- African American Lives
"African American Lives" is a
PBS television miniseries hosted byHenry Louis Gates, Jr. focusing onAfrican American genealogical research. It aired in February 2006, and included research into the ancestral lineages of nine prominent African Americans: Gates,Whoopi Goldberg ,Quincy Jones ,Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot ,Ben Carson ,Oprah Winfrey ,Mae Jemison ,Chris Tucker andT. D. Jakes .The miniseries features the geneticist
Rick Kittles .Criticism
However, many geneticists have greatly criticized the program for not acknowledging nor informing those that were tested that not all ancestry may not show up in the tests. cite web |url=http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908|title=Deep Roots and Tangled Branches|author=Troy Duster|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education] cite web |url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018145955.htm|title=Genetic Ancestral Testing Cannot Deliver On Its Promise, Study Warns|author=ScienceDaily|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=ScienceDaily]
Especially for those who claimed having Native American descent. cite web |url=http://www.gene-watch.org/genewatch/articles/14-5nativeidentity.html|title=Genetic Markers Not a Valid Test of Native Identity|author=Brett Lee Shelton, J.D. and Jonathan Marks, Ph.D.
accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=Counsel for Respondsible Genetics] The genetic tests done only research a few of the ancestors, and not all of them resulting in false negatives being given to the test taker.cite web |url=http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908|title=Deep Roots and Tangled Branches|author=Troy Duster|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education] It is possible that while some Native American groups sampled did not share the pattern of markers being searched for, others might since these genetic markers do not exclusively belong to any one group of our existing racial, ethnic, linguistic, or tribal typologies."cite web |url=http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908|title=Deep Roots and Tangled Branches|author=Troy Duster|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education] In addition, not all Native Americans have been tested , so they do not know for sure that Native Americans only have the genetic markers they have identified, even when their maternal or paternal bloodline does not include a non-Native American.cite web |url=http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908|title=Deep Roots and Tangled Branches|author=Troy Duster|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education] cite web |url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018145955.htm|title=Genetic Ancestral Testing Cannot Deliver On Its Promise, Study Warns|author=ScienceDaily|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=ScienceDaily] The genetic tests are not accurate as argued by numerous genetists and universities because tests trace only one bloodline, however, they exclude most ancestors.cite web |url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018145955.htm|title=Genetic Ancestral Testing Cannot Deliver On Its Promise, Study Warns|author=ScienceDaily|accessdate=2008-10-02 |date=2008 |publisher=ScienceDaily]External links
* [http://www.pbs.org/previews/aalives2/ PBS page for "African American Lives 2"]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/2006/index.html PBS page for "African American Lives"]
* http://www.villagevoice.com/screens/0605,tv2,71996,28.html
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