By J. Zamgba Browne | SPECIAL TO SACOBSERVER.COM

(NNPA) - In the 27 years since the television miniseries, “Roots,” first jump-started a rush to examine ancestral origins, technology has stepped in to enhance traditional methods such as oral history and archival records research.

Rick Kittles is scientific director of African Ancestry Inc, a Black-owned company that sells DNA-based geneology tests to help people determine if they have African ancestors.

Companies offering genetic tests for ancestry are beginning to spring up around the globe and are generating heaps of requests for DNA tests to determine ancestry.

For example, one new firm, African Ancestry Inc., has taken center stage in the nation’s capital by becoming the exclusive licensee of a prominent genetic researcher’s extensive database of genetic lineages from Africa.

The company, wholly owned by African American investors, is now selling DNA-based genealogy tests to members of the public who wish to determine if they have African ancestors.

Michael Darden, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based firm, described the project as the largest of its kind in the world. He said the company’s goal is to reconstruct a bridge to the past.

Darden explained that the repository of molecular blueprints was completed by Rick Kittles, scientific director of African Ancestry Inc., and a geneticist at the forefront of efforts to use DNA to trace ancestry.

“The bridge to the past collapsed with the advent of the slave trade, and we are reconstructing it by using DNA,” said Kittles, who also is a Howard University microbiologist and a co-director of molecular genetics at the university’s National Human Genome Center.

Kittles underscored that “tracing ancestry though DNA can lead us to some insight about our potential ancestors and potential places of ancestry.”

He said that for untold numbers of people, knowing this piece of information is a lot better than knowing nothing.

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of Brooklyn-based House of the Lord Pentecostal Church, said that if the DNA database is authentic and scientific he would welcome its use. He said his church is a member of the Transatlantic Genealogical Society (TGS) whose main purpose is to trace family history.

“We have been excited about some of the things we have discovered regarding family history,” Daughtry said.

The Brooklyn preacher said his family could go back only to his great-great-great-grandfather, but through the TGS, they have been able to locate his great-great-grandmother, Lena. "I am always excited about history in general and African history in particular,” Daughtry said.

African Ancestry’s database includes DNA sequence information that Kittles collected from natives of the West and Central African regions from which millions of individuals were procured for the trans-Atlantic slave trade that occurred from about the years 1600 to 1850.

Kittles explained how the process works: The database contains DNA sequence information from almost 10,000 persons representing some 82 West and Central African populations. In addition, he said the firm used DNA sequence information gathered from other populations throughout the continent.

“No DNA sequence information can be traced back to a specific person in Africa,” said Kittles.

However, he noted that blind sampling methods were used to obtain DNA sequence data from individuals. The firm offers two DNA-based genealogy tests and each test costs $349.

Darden said that African Ancestry also has access to DNA sequence information that other sources collected from throughout the African continent.

“This wealth of information, for the first time is being marshaled in order to help African Americans genetically determine their African ancestry,” said Darden.

Gina Paige, president of African Ancestry, said the firm is proud to employ the latest science and technology to help anyone probe for any African roots he or she may have.

“As an African American, I feel privileged to be involved in this revolutionary effort,” Paige said. “We are at least able to shine a light for an unknown number of people who want to find out what they can about the long, dark mystery of their African ancestry.”

More information is available at www.africanancestry.com.

This story comes special to the NNPA from the New York Amsterdam News.