DNA uncovers African kinship

Daniel J. Chacón, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 9, 2006 at midnight

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City Council members Elbra Wedgeworth and Michael Hancock have always felt a connection.

Besides sharing an interest in politics, they grew up in east Denver, came from large, relatively poor families and graduated from the same high school.

"She was always like a big sister to me," Hancock said Wednesday.

As it turns out, their bond really does run deep in their blood.

DNA-based genealogy tests on more than a dozen notable black citizens in Denver to raise money for the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library revealed that Wedgeworth and Hancock share the same ancestry with the Tikar people of Cameroon, in west Africa.

"How ironic is that?" Wedgeworth asked. "Mike and I always figured we had some kind of connection, but not like this. This means we are distant cousins or something."

The results of the other Denverites who submitted their DNA, including Denver Broncos player Trevor Pryce, will be announced tonight at a fundraiser for the library, which reduced its operating hours this year because of budget cuts.

The $16 million facility in the Five Points neighborhood focuses on the history, literature, art, music, religion and politics of blacks in Colorado and the West.

Wedgeworth, who cried when she received her test results in the mail, said she and Hancock "are seriously planning a trip to Cameroon."

So is local radio personality Gloria Neal, whose lineage also traces to Cameroon, but to the Mafa tribe.

When Neal told her 70-year-old mother of the findings, she replied: "I didn't know they let black people into the Mafia," Neal said, laughing.

Neal said discovering her ancestry was a life-changing experience.

"It just gives me a greater sense, a stronger sense, of who I am."

The reaction is not unusual, said Michael Darden of African Ancestry, a Washington, D.C., company that offers such DNA testing.

"This new technology, DNA analysis and genealogy, is giving untold numbers an opportunity to see that African-American history did not begin with slavery," Darden said.

Rick Kittles, who co-founded African Ancestry and developed the genetic database that was used to test the DNA of the Denverites, is scheduled to speak at tonight's event.

"There are many African-Americans who really don't know what their family history is, and so they're trying to trace it back," Wedgeworth said. "This is a mechanism to try to do that. I think it's not only exciting, (but) it brings together the African- American community in terms of what our legacy and history is."

Hancock said tracing his lineage has been the "most powerful thing outside the birth of my children."

Cameroon

• Population: 16.3 million people

• Area: 183,567 square miles

• Capital: Yaoundé

• Ethnic groups: 130

• Languages: 24 major African language groups

• Official languages: French and English

• Climate: Varies by region, from tropical to semiarid and hot

The Tikar

For several centuries, the Tikar people were prominent in the arts, politics and the military, which made them highly visible to enslavers. Tikar culture today places great emphasis on ancestor worship.Source: Pearson Education The Tikar Source: African Ancestry Guide To West And Central Africa

Tracing their roots

• What: A group of well-known blacks in Denver who took DNA tests to trace their ancestry will learn the results.

• Who: Grammy-winning singer Dianne Reeves, City Council members Michael Hancock and Elbra Wedgeworth, radio personality Gloria Neal, Denver Broncos player Trevor Pryce and Greg Moore, The Denver Post editor, among others.

• Why: A fundraiser for the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.

• When: 7 p.m. today

• Where: New Hope Baptist Church, 3701 Colorado Blvd.

• How much: $12.50 per person

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5099

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