In a viral video, a woman calls attention to the lack of public records available on Black ancestors, something she noticed after completing an AncestryDNA test.
TikToker Sheena Miranda (@shiinawatches) explains how the lack of knowledge of who her great-grandparents were is potentially due to property records being passed down within white families. Miranda and her family would not have access to these records as they are not public.
She captioned her video: “It’s one of the reasons I’d avoided dna test for so long. I knew at some point I’d have to ask a [white person] if their folks kept ‘good’ records.’” The video now has over 284,000 views.
@shiinawatches #stitch with @govasana its one of the reasons I’d avoided dna test for so long. I knew at some point I’d have to ask a 👱♂️ if their folks kept “good” records #blacktiktok #ancestry ♬ original sound – ShiinaWatches
Miranda had stitched, or replied with a video, to the original video posted by Govasana Renas (@govasana). In the video, Renas recites a conversation she had with her grandmother as a child.
The text on the video stated, “Me as a child: ‘Grandma, who was your grandma?’” to which Renas revealed that her grandmother had “no idea because her grandmother was an undocumented slave who’s children randomly appear in government document in the early 1900s.”
Renas further explains in another video that she sought for more information on ancestry.com and another site that traces genealogy called familysearch.org. She found documents stating the plantation her relatives lived and worked on, but no record of names. Instead, they were listed as numbers.
@govasana I forgot this happened till I made my last video. Now I understand why she stared into space for a second #fyp #panafrican #blackhistory #FindYourEdge #melanin ♬ Lofi – Acey
In the comments section of Miranda’s video, others in her position shared their stories as well as their sympathies.
“Whenever someone tells me slavery was “so long ago” it makes me want to scream,” one user said.
“There was a story I saw recently about a Black family who bought a house in their hometown. They didn’t know their ancestors had been enslaved there!” another commented. The story mentioned was of a veteran purchasing a home in Virginia, to later find out the site was a former plantation that his ancestors were enslaved on.
“There needs to be a federal sweep and all those records need to be collected so people can connect back to their families,” a third said.
In an update video, Miranda shared that with help from Walt Way (@formerlovepoet), she stumbled upon potential information about the enslavers on her father’s side. Miranda also found her grandmother’s name as well as the origin story of her uncle’s name.
@shiinawatches Reply to @ninatravis21 @formerlovepoet I’m one step closer! I haven’t plugged him into the tree yet. #family #familytree #blacktiktok ♬ original sound – ShiinaWatches
The Daily Dot reached out to Miranda and Renas via Instagram messaging and TikTok comment.
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