> Also, it's good to keep in mind that African People are > sort of like Native American People (and European People > and Asian People too), in the respect that there are many > different tribes and we all have a different look. For Absolutely. There are at least as many languages spoken among black Africans as there are Native American languages. btw, the anthropologists don't classify black Africans as one group: I've seen some anthropology texts that classify them into three groups [different names], the West Africans (such as the Nigerians), the Bushmen and their kin, and the East Africans (such as the Masai). I have Native American ancestry in several different lines, and I've spent 19 years tracking down documentation, so I get positively _ill_ when I hear or see someone making generalizations about Native American cultures. (My more recent ancestors did a terrific job of keeping secrets, but it's very important to me to know the truth.) Also, I've lived over much of the South, and I've noticed that people from even small areas can have a "look". That's one of the reasons I like living here in Upstate South Carolina: I look like I'm a native. (I have very distant kin all over the place here.) Elizabeth Whitaker > instance, to a Cherokee, there's no way that a Sioux > "looks like us". A Navajo and a Yakima look completely > different. I'm not talking about traditional clothing. > I'm talking about bone structure, body build, coloring, > even the way we walk and talk. It's pretty easy to spot > an Italian or an Irish person by their skin coloring and > build too. It's easy to say someone "looks" like they > come from an entire continent of course, but if you look a > little deeper, you'll see that within the continents, > exists true herititary traits. African's (actually from > Africa) come in many, many shades. bj > > whitaker@innova.net wrote: > > The standard anthropological > assumption is that blacks in the U.S. average only 30% > black African ancestry: I think, that between U.S. blacks > who "look African" [I worked with a lady who had an eerie > physical resemblance to one of the African extras in the > second Romancing the Stone movie.] and U.S. blacks who > would have "passed" 50 years ago, that's a reasonable > assumption. I've also noticed regional differences in > black appearance: for example, I had many black co-workers > in the D.C. area who were very light -- they were always > from families with long histories in the D.C. area -- and > others who were very dark -- they were always either born > in the Carolinas or Alabama or their parents had been. > > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now > > > ==== ARKANSAS Mailing List ==== > Check out other genealogy resources on the net at John > Fuller's most helpful site > http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online > genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > --------------------------------------------- Check Your Email From Any Where in the World! http://www.myemail.com