Recently discovered some of my family came on the Mayflower; anyone else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ancestors arrived here on the Amistad after being kidnapped and enslaved to build this countries infastructure.

And here we go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family was here before the Mayflower.

+1. Mine too. So the "illegal aliens" blah blah is quite funny.

Do you think the "Native Americans" just sprouted out of the ground here? They came from somewhere else way back when also.

And we didn't have immigration laws centuries ago as we do now, so drop it already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family was here before the Mayflower.

+1. Mine too. So the "illegal aliens" blah blah is quite funny.

Do you think the "Native Americans" just sprouted out of the ground here? They came from somewhere else way back when also.

And we didn't have immigration laws centuries ago as we do now, so drop it already.

Translation: my family is here now, so screw yours!
- a descendant of settling New Amsterdam families

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, but I think it is really cool when people find out something interesting about their ancestors. My grandfather fled Nazi Germany and his stories always fascinated me.

I'm jealous your stories were shared. There are several stories (including Holocaust stories) that my family chose to let die out. It's certainly their right and I might have made the same choice, but I wish I knew more.

My grandfather helped liberate Dachau and never talked about it; my father never tried to get details. I would like to know more so I could pass it along but so far haven't been able to find any more details.

As a Jew, please say thank you from me to your family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:that isn't the fault of anyone on this board

What isn't their fault, that they celebrate and revere people who owned people, stold other people's lznd and spread disease and acted like their very presence was doing THEM a favor?
Manifest Destiny Mother*******!!
Put that your license plate!

you do know most white people were not slave owners, right?

Exactly most... But it is well documented that the Mayflower 26 started slavery in the US.

Interesting to know if family was on the Mayflower but not exactly something to be proud and excited about.

Like, wow just found out my family was on the Mayflower and I am very sorry, then send some money to a scholarship or something.

Why? I didn't do anything.

Should today's Germans be responsible for a Jewish scholarship fund?

If they found out their great-great grandfather was Hitler, um yea!

I'm a Jew. I have a good friend who is German and living here. I have no idea if she is related to ahi tiler or if her family were Nazis. It doesn't matter. She's not. but then, I don't believe in letting my heritage dictate my future. I'm responsible for that

[Anonymous]

But how would you feel if she announce. " OMG! Soooo excited, just got off ancestry.com and realized my uncle is Hitler, how cool is that"

You would not judge her negatively for that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:that isn't the fault of anyone on this board

What isn't their fault, that they celebrate and revere people who owned people, stold other people's lznd and spread disease and acted like their very presence was doing THEM a favor?
Manifest Destiny Mother*******!!
Put that your license plate!

you do know most white people were not slave owners, right?

Exactly most... But it is well documented that the Mayflower 26 started slavery in the US.

Interesting to know if family was on the Mayflower but not exactly something to be proud and excited about.

Like, wow just found out my family was on the Mayflower and I am very sorry, then send some money to a scholarship or something.

Why? I didn't do anything.

Should today's Germans be responsible for a Jewish scholarship fund?

If they found out their great-great grandfather was Hitler, um yea!

I'm a Jew. I have a good friend who is German and living here. I have no idea if she is related to ahi tiler or if her family were Nazis. It doesn't matter. She's not. but then, I don't believe in letting my heritage dictate my future. I'm responsible for that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:that isn't the fault of anyone on this board

What isn't their fault, that they celebrate and revere people who owned people, stold other people's lznd and spread disease and acted like their very presence was doing THEM a favor?
Manifest Destiny Mother*******!!
Put that your license plate!

you do know most white people were not slave owners, right?

Exactly most... But it is well documented that the Mayflower 26 started slavery in the US.

Interesting to know if family was on the Mayflower but not exactly something to be proud and excited about.

Like, wow just found out my family was on the Mayflower and I am very sorry, then send some money to a scholarship or something.

Why? I didn't do anything.

Should today's Germans be responsible for a Jewish scholarship fund?

Today's Germans actually express great shame for the role they/their relatives played, and a level of sensitivity toward the victims and their descendants that we never saw here in the US. That is a huge part of why our country still hasn't truly moved on. You can't get past something until you acknowledge what really happened, what REALLY happened, and try to make things right. Slavery ended long ago, but as recently as a generation ago, we were STILL doing much of the same shit. We are STILL doing much of the same shit. You SHOULD be ashamed.

