What's Happening: Spotlight on African Ancestry

First Published as an email newsletter on Friday 8th December 2023

by Bro. Jeorge

from the left; Kwadwo Boateng of ADDI, Brother Jeorge,
Dr. Gina Paige Co-founder of African Ancestry, Robin Walker, Danny Thompson
& Tessa Mason of State of the African Diaspora

Greetings Black Secret Progressives,

The last few months have been full of exciting new developments, connections and dynamic live events for us at The Black Secret. Black History Month in October this year was immense and full of noticeable highlights. Chief amongst them was working for the first time with Redbridge Council and being a part of their extensive programme of events. With The Legacy Awards at the start of the month and The Black Exchange Event right at the end of October been standouts, there was so much to shout about and so much to celebrate.

We got to meet many of our UK Black Secret members at these events as well. Our very our Black Secret Progressive, Rena Kydd Williams ( R Consultancy ) was also at the last Redbridge event, presenting and running a workshop herself on ‘Empowering Women’ which went down a storm. We once more give another standout lecture for Lambeth Libraries on ‘Ten Amazing Black History Icons’. Robin was also a keynote speaker at both the UK Reparations Conference in October and the larger Ghanaian ‘Accra Reparations Conference 2023’ that happened in November. Which featured such luminaries as Rocky Dawuni, UK MP Bell Ribeiro Addy, Dr Julius Garvey, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and many other Dignitaries and Heads of State. As I said the last few month’s have been substantial for The Black Secret, and that’s not the half of it, we’ve also been developing a new podcast with Dr Julius Garvey and we’re about to launch our Phase 4 module Mastery of Wealth in first month of the New Year of January 2024, plus a lot more, watch this space!

African Ancestry a 20 Year Legacy 

Alongside all of this, one of the most rewarding and memorable events and connections we made during this period was hosting African Ancestry’s 20 Year Celebration Tour to the UK and developing a partnership with African Ancestry and it’s Co-founder and President Dr. Gina Paige. The event we held on 14^th of October 2023, introducing African Ancestry to the UK was a huge success. We had live drumming from the Ethiopian World Federation, Liberations, informative lectures and discussions, as well as a number surprising DNA reveals including that of our very own Black Secret Director Danny Thompson, it was a blast from start to finish.

The following week Danny and myself had a chance to meet up with Dr Gina Paige for an interview at the V&A Muesum about African Ancestry and how she came to be Co-founder of this landmark company that has been connecting people in the Diaspora to their African roots and changing lives forever. 

Established in 2003 by Dr. Gina Paige and geneticist Dr. Rick Kittles, African Ancestry has gone on to be the world leaders in tracing material and paternal lineages of people of African descent. In their 20 years of serving the Diaspora they have successfully re-connected over 1 million people to their African roots. And as I would learn during the course of my conversation with Dr. Gina, one thing that sets them apart from the competition, are their DNA reports, which are far more accurate and precise than the standard results that you would get from other DNA companies.

A key reason for this has to do with the way they focus on analysising mitochondrial DNA for tracing maternal lineages and Y chromosomal DNA material for the paternal line. Another reason why their results are more specific, detailed and extensive, is due to the large database they have amassed of indigenous African DNA samples, which are far in excess of anything other companies have on their files of African DNA. Dr Gina explained that for twelve whole years before the company was launched in 2003, Dr Rick Kittles conducted painstaking research throughout African, collecting over 30,000 DNA samples across the length and breadth the continent, from all known regions, cultures and ethnicities, resulting in the most comprehensive DNA database of African heritage that exists in the world. 

Another unique aspect of African Ancestry is the fact that they are the only Black owned DNA testing company in the field. Even more remarkable is the fact that as an independent entity, they have been around for so long, a real achievement in itself. As Dr. Gina say in the interview, she is proud of their longevity as a company and to be one of the first in the field of DNA testing; “it’s rare [for a small business to last], after 3 years you’ve done something, after 5 years, you’ve defied the odds… and we continue to defy the odds…. We are very clearly doing the ancestors work and they are making a way for us to continue the work.”

One of the chief motivations for creating African Ancestry as Dr. Gina recalls, is that for many African Americans tracing their genealogy becomes difficult if not impossible beyond a certain point, they often hit a brick wall around the year 1870 and can’t trace much of their ancestry past this point. This is because in the US, Black people were not recorded on Federal censuses until the year 1870, as before this, in law ( ridiculously ) Black people in America were not considered to be human beings ( 3/5’s a human being ).  As Dr Gina says about DNA research and the creation of African Ancestry “This work exists because there is no other way to know [ specifically ] where we come from before 1870”. 

