Knowing your past is such a revealing experience, I believe that all black people should take a DNA test.

This is the story of my DNA journey with 23 andme.com

Paternal Haplogroup

You descend from a long line of men that can be traced back to eastern Africa over 275,000 years ago. These are the men of your paternal line, and your paternal haplogroup sheds light on their story.

Justine Cleophas, your paternal haplogroup is E-M4254.

As our ancestors ventured out of eastern Africa, they branched off in diverse groups that crossed and recrossed the globe over tens of thousands of years. Some of their migrations can be traced through haplogroups, families of lineages that descend from a common ancestor. Your paternal haplogroup can reveal the path followed by the men of your paternal line.

Migrations of Your Paternal Line

A 275,000 Years Ago,  DE-M145, 76,000 Years Ago,  E-M96, 73,000 Years Ago

Haplogroup A

275,000 Years Ago

The stories of all of our paternal lines can be traced back over 275,000 years to just one man: the common ancestor of haplogroup A. Current evidence suggests he was one of the thousands of men who lived in eastern Africa at the time. However, while his male-line descendants passed down their Y chromosomes generation after generation, the lineages from the other men died out. Over time his lineage alone gave rise to all other haplogroups that exist today.

E-M180

17,000

Years Ago

Origin and Migrations of Haplogroup E-M180

Your paternal line stems from the E-M180 branch of E, which dominates south of the Sahara. The haplogroup originated about 17,000 years ago in the pockets of western Africa that were habitable at the time when much of the continent was extremely dry due to Ice Age climate conditions. Over ten thousand years later, men bearing haplogroup E-M180 migrated throughout sub-Saharan Africa, spurred by the development of agriculture and iron-working in the region.

E-M180 is most common today among speakers of Bantu languages and those related to them; it reaches levels of up to 90% among the Mandinka and Yoruba of western Africa, where the migrations began. Farther from their origin, E-M180 reaches frequencies of 50% or higher in the Hutu, Sukuma, Herero, and! Xhosa. The lineage is also the most common haplogroup among African-American male individuals. About 60% of African-American men fall into this haplogroup primarily due to the Atlantic slave trade, which drew individuals from western Africa and Mozambique, where E-M180 accounts for the majority of men.

E-M4254, 12,000

Years Ago

Your paternal haplogroup, E-M4254, traces back to a man who lived approximately 12,000 years ago.

That’s nearly 480 generations ago! What happened between then and now? As researchers and citizen scientists discover more about your haplogroup, new details may be added to the story of your paternal line.

E-M4254

Today

E-M4254 is relatively common among 23andMe customers.

Today, you share your haplogroup with all the men who are paternal-line descendants of the common ancestor of E-M4254, including other 23andMe customers.

1 in 210

23andMe customers share your haplogroup assignment.

See references 

You share an ancient paternal lineage with Pharaoh Ramesses III.

E-V38

Pharaoh Ramesses III defended Egypt in three consecutive wars during his approximately 30-year reign, but provoked dissent within his administration. Catalyzed by mounting internal strife, one of Ramesses’s lesser wives, Tiye, hatched a plot to have her son, Pentawer, usurp the throne by having Ramesses III murdered along with his appointed heir. A papyrus record of the resulting trial explains that the plot failed and that all involved were tried and convicted.

However, a modern CT scan of Ramesses III’s mummy revealed a deep slit in his throat, reopening a case long thought closed. The embalmers went to great lengths to cover up other wounds, including fashioning a fake toe out of resin where Ramesses’s real one had been hacked off, likely during a fatal attack. For thousands of years, Ramesses’s burial adornments concealed the wounds that mark one of the most famous royal dramas in history. Ramesses III’s paternal lineage belongs to haplogroup E-V38, from which your line also stems. You and Ramesses III share an ancient paternal-line ancestor who probably lived in north Africa or western Asia.

Knowledge is power