We haven't moved on because you're holding people who are alive today responsible for something they have no control over.

I think you mean "had" no control over, but interestingly enough your error points to the real issue. You DO have control over NOW. Acknowledge that your ancestors did awful awful things. Stop bragging about your connection to them, and denying the awful things they did. Stop blaming the people who remind you. Do your best to remember and to keep history from repeating itself. We are still denying people their basic human rights. We are still discriminating. The descendants of those people are still hurting. Its ancient history to you, and something you're blissfully unaware of on a daily basis. I am confronted with the burden of my skin color every time I look in the mirror. The emotional scars on my mother and grandparents are not easily ignored, and it enrages me if I think about it too hard.

When they stop with the knock-out game...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, but I think it is really cool when people find out something interesting about their ancestors. My grandfather fled Nazi Germany and his stories always fascinated me.

When I was an AA student at the University of Chicago in the '70s, I had three Jewish roommates. One of my roommates' parents were sent to Auschwitz and showed me their tattooed identity numbers on their arms that were placed there at the camp. And when my roommate's mother put her arm around me and told me that 'contrary to popular belief, we Jews understand what your ancestors went through', I just broke down and cried.

I ran my fingers across those numbers, and the next summer during a group excursion to Europe and while we were in Munich, I made it a point to detour to Dachau. This had (and still does) such an impact on me that 20 years later, I took my children to Africa to see the 'Door of No Return'.

I speak only for me but I allow no one to approach me (or more directly, get up in my face) and denigrate anyone whose ancestors suffered so much during enslavement, African or Jewish. I have touched and felt pain, literally and figuratively.

No one should ever forget.

Best post on this thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine too...in the hull of the ship

+1 I don't think this is something to be proud of. Your ancestors are the reasons mine were here, and also the reason why I'll NEVER know my history beyond a few generations.

I think you know that one of the reasons that people get excited about this is because they get more stories about their family with a well documented group like this and not because of any great pride.

I understand what you're saying to an extent, but then why the license plates, special clubs in which you must verify your lineage (why not just come out and say "no blacks need apply"???), and the bragging? Even so, if its simply excitement over knowing your lineage, great. Keep it to yourself, and thank your lucky stars you and yours were on the right side of history. I know very little about my family history, beyond the fact that my last name is likely the name of the family that owned us, and the light skin, "good hair", and blue eyes that run in my family are the direct result of the rape of my foremothers.

It is extremely possible that your skin, hair and eyes are inherited from a white slave foremothers or father. Hundreds of thousands of poor Irish and English were sold or kidnapped into slavery to the Americas in the 17th and 18th century:

http://www.amazon.com/White-Cargo-Forgotten-History-Britains/dp/0814742963

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family was here before the Mayflower.

+1. Mine too. So the "illegal aliens" blah blah is quite funny.

Do you think the "Native Americans" just sprouted out of the ground here? They came from somewhere else way back when also.

And we didn't have immigration laws centuries ago as we do now, so drop it already.

Translation: my family is here now, so screw yours!
- a descendant of settling New Amsterdam families

There's no translation necessary. It's spelled out quite well. Native Americans were once the newcomers, and there were no immigration laws centuries ago. Period.

[Anonymous]

With DNA testing now, black Americans no longer need trot out the "I'll never know where I come from!!" sob story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With DNA testing now, black Americans no longer need trot out the "I'll never know where I come from!!" sob story.

Knowing the geographical areas your ancestors came from isn't the same thing as knowing where and when they were born, their names, etc. In some cases this information can be found - slaveowners did keep fairly close tabs - but not always, and not without a lot more digging. And AA families have the additional burden of having to know which family owned their ancestors. It's just one more thing to track in a field that's already kind of tricky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With DNA testing now, black Americans no longer need trot out the "I'll never know where I come from!!" sob story.

Knowing the geographical areas your ancestors came from isn't the same thing as knowing where and when they were born, their names, etc. In some cases this information can be found - slaveowners did keep fairly close tabs - but not always, and not without a lot more digging. And AA families have the additional burden of having to know which family owned their ancestors. It's just one more thing to track in a field that's already kind of tricky.

*yawn* Adopted children of all backgrounds are in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

These are my ancestors.

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[Anonymous]

No Mayflower relatives, but I'm the bastard son of Ned Stark!