Heritage and Identity

In the article, Why Race Isn’t as Black and White as We Think, Brent Staples writes about
his heritage and how though he is black, his ancestors actually came from Thomas Jefferson’s
home country. He argues that most people think of their race based on the color of their skin, but
there is more to it than what the eyes can. Staple’s argument got me thinking about my heritage,
and how much I know about my identity as an African American residing in the U.S. Throughput
this paper, I try and trace my heritage and define my identity with the details that I gathered
about my ancestry.
I am from Haiti, and my cultural heritage is mostly of mixed race. My family is made up
of European background and a mix of other ethnicities. I would say we are a generally diverse
family. Haitians are known for their long history of ethnic mixing. However, 95% of Haitians
identify themselves as ethnically African (Younis, 2018). The oral narrations I got from my
family members about our history were not detailed. All they know is that we could have our
ancestry in Africa. Africa is. However, a large continent comprising over fifty countries. I went
searching for resources that could help explain how Haitians came from Africa and how the
migration journey was like. The Haitian people trace their ancestry, in full or partial, to Sub-
Saharan Africa. The majority of Haitians are descendants of slaves (Younis, 2018). Slaves were
brought from Africa to work in the Kingdom of France and in the Spanish empire. They were o
provide labor on the plantations. Afro-Haitians are the largest racial group in the country. Others
comprise of mixed European and African descent and other groups such as Asian and Arab
(Younis, 2018). I am not an Afro-Haitian but a mixed race. I trace my ancestry to two races,
African and European. When Haiti slaves came from Africa, they intermarried with their
masters. This explains the mixed races and ethnicities that characterize the Haitian population.

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Staples traced his ancestry through genetic screening, which was performed by DNAPrint
Genomics. He was able to identify that one-fifth of his ancestry is Asian. This is information that
he had not received through oral narrations given to him about his ancestors and his probable
roots. He would not have been able to identify such fine details without the use of the advanced
technology used at the company. Unlike Staples, I did not go tracing my ancestry using the
DNAPrint Geonomics company. On the contrary, I just used oral narrations provided by willing
family members. I also dug into family photos taken many years back to try and see how far I
could trace my heritage and define my identity. None of my existing family members could tell
how we got to Haiti. It must have been a long history that has not been shared down generations.
Many African people that found themselves in Haiti came from Congo and Senegal. These are
countries in the African continent. A significant number of these people came in from Africa.
They were moved to Spain and other regions during the sixteenth century. This explains the high
correlations between the Haitian culture and that of West Africa.
The Haitian people have a very diverse culture; from music, religion, cuisine, art to
clothing, it is multiculturally rich. It prides itself as the first black-led independent republic. It is
also the first independent Caribbean state. Afterward, the people liberated themselves from
slavery through the Haitian revolution. The official languages are Creole and French (Bonenfant,
2011). I can fluently speak the two languages. French is a national language in several countries
in Africa. The unifying factor is that the people who later settled in Haiti were slaves who had
been imported from Africa by the French. Thus, the language was passed on through the
interactions between the slaves and their masters as they worked on the plantations. Also, since
some intermarried, then the cultural exchange happened. The countries in Africa that have
French as their national language were colonized by France. Thus, they passed on their language

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through the colonization process. This happened long after the slaves had been imported to the
Western countries. The country’s population is also predominantly Christian, with more than
85% of the population subscribing to the religion (Lewis, 2006). I am a Christian and have been
raised in a Christian home. I searched more to find out whether we have always been Christians.
As far as I could go, I found that my family has always subscribed to Christian values. However,
I noted something about the way in which we practice Christianity. There are striking
resemblances with how populations in Africa, specifically in West Africa, practice their religion.
The resemblance is not a coincidence. It is based on the fact that we share an ancestry. Our
ancestors once lived in Africa, and when they moved as slaves, they carried with them their
traditions and practices.
We celebrate the Christian holidays. During Easter, we celebrate the holy week by eating
the holy week salad. Usually, this meal comprises cabbage, carrots, beets, eggs, and turnips.
During Good Friday, as Christian, we commemorate the day by eating beans with rice and fish. I
have grown to celebrate the Easter weekend by engaging in leisure activities such as flying kites
and going to recreational parks. It is part of our tradition, and we hold it dearly. Similarly,
Christians in Ghana celebrate the Easter weekend by engaging in recreational activities, going to
the parks and the country’s beaches (Fandrich, 2007). Some go to church as well. Although this
is common practice during such Christian holidays, I find the similarities striking. The slaves
who moved from Africa from the sixteenth century must have come with their religious
traditions and passed them down through generations. Remarkably, I identity as a Haitian of
mixed race. I have people of mixed races in my family. I have never thought of having a specific
race identity since all I have interacted with are mixed ethnicities and races. Unlike Staples, I
would not be able to single out one race that dominates my family lineage. I also have a

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European background. Like Staples states in this essay, the people in the South decided to label
anyone with an ascertainable black ancestry as black. The law identified them as black. Based on
this and this alone, then I am black. This is because, despite the mixed races, I have black
ancestry, and that is the distinguishing factor. I would not be surprised to find that there exist
other races and ethnic gens in my family if genetic testing was to be done. I already know that
there could be more, not just the African and European genes, since we are all mixed up.
Overall, as far as my heritage is concerned, I am of mixed races. I have African ancestry
and European ancestry as well. My ancestors migrated from one of the countries in Africa as
slaves to Spain and France. Upon arrival, they interacted with Europeans and intermarried; this
explains the mixed race. In terms of religion, I am Christian. Christianity is quite widespread
across the world. However, there are elements in our Christian practices that resemble those of
the people of Ghana. This could point to the fact that it is possible my ancestors came from
Ghana before being imported as slaves. This is a possibility, but I cannot conclude with certainty.
In terms of culture, I speak French, one of the national languages in Haiti. It is also a national
language in several countries in different countries of Africa. This is because these countries
were colonized by France. The French masters were the ones who mainly imported slaves who
later on settled in Haiti as free people.

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References

Bonenfant, J. L. (2011). History Of Haitian-Creole: From Pidgin To Lingua Franca And English
Influence On The Language. Review of Higher Education & Self-Learning, 3(11).
Fandrich, I. J. (2007). Yorùbá influences on Haitian vodou and New Orleans voodoo. Journal of
Black Studies, 37(5), 775-791.
Lewis, S. K. (2006). Race, Culture, and Identity: Francophone West African and Caribbean
Literature and Theory from NZgritude to CrZolitZ. Lexington Books.
Younis, M. (2018). Race, the world and time: Haiti, Liberia and Ethiopia
(1914–1945). Millennium, 46(3), 352-370.