Best, a 21-year-old public relations major, has always
thought of herself as half black and half white, because her mother
is Irish-Lithuanian and her father West Indian. But the test proved
her to be 58 percent European and 42 percent African.
"I was surprised at how much European I was, because though my
father's family knows there is a great-great-grandfather who was
Scottish, no one remembered him," said Ms. Best, who grew up in
Yonkers. "I knew it was true, because I have dark relatives with blue
eyes, but to bring it up a whole 8 percent, that was shocking to me."
But Professor Shriver explained that although a great-great-
grandparent would contribute on average 6.25 percent of a person's
genes, any one ancestor might be represented at a higher or lower
level in today's generation.
Modern migration patterns are also leaving a mark. Ms. Best and Mr.
Harrison are members of the fastest-growing ethnic grouping in the
United States, one that was acknowledged in the 2000 census for the
first time: mixed race. Yet the two students identify themselves in
very different ways.
"I am 48 percent white - genetically I am, at least, but not
culturally. And the fact that I'm black is more important, because
it's something I know. It's who I'm comfortable with," Mr. Harrison
said.
"Some people think it's funny that I consider myself Irish and
celebrate St. Patrick's Day," Ms. Best said, "because no matter how
you cut it, when you look at me you don't think, there goes a white
girl."
She has noted discrimination on both sides. "Black people have told
me I shouldn't date white people," said Ms. Best, whose boyfriend is
white. Some of her white friends say their parents, too, disapprove
of interracial dating. "Other people have told me I'm not really
black, or I think I'm better than other black people because I'm
lighter."
Mr. Harrison, who says that as a child he molded himself to be more
black, does not want this new information to change his
identity. "Just because I found out I'm white, I'm not going to act
white," he said. "I'm very proud of my black side."
But whatever his genes say, or those of Ms. Best, they will most
likely be seen as black - at least by white Americans - for the rest
of their lives.
"I think the test is really interesting; I had to know," said Ms.
Best. "But it makes me question, why are we doing this? Why do
people, especially in this country, want to know? Why are we, as a
people, so caught up in race? Maybe we haven't progressed as much as
we thought we had."
DNAPrintTM genomics, Inc
http://www.dnaprint.com/
African Ancestry
http://www.africanancestry.com/
AncestryByDNA
http://www.ancestrybydna.com/
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