Many African-American families know little about their ancestry and where their family tree truly begins.

They may know ancestors were brought here from Africa as slaves, but little else.

Now, a DNA test can change that.

Rick Kittles, a professor of genetic medicine said, African-Americans lost part of their tradition, culture and language when they became separated from their family history.

His company helps African-Americans find their roots.

He said there have been some surprises along the way. Oprah's done it, so has director Spike Lee.

They've had DNA testing to trace their ancestry.

"It helps fill a void," Kittles said.

Kittles said DNA testing connects people to a specific country or ethnic group in Africa.

He said family roots are often based on family history. Something DNA testing doesn't always confirm.

"The first surprise was finding out that there was significant European ancestry in the African-American population," Kittles said.

He said the link is to European men, usually the result of owners taking advantage of women from Africa who were enslaved.

He said many blacks wrongly believe they are descendents of Native Americans.

"If you ask 10 African-Americans if they have Native American ancestry, eight of them will say yes, but when we actually test them, it's less than 10 percent," Kittle said.

His company, African Ancestry, sends kits in the mail and the person simply swabs the inside of the cheek with what looks like a Q-tip.

Results come in about four to six weeks and the test costs anywhere from $200 to $350, depending how much information you want.

"The historians and archaeologist and anthropologist have shown that the bulk of the enslaved Africans came from northern Nigeria to southern Angola's parts of western central area, and so we have a database that encompass that area and so when we test these African-Americans, they pretty much match to there about 95 percent of the time," Kittle said.

He said all information is confidential.

Kittle said DNA testing offers other potentially important information.

"When we're trying to understand risk for hypertension or diabetes and we think about family history, we can only go so far back ultimately we will tie these linages with particular ethnic groups and health of those communities."

Kittles will be in the local area Saturday at the African American Genealogy Conference in Cherry Hill, N.J.

DNA test kits will be available at the conference.

More Information

African Ancestry

African-American Genealogy Conference

Genealogy Conference Class Selection