There are always many links between African Americans and West/Central Africans. In 1619, slave traders forced Africans to get on a slave ship called the White Lion. They took these human beings to Virginia. There were about 20 Africans on the ship. They originally came from present day Angola. It was seized by the British crew from the Portugeuse slave ship called the Sao Joao Bautista. This ship came into Hampton, Virginia in 1619. The whole culture of Afro-Brazilians in Brazil was influenced by Angola. Many slaves who came into Brazil came from Angola (which is in Central Africa). Almost 4 million black Africans were kidnapped and brought into Brazil. Afro-Brazilians in many cases follow the religion of Condomble, which ame from the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The early history of capoeira is recorded by historians such as Dr. Desch-Obi. Originally, the ancestor tradition originated from Kingdom of Kongo and was called N'golo/Engolo (known as Angola today); a type of ritual dance that used several elements of kicking, slap boxing, etc. Many of the black people in Brazil established settlements, called quilombos, and used capoeira as a form of self-defense against imperialists. Correspondingly, Montinaro et al. (2014) observed that around 50% of the overall ancestry of African Americans traces back to the Niger-Congo-speaking Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin, reflecting the centrality of the his West African region in the Atlantic Slave Trade. The characteristic West African haplogroups L1b, L2b,c,d, and L3b,d and West-Central African haplogroups L1c and L3e in particular occur at high frequencies among African Americans. Therefore, we (who are African Americans) are heavily Bantu. I am an African American with a lot of DNA from Western and Central Africa indeed.
The African American Collins family in Virginia came from the Eastern shore of Virginia. Now, I do know that I'm related to many members of the Collins family on my paternal side of my family. My first cousin is Mallie G. Collins Brown. She was born in October 15, 1929, and she lives in Philadelphia. Her parents were my grand uncle Wilbert T. Collins (1909-1990) and Lillian Mapp Collins (1909-1996). Their children are Ralph William Collins (1928-2006), Mallie G. Collins Brown, and Richard Collins (b. 1935). Wilbert T. Collins' daughter with Hazel Doris Weeks Sr. (1926-2003) was Hazel Doris Weeks (1953-1973). Hazel Doris Weeks Jr. was my 1st cousin, and she married Clifton Robert Mack on January 7, 1972 at Eastville, Virginia (in the Eastern Shore). Wilbert T. Collins's parents were Jacob Collins (1869-1928) and my great grandmother Effie Sarah Bailey Bryant (1891-1977). Jacob Collins' parents were Caleb Collins (1834-1920) and Adah Collins (1838-1896). Jacob Collins married Sarah Felton (b. 1866) and they had the following children: Susan Anna Collins (1892-1949), Benjamin S. Collins, Louis Herman Collins (1895-1961), Jacob Collins Jr. (1896-1959), and Levin Collins (1896-1953). Caleb Collins' parents were Major Collins (1816-1877) and Lakey Collins (b. 1810). Caleb and Adah Collins had the following children: Caleb Collins Jr. (b. 1855), George Major Collins (b. 1858), William H. Collins (1861-1937), Louisa Collins (b. 1861), Annie Collins (b. 1863), John A. Collins (1865-1954), Severn T. Collins (b. 1867), Jacob Collins (1869-1928), Drucilla Collins (B. 1869), Ella Collins (b. 1869), Margaret Collins (b. 1871), Effie S. Collins (b. 1875), and Rich R. Collins (b. 1877). Major Collins' parents were Stephen Collins (b. 1770) and Sarah Collins. Joette Nichole Collins Rhodes (b. 1983) is my 5th cousin. She is related to the Upshur and Perkins families too.
Constantly, I have discovered new information about my genealogy. Cory Lee Duffy is my 4th cousin (born in 1979) as we share the same paternal ancestor of Esther Perkins (b. 1816). Cory's parents are Ada Yvonne Upshur Duffy (B. 1951) and Elmer Lee Duffy (b. 1951). Ada Yvonne Upshur is my 3rd cousin, and she was born in September 1951. She once lived in Delaware, and now she lives in North Carolina. Ada's parents were Charles Edward Upshur (1918-1964) and Annie Virginia Sample (b. 1918). Ada Yvonne Upshur's brothers and Sisters are Gail Upshur (b. 1955), Cherie Linnett Upshur (b. 1958), Gladys D. Usphur (b. 1959), Charles Upshur, Elton Upshur, Elton Upshur, Fayne Upshur, and Gloria Upshur, Carolyn Upshur, and Doris Upshur. My 2nd cousin Charles Edward Upshur (1918-1964) had the parents of Charles Henry Upshur (1885-1964) and Messina Upshur (b. 1887). Messina Upshur (1887) had the parents of Henry Upshur (1858-1940) and Caroline Perkins (1862-1927). My 2rd great grand aunt Carolina Perkins' parents are my 4th great grandparents of George Perkins (b. 1815) and Esther Perkins (b. 1816). I was told that the Upshur family were cousins to us, and DNA plus genealogical evidence prove that to be 100% true.
