Our Roots and History | Nebraska (2024)

FAQs

Why is it important to know our roots or history? ›

It gives you a sense of identity

Discovering more about your ancestors, celebrating family traditions, embracing your culture, and understanding where you came from can open your eyes to how beautiful and unique you are. It can also give your sense of self-worth and belonging a boost.

Knowing our cultural background and where we came from can help us develop a strong sense of who we really are. The way we relate to our family stories and create our own narratives about ourselves helps establish our unique, authentic core identity.

All guests on Finding Your Roots used both 23andMe and FTDNA for DNA testing – all African Americans participating in the series also used African Ancestry.

A genetic test in 2006 determined that her matrilineal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia. Her genetic makeup was determined to be 89% Sub-Saharan African, 8% Native American, and 3% East Asian.

A person's roots act in a very similar way – giving us history, community, and purpose. I like to think of these roots as the people, places, and experiences that help to shape who we are – our personalities, identities, values, traditions, and culture.

More importantly, roots are the lifeline of a plant, taking up air, water, and nutrients from the soil and moving them up into the leaves, where they can interact with sunlight to produce sugars, flavors, and energy for the plant.

Deeper Personal Identity

Tracing family roots back through generations can help a person connect more deeply with a sense of self by learning about their family's past—where they came from, who they were, what they did, the trials they overcame, the accomplishments they achieved, the dreams they had.

Through history, we can learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures and technologies were built, how they operated, and how they have changed. The rich history of the world helps us to paint a detailed picture of where we stand today.

Several researchers have suggested that knowing family history stories and participating in family history-related rituals may contribute to adolescent identity development by providing opportunities for adolescents to examine roles and ideals (Fivush et al.

Law Enforcement Requests in the United States:

Contents of communications and any data relating to the DNA of an Ancestry user will be released only pursuant to a valid search warrant from a government agency with proper jurisdiction.

Who owns my DNA on Ancestry? ›

Access to test results: If you are the person who activates a test for yourself on our website, then you will be the Owner of that test, and you will have control over who has access to the DNA results of that test. As the Owner of a DNA test, you can share your ethnicity results with other users.

Please note: Ancestry does not share your Genetic Information with third-party marketers, insurance companies, or employers, and we will not use your Genetic Information for marketing or personalized advertising without getting your explicit consent.

Winfrey sees herself as both both a Christian and a critic of Christianity, says Lofton. She was raised in the Baptist church, describes herself as a consistent reader of the Bible, and through her television show, basically built the church that she wanted.

Oprah Winfrey

When Oprah took an ancestry DNA test, she discovered that she shares DNA matches with the Bamileke tribe from Cameroon, the Kpelle people in Liberia, and the Bantu tribe in Zambia. More specifically, her DNA results show that she is 89% Subharan African, 8% Native American, and 3% East Asian.

Only three monarchies remain in Africa: one in Morocco and two in the tiny southern nations of Lesotho and Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. The ruler of Eswatini, King Mswati III, is an autocratic despot. Crowned in 1986 at age 18, Mswati III has ruled the country for more than 35 years.

Povich worked with the company making the test kits, DNA Diagnostics Center, for over 20 years on his show. “We can do a home paternity test … send those tests to DNA Diagnostics Center, the same company, and within two or three days, they can have a result, send it back, and it's all done from your home,” he said.

Nebula Genomics offers the most thorough and complete DNA testing of any company reviewed here with whole-genomic sequencing. That thoroughness comes at a price, and Nebula is the most expensive offering we reviewed. This company is all about science, and that's both a plus and a minus.

Ancestry.com uses a custom Illumina OmniExpress SNP chip. This chip tests 637,639 autosomal SNPs, 28,892 X chromosome SNPs, 1691 Y chromosome SNPs, and 195 mitochondrial DNA SNPs.

AncestryDNA has the largest DNA database in the world – over 18 million samples – with accurate results from over 1,000 geographic sub-regions. Its DNA test gives you accurate ethnicity percentages, so you can see exactly where in the world your ancestors came from.