If you just tried to watch my video on Redbones in Louisiana...KZfaq muted it and then made me take it down! 😰I will try again in a few days. Thank you for being here:) ▶☕Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal ▶Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN ▶Buy Alicia's new novel! amzn.to/48uppc3 ▶Download the first section FREE of my "Be a Good ancestor" course here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos-bjks6 ▶Get the full course to save your family history here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos

I have cousins who have passed for white 2-3 generations ago. They are meeting me through DNA testing. My mother decided to remain black. Oddly enough, those who communicate with me are not doing any better than I am in life, financially, emotionally or otherwise due to "passing" generations ago. I still move freely in circles of all ethnicities, including white.

People don’t want to talk about the race thing because it’s a very deep look inside yourself and then things have to admit to yourself about all the bias and misconceptions about black peoples or being in the bloodline of Africans no matter how light or dark one may be!!

I am black and I have several bi racial cousins. Most of my half black/half white cousins married white and their children look simply white. Only difference is they know their grandpa or father or mom is black. This is America and it's not as uncommon as folks may think. It's just sad that that fact was hidden and don't want to be addressed

I’m 70 and vividly remember when Dr. King died. My parents & grandparents generation hid things out of pain & fear . They didn’t want to be judged. They wanted their kids to be safe. The whole thing is sad. We missed out on a lot.

Your Grammy looks so FABULOUS!! You and your cousin REALLY resemble!

When you see a man with dreads and think, "Maybe he has a Ph D," you have made progress.

She (your grandmother) looks just like my (she did not purposely pass) racially ambiguous great grandmother on my mom’s paternal side. Both her and my grandfather were very fair skinned with nearly bone straight hair but still ID’d as black. A sight for sore eyes. Love how you’ve handled your family’s history with an open mind and heart ❤

Great post, Danielle! Your cousin is great. God-centered with boots firmly planted on the ground. I am glad you have an ally like her in your family. I really enjoyed listening and to her. 👍🏼🙏💖 We have to keep digging deeper to find the clogs in our filters and resist the temptation to pick up a playbook.

Part of why I LOVE this channel so much...we can all talk about this subject of race, & abhorrence racist past events, without getting offended, because it's all just truth, & most of us ARE just trying to be better people when it comes to racial biases, profiling, & going against how we were raised to think about other races. When I was a child, (I'm mostly white, German & many others in the mix), I had a black friend in kindergarten named Dewayne, & I just loved him because he was SO funny! So at home, I was always talking about my friend Dewayne & the funny things he did at school that day. When Dad found out he was black, I could tell he was uncomfortable that my little "boyfriend" was black. All during my raising, I just knew without talking too much about it, that "mixing" would never be accepted in my family. I never dated any black boys or men, but I always had lots of black, Asian, & white friends, because the public schools I went to were thankfully diverse. Thankfully, by the time I was 30, my Dad's views had changed. Sadly, he passed away soon after I was 30, but I remember him telling me several times, "I don't care WHAT race the man you marry is. I just want you to be HAPPY." That meant SO much to me, that my happiness was always a priority over what my man/bf/husband LOOKED like. My Dad, raised mostly in the SOUTH, in the 40's & 50's, had come such a long way!! I feel most of the country has, but we must still conquer the racists left, together. ❤🤜🏿🤛❤🤜🏾🤛🏼

Regarding "Asian" Russians: it is generally the native Siberiaks (those from Siberia) who have the Asian countenance. They comprise of various tundra groups.

I'm from Louisiana my Grandfather and great Grandmother are Creoles from Natchitoche the Coin coin lineage. Some of us are brown and some white some moved away and passed for white in the pass.

The two of you share so many traits . Very strong genes . Your voices are so similar. ❤

I find your channel interesting. I'm glad Alicia admitted she has realized she has biases. I appreciate her honesty. I'm not sure she realizes she has quite a few biases. I hope she keeps seeking to learn and understand. Also, to accept.

I concluded a long time ago that people are the product not just of what they were taught at home but of ideas they encounter and absorb that go unchallenged.

Redbones werent just in the Lou. I'm from Virginia and that's what whites listed us as. A lot of those redbones have Virginia and Georgia, mainly because they were known as some of the harsher breeding states, where a " and subordinate slave will be broken." Both states were known to have a high population of indigenous people. Virginia turn 40% of indigenous people into black people because of their skin tone and thus they turned them into slaves as well, South, and North Carolina also had breeding farms/plantations. French men desired Redbones and some liked those of darker skintone. Often they would visit Virginia because the "women were Golden in color." Just like European men liked the lighter close to white as possible but they also liked the black woman's shape. So they wanted her to have white girl features with the shape of her black or indigenous mother. The English from what I was told by my People used to make fun of the French men by saying they like a little dirt in their bed and willing to pay good for it. My grandmother also had writings from her mother She actually had writing some her mother because her maternal mother couldn't write but her mother wrote it down. My great great maternal grandmother spoke about how redbones would be treated and how they were off and sold for higher prices. She also told me about the quadrant balls where they used to be paraded around and dressed up like doll babies so that the French and the English who both had those parties could "partied around their wealth. She also talked about the abuse they endured too. In fact, when my grandmother's mother was still alive she saw Queen and laughed. Then she fell silent took a big breath and said, "lord please don't let None of my people believe this lie!" Some may have been "nice" but often if a woman did not give in, she would be strapped to a bed and assaulted. She said they would often hurt you places that were unseen. So it definitely was not a fairy tale. And I'm not a triple. I seeing the fact that Queen was assaulted in that movie, but from her writing she said the truth is that they found out that you were passing for white woman and not allowing people to know that you were either a redbone or mulatto the day off in times with torture you for days, weeks and months by themselves or in groups. So you were really taking a chance as a woman if you attempted to pass for white, especially if those African or Indigenous Turtle Island genes came out in a baby. Men who were passer were better off they could always blame the woman. But unless a woman cheated, there's no way a baby should come out brown or dark skinned.