The world is much more different than years ago. We witness new laws coming about, a new Presidents, and people fighting for racial plus economic justice. After 2018, I have learned much more facts about my genealogy. I have communicated with many of my distant cousins on Ancestry.com. The lesson that I have learned about my research is how interconnected we are with fellow people. We have massive differences in terms of our cultures, interests, styles, and gifts. Yet, we are still part of the same human family, and our origins ultimately came from Africa. During this generation, tons of human beings are waking up about the necessity to promote justice. The protests for respecting the memories of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have been inspiring. The origin of my family tree is only one place. It is the continent of Africa. Most African Americans came from Western Africa and Central Africa. That is why pro-African DNA services have found that many black Americans are related to the Yoruba, Hausa, and other ethnic groups. My paternal ancestors came from North Carolina and the Eastern shore of Virginia. My maternal ancestors came from Southampton County, Virginia.
One actress and performer including actress and professor is Anna Deavere Smith. During the 1990's and beyond, she has been a playwright and worked on many shows. She is now 70 years and was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Smith is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013). In 2015, she was selected as the Jefferson Lecturer by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is the founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at New York University. Later, she went to the West Coast for graduate work, receiving an M.F.A. in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California. She was in theater to work on playing roles, etc. Smith is best known as a playwright and actress for her "documentary theater" style, also called verbatim theater, in plays such as Fires in the Mirror (1992) and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1993). Both featured Smith as the sole performer of multiple and diverse characters, based on interviews she had conducted with numerous residents and commentators in the two cities where riots took place. For these works, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show two years in a row. She interviewed more than 100 people as part of her creation of Fires in the Mirror, which dealt with the 1991 Crown Heights riot. In 1992, she interviewed some 300 people as part of her research for creating Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, which dealt with the 1992 Los Angeles rebellions after the acquittal of police officers who beat Rodney King, in events captured on tape. Both of these plays were constructed using material solely from interviews.
My 2nd cousin Elaine Williams Patterson had a child named Tracey Elise Williams (b. 1966) with Charles Norman Langford (1944-1969). Tracey Elise Williams is my 3rd cousin, and she was born on December 28, 1966 at Hampton, Virginia. She had the children of Mareo Lamon Williams (born in 1990. His father is Jose Luis Rodriguez Montanez Jr. Jose Montanez Jr. was born in 1966), Marquita Elise Williams (born in 1989 and her father is Mark Anthony Harris), and Marshawn T. Williams. Mareo, Marquita, and Marshawn are all my 3rd cousins. Marquita Elise Williams married Antonio Devon Harmon on September 16, 2011 at Hampton, Virginia. Marquita was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 6, 1989. Mareo Lamon Williams married Latonya Arielle Abrams on February 7, 2014 at Hampton, Virginia.
The era of the 2000's saw many changes in American society. It was a time of my early adulthood. The war on terror and debates about civil liberties were heavily abundant. The Internet reached new levels of power. Music became more accessible to the people. Napster soon was gone, but you have the growth of digitized music by the end of the decade. Many CD stores and VHS locations went out of business by 2009. In the mean time, music in R&B was very glorious. The songs of the first decade of the 21st century had the elements of old school sounds from Toni Braxton, Maxwell, Mary J. Blige, Sade, and Tamia. Also, this decade saw the growth of young talent with outstanding charisma like Ciara, Keyshia Cole, Usher, Kelis, Jennifer Sullivan, Beyonce, Destiny's Child, Fantasia, Ashanti, Mario, Keke Wyatt, and other artists who knew the basis of musical expression. The elephant in the room is that this era had pop star from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake (who made a comment disrespecting Prince) utilized a lot of R&B/soul elements in their music. Yet, people should realize that R&B and soul music originated from us (who are black people). Any artist of any color has to respect black music in order to respect real music in general. That is the principle. R&B music of the 2000s saw a fusion further of hip hop and R&B genres in collaborations and songs. Music in general saw hip hop as most the powerful genre of this 21st century. The end of 2009 saw R&B changing once again into allowing new talent and legendary artists to continue to shine their talents. That is why I saw that the 2000s had some joints from the music from 3LW, Lfye Jennings, Anthony Hamilton, Melanie Fionna, Leona Lewis, Alicia Keyes, Amerie, Jagged Edge, Craig David, Floetry, Brandy, Monica, Mya, Tweet, Corrine Bailye Rae, Kelly Rowland, and other excellent artists. People as diverse as Vivian Green, Heather Headley, Keri Hilson, Erkyah Badu, Avant, Lloyd, Jill Scott, and Lil Mo, and Cheri Dennis made us dance and think.
