DNA Proves Author Alex Haley Had Scottish Roots

DNA tests have proved that Alex Haley – the late black American author whose book Roots traced his family origins from the slave plantations of the U.S. back to Africa and helped transform the self-image of millions of black Americans – was also directly descended from a Scottish paternal bloodline. The findings came after a sample of DNA from Chris Haley (pictured), Mr. Haley's nephew, matched that of the father of his distant cousin June Baff-Black (pictured), who lives in Wales and whose shared lineage starts in 17th century Scotland.

Until recently, Chris Haley had only word of mouth family history to show that his great-great-grandfather had been born of an African slave mother and white Scottish father, both of whom lived and worked on a slave plantation in the U.S. The findings, by the website Ancestry.co.uk, are the first scientific confirmation of Alex Haley's own research in which he traced his ancestry back to William Baugh (a variation of Baff) – the overseer of an Alabama slave plantation – who was thought to have fathered a child with a female slave, called Sabrina, or "Viney". Their son, named Alec, is thought to have been born between 1850 and 1860.

Alex Haley, who died in 1992, traced this side of his family history in his book Queen, which followed the biographical novel Roots: the Saga of an American Family.

DNA testing is a relatively new technology for genealogists. It allows them to trace a paternal or maternal line by studying either the Y-chromosome (passed from father to son), or mitochondrial DNA (passed from mother to daughter). Since DNA mutates at a relatively steady rate, the test can indicate how long ago two genetically-matched cousins shared a common ancestor, allowing them to get in touch and compare more detailed family tree information.

Booker Rising response: One out of every three black American men has a Y chromosome that tests European, so the young Mr. Haley's DNA test is no surprise. I'd wager that a lot of black Americans and Jamaicans have Scottish ancestry, because the Scottish were all up in the slave trade. Other famous blacks with Scottish roots include Colin Powell (who even has a coat of arms), President Barack Obama (his Scottish ancestry was not acquired through slavery, although his mother's ancestors did own slaves), and British track star Colin Jackson (whose Scottish ancestry is also not from slavery). Even your girl here has distant Scotch-Irish roots via a maternal, white great-great-grandfather, and thus Scottish ancestry. Some day somebody will create a genetic database that link black Americans with specific living African relatives.