Reed & Puryear Family Reunion

Our African Roots

DNA testing provided by African Ancestry, Inc. has allowed us to unlock the gateway to our African past. From their extensive African Lineage Database containing over 25,000 lineages of many African ethnic groups, we learned that our family share identical genetic ancestry with the Mbundu people of Angola through Grandpa Bill Reed and the Akan people of Ghana through Grandma Sarah Partee Reed.

Overview

Since 1619, millions of Africans were unwillingly transported to North & South America and the West Indies from their homelands of West and West-Central Africa (stretching from Senegal to Angola) during The Middle Passage (Maafa). Upon their arrival to the United States, our ancestors, weak and ill from the horrendous, tightly-packed voyages across the Atlantic, were sold into chattel slavery - one of the most inhumane crimes of mankind. Not only did Europeans try to strip Africans of their rich heritages, they systematically tried to program into them and the following generations that anything African was uncivilized and uncultured. In modern times, this stereotypical and false depiction of Africa has been perpetrated through the media for many years, subconsciously brainwashing many into believing that Africa is "dark" and just one big jungle with little to no civilization. The Reed-Puryear Family is reclaiming what slavery tried to take away - our rich heritage.

Spike Lee, Director & Producer: "The images of Africa that we receive are often limited and negative. So it is not surprising that African-Americans don't have a positive connection to the continent. Now thanks to DNA, African-Americans can finally find out what region of Africa their ancestors were from."

The Mbundu People of Angola
(a.k.a. the Kimbundu people)

� The Mbundu (Kimbundu) people have lived in northern Angola since the 1400's. The area was home to some of the continent�s richest kingdoms, which welcomed European merchants and missionaries in the 15th century, only to be corrupted and badly damaged by the transatlantic slave trade (Maafa).
� Africans from Angola were among the first Africans brought to America in 1619 to Jamestown, Virginia. Many of those Africans were Mbundu¹. Many Africans from the Angola-Congo region were shipped to South Carolina in the later years, around the early 1700's. Researchers have estimated that over 30% of enslaved Africans imported into Charleston, South Carolina in the 18th century were brought from the Angola-Congo region.²
� The European conquest of Angola began when Portugal attacked the Mbundu kingdom of Ndongo in a military campaign lasting from 1618 to 1620. Although Mbundu rulers such as Queen Nzinga resisted, the Portuguese traders continued to ravage the area well into the late 1700's to acquire Africans for the transatlantic slave trade.
� Many Africans of the Mbundu kingdom were not only taken to South Carolina, but many were taken to Brazil. Many people of African descent in Brazil are descendants of the Mbundu people.
� Today, many Mbundu people in Angola earn their livelihoods in commercial farming in the capital city of Luanda, Angola.
� Mbundu society is strongly matrilineal - men consider themselves bound to their mothers' families, particularly their mothers' brothers, and inherit land along the maternal line. While many Mbundu are Catholic, most also practice their traditional spirituality, which places strong emphasis on ancestors.³

See DNA Diagram

First picture: Dr. Agostinho Neto of the Mbundu people. He was proclaimed Angola's first president in 1975 when the nation gained its independence from Portugal. Second picture: President Jos� Eduardo dos Santos, also of the Mbundu people. He is the current president of Angola, elected after the death of Neto in 1979.

Dr. Leroy Frazier, Lucia Fernandes, and Melvin J. Collier, all of Atlanta
Lucia, who is from Angola, is of the Mbundu people.
Leroy & Melvin - direct descendants of Bill Reed

Cool Links:
Queen Nzinga of the Mbundu people (1583-1663)
Facts about Angola

The Akan People of Ghana

Akan Proverb: "Do not scorn culture inherited from your forefathers."

� Before the 13th century, the Akan peoples (ancestors of the Asante) migrated from other parts of Africa into the forest belt of present-day Ghana. Family bands established small states in the hilly country in the neighborhood of modern Kumasi.
� The Akan people have lived and ruled their land for thousands of years before they experienced the consecutive disruptions by Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, and British invasion and domination. When the Portuguese invaded the West Coast of Africa in 1471, they found a people rich in history, culture, and tradition and gold. As a result of not appreciating the spiritual significance of the culture and history, the Portuguese focused on the material abundance of the gold and named the region the �Gold Coast.�
� Europe quickly realized the greater wealth was to be found in selling of Africans as slaves than in the mining and bartering for gold. For over four hundred years, �Black Gold� (African people) became the compelling interest of Europe. As a result of the transatlantic slave trade, many people of African descent throughout North & South America are direct descendents of the Akan people of Ghana.
� The most comprehensive group in Ghana are the Akan, consisting of various divisions. Some of these include Bono, Asanta, Fante and Sehwi. Collectively, they have religious, cultural and political ascendancy. The most dominant languages of the Akan are Twi and Fante. Twi is mainly spoken in the country, whereas Fante is spoken in the coastal regions.
� The primary form of Akan social organization is the family or the abusu--the basic unit in a society based on matriclans. Through the exogamous matriclan system, local identity and individual status, inheritance, succession to wealth and to political offices, and even basic relations within the village community are determined. Every lineage is a corporate group with its own identity, group solidarity, exclusive property, and symbols.
� Today, the Akan peoples comprise of over 10,000,000 of Ghana's population, representing over half of Ghana's population.³

First picture: The late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is of the
Akan people of Ghana. About Him.
Second & third picture: Akan women in Ghana

The Family of Kojo Koranteng of Ghana of the Akan people
Friends of Cousins Charlie & Orien Reid Nix
Photo Courtesy of Orien Reid Nix

Akan Cloths

Elmina Castle & Cape Coast Castle in Ghana
When Africans were captured from the interior of the country, many were brought here where they were placed on ships to take them to the Americas.

Cool Links:
Ghana Tourism Homepage
About Ghana

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Isaac Deberry, Sr. of Senatobia, Mississippi and John W. Reed, Sr. (Sonny) of Memphis, Tennessee for their willingness and excitement in submitting the DNA samples. Isaac Deberry carries the mtDNA of Sarah Reed, his maternal grandmother, who inherited it from her mother, Polly Partee, who inherited it from her mother and so on. John Reed carries the Y-chromosome of their grandfather, Bill Reed, who inherited it from his father, Pleasant Barr, who inherited it from his father, Lewis Barr, and so on.

Special thanks to the family members who contributed to this DNA project, enabling the family to learn something about some of our African heritage. This is only the beginning. There's more research to be done! Special thanks to African Ancestry, Inc. for their implementation of this wonderful project for African-Americans to determine some of their African heritage.

Sources:
¹http://multiracial.com/content/view/354/27/
²"A Reconsideration of the Sources of the Slave Trade to Charleston, S.C.," by William S. Pollitzer
³African Ancestry Guide to West and Central Africa by African Ancestry, Inc.

Source: Pictures of Kanuri of Borno by Editha Platte.