# Can white people have black roots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099 "2005-11-15T02:23:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TipsyMcStupid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@TipsyMcStupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TipsyMcStupid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/1 "2005-11-15T02:23:36Z")
My friends trying to convince me that his great-great-great grandfather is black. Yet he’s the whitest guy I’ve seen… Can a white guy have black blood? I would think he would be a darker skin color. He says it was washed out over time. I call bullshit… Can people give me some facts? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/2 "2005-11-15T02:26:48Z")
Once upon a time, the entire human race was what we would now consider black. Five generations is more than enough time for those genetic influences to be suppressed. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/3 "2005-11-15T02:28:45Z")
Hello and welcome to the board. There are even black parents that have very light skinned kids so by simple reasoning and genetics if your friend had only one black grandparent, he could easily be a pale Blue-Eye Blond. If the ancestor is further back then it becomes very much less important to his coloring and appearance. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/4 "2005-11-15T02:32:30Z")
I think you will find my recent thread [Were There Many “White” Slaves in Antebellum America?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343060) very informative. I would say you are the losing side of this one at least in some cases. Think of all the very, very white people that have Native American blood if you don’t think the differences get diluted through the generations. ---
**Author:** ![TipsyMcStupid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@TipsyMcStupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TipsyMcStupid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/5 "2005-11-15T02:33:17Z")
No kiding… Well sheesh… I live up to the username… ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/6 "2005-11-15T02:34:17Z")
> [@TipsyMcStupid](#): > > My friends trying to convince me that his great-great-great grandfather is black. > > Yet he’s the whitest guy I’ve seen… > > Can a white guy have black blood? Easily. One of my great-great-great-grandmothers was an American Indian. Yet, I have absolutely no Indian features. I have blue eyes, brown hair that was extremely blond when I was a child, and a pretty full reddish beard. That’s a lot of generations for those features to wash out. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/7 "2005-11-15T02:34:57Z")
My brother’s stepson has a Chinese father, and he has red hair, blue eyes, pale complexion and looks like Howdy Doody. And that’s only one generation. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/8 "2005-11-15T02:49:46Z")
Keep in mind that many white people might have black ancestry and not know of it, because a lot of light-skinned, mixed blacks would “pass” into white society. In the linked thread, another Doper mentions ancestors who did so, and they cannot find out what happened to them-it’s really sad. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/9 "2005-11-15T03:08:18Z")
> [@TipsyMcStupid](#): > > Can white people have black roots? Sure. Lots of blondes around here do. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/10 "2005-11-15T03:19:34Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Sure. Lots of blondes around here do. I hear that problem is 10 times worse in LA. 😉 Jim ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/11 "2005-11-15T03:33:24Z")
> [@TipsyMcStupid](#): > > My friends trying to convince me that his great-great-great grandfather is black. > > Yet he’s the whitest guy I’ve seen… > > Can a white guy have black blood? I would think he would be a darker skin color. He says it was washed out over time. > > I call bullshit… Can people give me some facts? That’s only one ancestor out of 32. Even presuming that the black ancestor was pure sub-Saharan African, it is quite likely that a descendant at that distance would not show any obvious African traits (and it is also quite possible the black ancestor, it he was in the US, would not be pure African either.) This article has some information of interest: [White prof finds he’s not](http://www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=15042002-084051-5356r) > [@](#): > > Molecular anthropologist Mark D. Shriver heads a group of nine population researchers at Penn State University who are going beyond the arbitrary “one drop of blood” rule to answer these ancient questions about the family trees of the typical American “black” and “white.” > > . . . . > > To Shriver, the most personally stunning of his findings involved one subject who reported himself to be completely white, yet whose genetic analysis showed that 22 percent of his relatively recent ancestors were African. > > “I had the result for two or three years before I even looked up the ID number of the person whom we tested,” a bemused Shriver recounted. “I looked at who it was and it was me! I checked myself and the rest of my relatives and tracked it through my family.” > > “I never considered that there were any African people in my family,” remarked the 36-year-old Shriver, who looks like a typical white American. He has wavy brown hair and light skin that burns easily, but also tans darkly. > > His siblings look completely European, too. “There’s no real variation in my family. The admixture must have been pretty far back. It just so happens that we can detect it with the markers we have.” And: > [@](#): > > Among self-identified whites in Shriver’s sample, the average black admixture is only 0.7 percent. That’s the equivalent of having among your 128 great-great-great-great-great-grandparents (who lived around two centuries ago), 127 whites and one black. > > It appears that 70 percent of whites have no African ancestors. Among the 30 percent who do, the black admixture is around 2.3 percent, which would be like having about three black ancestors out of those 128. > > In contrast, African-Americans are much more racially mixed than European-Americans. Yet, Shriver’s study shows that they are less European that was previously believed. > > Earlier, cruder studies, done before direct genetic testing was feasible, suggested that African-Americans were 25 or even 30 percent white. Shriver’s project is not complete, but with data from 25 sites already in, he is coming up with 17-18 percent white ancestry among African-Americans. That’s the equivalent of 106 of those 128 of your ancestors from seven generations ago having been Africans and 22 Europeans. > > According to Shriver, only about 10 percent of African-Americans are over 50 percent white. Given that the article indicates that 30% of white Americans have at least some black ancestry, your friend wouldn’t seem to be that unusual. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/12 "2005-11-15T04:37:40Z")
(On first read, I thought the question was “Can white people have black robots?” I am disappointed it is not.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/13 "2005-11-15T04:49:11Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > (On first read, I thought the question was “Can white people have black robots?” I am disappointed it is not.) Would that have been a technical or an ethical question? Hmmm—I guess it all boils down to a question of power supply, and what you want to use the robot for… ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/14 "2005-11-15T05:17:17Z")
ALL people are ultimately related to each other, and since humankind originated in Africa we should all have some Black Blood in us no matter what our “race” is. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/15 "2005-11-15T05:44:10Z")
For even more anecdotal evidence my girlfriend’s great grandfather was a black African and although she’s got _really_ curly hair and tans easily she’s undeniably white. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/16 "2005-11-15T06:16:53Z")
We are not sure what “color” our hominid ancestors were, nor what texture hair they had, etc. Climate was drastically different all over the world at the time hominids evolved and began to migrate out of Africa. So while we all have “African” blood, it may not be “black” blood as that term is commonly used and understood. > [@rippingtons\_fan](#): > > ALL people are ultimately related to each other, and since humankind originated in Africa we should all have some Black Blood in us no matter what our “race” is. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/17 "2005-11-15T06:37:12Z")
1/4 black - [Mariah Carey](http://www.omguide.com/images/Mariah_3.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/18 "2005-11-15T07:48:58Z")
My child (3 caucasian grandparents, one dark-skinned mulato) would pass as pure caucasian, down to the auburn hair and the blue eyes. In this country we are used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/19 "2005-11-15T08:07:58Z")
The “trying to convince me” part of the OP confuses me. Is this really a matter requiring a preponderance of evidence and a great deal of debate? Associate: Hey, Bryan, I’m 1/32 black! Bryan: Yeah, whatever, pass me the peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099/20 "2005-11-15T09:57:03Z")
Not tto highjack the thread or anything but I saw a commercial a few weeks ago for 20/20 I believe that said something to the effect of “Meet the twins: One black, One white…” I never got the chance to see that episode air. It left me quite puzzled though. Is this possible? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-white-people-have-black-roots/331099.md?page=2)