BOSTON--, AfricanDNA.com, the first company dedicated to offering both genetic testing and genealogical tracing services for African Americans, is being launched this month by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, in partnership with the Inkwell Foundation and Family Tree DNA, the world's leader in genetic genealogy. The precedent-setting site is the only company in the field of genetic genealogy that will provide African Americans with family tree research in addition to DNA testing."I was able to trace the family trees of several prominent African Americans deep into slavery, following the paper trail. And then when the paper trail ended, we tested their DNA in an attempt to discover the origins of their mother's line or their father's line on the African continent."
~Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
With the DNA Kit being available for African Americans to find out their biological ancestors, DPTV wanted to give one lucky person the opportunity to win a kit. So we held an essay contest and asked our viewers why they should be the winner. Although there were many outstanding essays we were only able to choose one, and that winner was Cristal Nichols who won with the following essay:
I was told that I ruined my life. That having a child at sixteen reduced me to being a statistic. I believed it for a while. Then, one day, while sitting on my front porch waiting on the mailman to bring my welfare check, I thought to myself: they can't pay me enough money to give my life away. I found my way to a training program that lead to a job and eight years later, I had saved enough to start community college. After I graduated, I received a scholarship to University of Michigan and Florida A&M University (FAMU). I choose FAMU because it was a historical black college.
What really motivated me was the fact that it had always been hard for our people. They had children and obstacles and look what they accomplished. My great uncle often talked about how my grandmother came to Detroit from Alabama and scrubbed floors and sent for anyone that wanted to come. She died when my mother was fifteen. My mother always told my siblings and me that we only needed each other. That's not true. You need to know whose shoulders you are standing on. Please help me find out!
~Ms. Cristal Nichols
2008 DNA Kit, Contest Winner