John Quincy Adams Scott was born on February 6, 1897 in Virginia. He was my 1st cousin and the great grandson of Zilphy Claud (1840-1892). Scott's mother was Roberta Hill, Robert's mother was Sarah Claud, and Sarah Claud's mother was Zilphy Claud. John Quincy Adams Scott's father was William Theo Scott (1865-1935). John Quincy Adams Scott was a veteran of World War I. He came back into America from Brest, France on June 26, 1919 (which was the date of his departure from France). He arrived at Newport News, Virginia. He lived at Courtland, Virginia. He was a Private First Class, his Service Number was 2611039, and he was part of the Colored 548th Engineers.
Doreatha E. Faltz Bulter was my 1st cousin. She lived from May 10, 1930 to October 9, 2019. She was my maternal relative. We shared the common ancestor of Rev. James Thompson Claud (1857-1926). Doreatha E. Faltz Bulter was born at Courtland, Virginia. Her parents were Joseph Faltz (1902-1952) and my 2nd great grand aunt Alice Rosetta Claud (1902-1987). Alice Rosetta Claud's parents were Rev. James Thompson Claud and Susanna Field Hurst-Turner Claud (1862-1949). Doreatha Faltz Butler was the oldest woman of 10 siblings. She was heavily educated in the Southampton County public school system. By 1989, she earned a Certificate in Religious Studies from the School of Theology, Virginia Union University. She was part of the A.M.E. David Temple in Courtland, Virginia and later worshiped at Oakland Chapel Church of Christ in 1955. She was a missionary and taught Sunday School. In Norfolk, Virginia she was part of Social Services. She had a sense of humor, gardened, and cook meals for her family and friends. Her Brothers and Sisters are Wilbert Randolph Faltz Sr. (1923-1985), William Faltz (b. 1924), Joseph Nathan Faltz (1925-1959), Mary Alice Faltz (b. 1929), Ernest Calvin Faltz (1931-2007), James Louis Faltz (1932-1985), Viola Faltz (b. 1933), Leman Faltz (b. 1935), Clarence Sylvester Faltz (1936-2016), and Thelma R. Faltz (1938-2009). Doreatha Faltz Butler married William Butler Jr. in 1952 at Monroe, Florida. Doreatha Faltz Butler had 3 children. Their names are: Gale Denise Butler (b. 1952. She lives in Virginia Beach, VA), Michael Butler, and Allen Todd Butler. These 3 people are my 2nd cousins. Gale Butler was born on October 15, 1952. She at first married Larry Uzzle in 1972 at Pasquotank, North Carolina. Their children are Danielle Alisha Uzzle (b. 1973), Larry Uzzle Jr. (b. 1975), Marcus Lamont Uzzle (b. 1979), and Darnell Uzzle (b. 1986). These 4 human beings are my 3rd cousins. Gale married Arthur Caliph Pigram on 1993, and her current husband is Anthony Lee Midgette since 2010. Daneille Alisha Uzzle married Trent Lavell Foreman on February 14, 1995 at Virginia Beach, Virginia. Their children are my 4th cousins who are Paris De'jah Foreman (b. 1996), Isaiah Foreman, and Trent Foreman Jr. Allen Todd Butler is married to Wanda Lyn Owens on December 31, 1998 at Norfolk, Virginia. Doreatha Faltz Butler had 11 grandchildren of: Danielle Foreman (Trent) of Virginia Beach, VA, Larry Uzzle, Jr. of Seattle, Washington, Marcus Uzzle (Andrea) of Washington DC, Darnell Uzzle (Erica) of Chesapeake, VA, Taylor Pigram of Arlington, VA, Shene Midgette, Omari Midgette of Virginia Beach, VA, Andre Butler, Alex Butler, Andrew Butler of Norfolk, VA, and Sheldon Whitaker of Georgia, eight great-grand children, Trent Foreman, Jr., Paris Foreman, Isaiah Foreman, Mycka Uzzle, Codie Entrekin, Jewel Curry, London Uzzle, and Princeton Uzzle, three sisters, Mary A. Boyd of Virginia Beach, VA, Viola Warren of Norfolk, VA and Thelma Bell of Philadelphia, PA, special cousins, Alfred and Rena Whittaker, Barbara Jackson, Theophylis Artis, etc.
By Timothy
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