Happy Black History Month 2020! Doing anything special to commemorate it?

I'm playing The Simpsons Tapped Out, Black History Month is the current event.



https://tstoaddicts.com/events/2020-black-history-month-event/

I am planning to read Parable of the Sower and its sequel Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler.

I try to read books written by people of color, in addition to the genre books I normally read. Last year, I read Bingo Love and The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story.

I also try to read books that have black main characters like Lovecraft Country and Swan Song.

I recall saying a couple of years ago I wanted to do a DNA test to trace my Sub-Saharan African roots- I want to know from what tribes and from what countries in Sub-Saharan Africa I descended from.

I would like to know more about my European ancestry also, and if I actually do have any Native American ancestry.

I also said I wanted to learn the languages my Sub-Saharan African ancestors spoke and do research on these people and their culture and read books about it after doing a DNA/geneology test to pinpoint from what countries and from what tribes in Sub-Saharan Africa I descended from.

I haven't had the time and money to do all this stuff.

An anthropologist told my mom and her mom they have Black Sudanese roots; he looked at their bone structure. I don't know accurate that is but a DNA/genealogy test will confirm this.

I did an ancestry test with 23 And Me.

Apparently, I'm 4% West African, specifically Senegambian & Guinean.

I also have ancestry from Europe, Asia, and Native Amerian (doesn't specify which tribe, but my family has confirmed which one it was)

That's nice to know. Is 23andme a better genealogy service than Ancestry.com?

My dad was Russian and German. He claimed he had Romanian relatives/ancestors. I don't know if that's true or not- he used to joke around a lot.

A test will confirm whether that is true or not.

I'm not sure which is better. It is costly to use both, and I can only afford to use one.

I docked in Senegal when I was working on a ship. I was in Dakar December 1984.

Not anything specific - my daughter's school however is - they have had speakers and a variety of activities depending on the age. Her school is surprisingly diverse for a Christian school with children of many different ethnic backgrounds so it is actually a refreshing change from her prior high school.

Funny aside story similar to this - when she first started this year she made friends with a girl a year younger as it was also this girl's first year at the school. This girl invited her to her birthday dinner at a nice restaurant. When I dropped her off, I walked into the restaurant with her and introduced myself to the family. The mom seemed a little standoffish - not rude or anything just didn't look me in the eye and was very quiet and said little.

Find out the next day - this family had little contact with "white" people. Where they live is pretty much all African Americans and her previous private school was as well. Her cousin said to this girl --- wow! you have a white friend - way to becoming diversified.

I found that pretty funny - now I realized that the mom was probably a little uncomfortable stepping out of her comfort zone.

One thing about Eastern Europe is it changed hands a lot and borders have shifted over the last 100 or so years. So his Russian relatives could be in Romania without having to move too far.

Haven't used the genetics services of Ancestry.com but we have a huge family tree on it. My cousin and I pretty regularly contribute to it (which reminds me, a different cousin is having a baby so I'll need to add him/her in). I think it would be fascinating to get the testing. Hmm.

As for Black History Month, my company is posting more information on business funding for members of minorities (this also includes Native Americans, Latinx folks, etc.) as a subtle commemoration.

But that's mainly it in my life. I follow my alma mater's social media channels and so there's a lot on our esteemed African American graduates, including Dr. King (he got his PhD from Boston University).