They’ve accomplished this and much more, giving people from the Diaspora a tangible sense of connection and belonging to the Motherland. In that spirit African Ancestry have recently developed their ‘Family Reunion Tours’ where they take people from the Diaspora back to the land of their ancestors, which are always life affirming and even life changing events for those who take part in them, especially for those who previously had little or no contact with the African Continent. The tours presently visit the countries of Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Ghana were many Diasporans have roots and connections to. 

Dr. Gina Paige herself, has many ‘stings to bow’ so to speak. Besides being the Co-founder and President of this seminal company that has connected so people to their roots, she has prior to establishing African Ancestry founded many other successful companies. She even started her first business at the tender age of eight! 

Find out more about the amazing story and achievements of African Ancestry and it’s founder by watching our revealing and insightful interview with Dr. Gina Paige. 

 Posing with Dr. Gina Paige at the V&A Museum

Watch our exclusive interview with Dr. Gina Paige below

Click here or on the image above to watch the video

Watch the Highlights of African Ancestry’s 20th Anniversary Celebration in the UK

Click here or the image above to watch the highlights

Find Out More about African Ancestry and get your DNA test kits @ 

https://africanancestry.com/ 

Downloadable materials:
https://africanancestry.com/pages/download 

The Science:
https://africanancestry.com/pages/the-science 

Work it Works:
https://africanancestry.com/pages/the-process 

Unlock Your Inner Potential By Learning Your History  

We at The Black Secret know the importance of history, the confidence it can inspire and the change for the better it can bring. We share the same outlook as Dr. Gina Paige when she says “knowing our collective history is also important, because in the absence of us having our family histories we don’t know what our families did before [ they got ] to the United States, before Jamaica, before Haiti, before Brazil….so we are at the mercy of the educational system to teach us, and they don’t want us to know.” 

Unfortunately, there is little interest from the mainstream educational system to teach the truth about Black history. It is up to us as a community worldwide to take up the mantle to learn and study our own history, and this is where we at The Black Secret come in. We are filling the void that mainstream educational systems around the world have created and are deliberately perpetuating by disseminating knowledge of our collective and glorious histories. We at The Black Secret bring to you and the masses the real truth of Africa and the Diaspora’s many great achievements, Civilisations and contributions in a comprehensive and detailed manner.    

In our interview Dr. Gina also says about the importance of history,  “Knowing your history general and personal, shows you what is possible”. 

We are only limited when we cannot see what is possible, knowing Black History and African Culture gives us the scope and vision to make anything possible and our future’s limitless. 

See what people had to say about African Ancestry's
20th Anniversary Celebration & The Black Secret

Click on the link here or on the image to view

Click here on the link or on the image to view

Click here on the link or on the image above to view

Check out The Black Secret's very own Danny Thompson's
reaction to his DNA results

Click on the link or on the image above to view

Get 20% Your First Month’s Subscription  

If you haven’t joined us already, why not use A Tribe Called Progress' Promo code ATCP20 to sign to The Black Secret and get 20% off the first month. This will give you access to the world’s finest Black History and African Heritage course online. We have Four detailed modules available. Three on History, including The Ancient Period, the Mediaeval Period and the Modern Period of the last 500 years. Featuring every major Civilisation to flourish on the African Continent and throughout the Diaspora, from Ancient Egypt/Kemet, to Carthage and Hannibal, Ghana, Mali & Songhai, Great Zimbabwe, Kanem-Bornu, the Maroon Societies and Civilisations of Jamacia, South America and Brazil and much, much more. We have additional content being added regularly to our growing library of lessons. Plus with Phase 4 our Mastery of Wealth module just added in January 2024. This is a great time to join The Black Secret. 

Sign Up to The Black Secret with Promo Code: ATCP20 for a 20% discount off the first month 

Visit: www.theblacksecret.co.uk 

Reaching One Million Households 

We here at The Black Secret have an aim and objective, of reaching over one million households in the Diaspora with our comprehensive Black History content. Why not join us on this journey of bringing the real ‘Black History’ to the masses and empower yourselves in the process. How different would the world be if we could all see the truth of our own histories and our glorious achievements, and how far and how quickly could we progress as a community and as a people with this collective knowledge? One thing is for sure, we will change the world for the better.

Pass on the word.

Find out more by visiting our website. 

www.theblacksecret.co.uk 

"With confidence, you have won before you have started." - Marcus Garvey

Be enlightened, be entertained, be educated.