Danielle, I cannot get enough of this dive down the rabbit hole. I long to live in a community surrounded with wonderful people like you and your cousin. Keep 'em coming!

You find a lot because people were trying to survive the best they could along with the laws at the time and things have progressed on.

I have loved watching your stories. A few good films you and your cousin should check out are Pinky(starring Jeanne Crain), Immitation of Life(starring Lana Turner) and The Human Stain(starring Anthony Hopkins). They are all movies that focus on Black people who were light enough to pass, and lived their Iives as such. It can give you some insight as to what Lola or your grammie might have been dealing with psychologically. I can also relate to your story from the other side. I am from NYC and I also found ancestors in Natchitoches. However it was as a Black man, and meeting relatives who have been living as White. So, I had to learn that Creole heritage operates on both sides of the color line. There is unfortunately a lot of pain for some that came out of, or within those creole communities.

She looks like members of my family who are Louisiana Creoles and mixed with Native American.

I watched your other video and I think it’s harder for Caucasian people to own their Black roots than it is for African Americans to own their European roots. I did my DNA and wasn’t surprised to see the European ancestry because I knew it was more than likely because of slavery. But it’s not that easy with White folks because there is no explanation. That’s why your story is so interesting. You have a little bit of an understanding (passing). The only thing that did surprise me was that I have Scandinavian, Finnish, Italian, Native American and Nepali ancestry. This is not the typical mix with Black folks. 🤔🙂

My dad said when he was a child in the mid 50's when he would visit my grandmothers family in Virginia ( the so light they almost white family side ) His mothers first cousins and some of her aunts being that my dad is darkskinned and his sisters are lighter his great aunt when asked would say he was adopted 😢 or he was the child of her maid 😮. My aunt Barbara was the favorite because she was the lightest of the girls with bright red hair and freckles . Many times my grandmother would have to act while traveling to the south like she was just the girls chaperone she was meeting their family at the station / her boss smh those were her children 😔 🤦 . She would have her white pasing cousin come pick them up So they wouldnt be treated badly. My grandmother ( fathers mother) was slighty darker then you Danielle until she got sick with kidney failure in her later years then she became darker. .

Our ancestors don't know how much they hurt us when they hide our family's past.

We have a branch of Creoles who still are afraid to associate with our dark skinned family. Some of the lighter skinned family, my dad and several cousins won’t mess with the Creoles because of it. This has gone on for years. I’ve only met one Creole Louisianan family member because of this. Also found out MJ and Beyonce are distant cousins through Creole lineage (Beyonce) and through indigenous tribe lineage (MJ).

She Kept Her Dark Secret Buried A lot Of People Didn’t Want To Claim A Piece Of Black Blood & Tried To Cover It Up🫢 So Sad

A very interesting conversation. Keep up the good work.

Just so everyone knows, her cousin isn't "woke" lol

Many try to “”elbow “” their way in without the struggle!!

Welcome to the family. Many of us in the African American community always knew we had a tittle be of everyone in our history. The family reunions would have from the color white to the darkest black and all related by blood. This is why especially in the south you should never be racist because down here passing was very prevalent. I love you sharing this with the world. ❤❤

Keep up the great work.

Well welcome to the family to both of you! Tell your cousin it’s ok to lock your car door whenever a strange man goes by, no matter the ethnicity, I do and I’m African American. 😊

The grotesque nature of racism, often means descendants of Africans, now classed as white, seem almost completely disconnected from its constant dehumanizing horror! This video however is surprisingly inspiring - ancestral spirit is real!

Another great video Daneille. Keep them coming.

I'm a 64 year old lady from Louisiana. Enjoy your videos...Take care

Spectacular conversation i loved it!!

Great conversation with your cousin. I too are curious about my family’s history on both sides. I’m a history buff but are learning about hidden history.

Your cousin is absolutely right. Had they known they would have probably stopped the marriage. Have you read Gail Lukasik’s book? White Like Her.

Your cousin Alicia doesn’t have a good fundamental understanding of nationality and ethnicity and the difference between them. This was clear to me by her description and discussion of her Russian friend who looked “Asian.” She should check a map-most of Russia is in Asia. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Alicia just I did hearing from your brother. I gotta say, though, you have some beautiful gene combinations in your family! ❤❤❤

Thank you guys for this frank discussion! It's amazing how similar we are when we listen to each other. My AA family is the same with all of the secrets and when I learn more of the history I think 'how could you guys not tell these stories'? We would be so much further along with healing this country.

I still remember my high school classmate in Louisiana. My high school was black and Creole. He moved to California. When he visited Louisiana again he told me he was in LA passing for white. I thought it was funny as hell.

Hahaha, the Russian comment took me out! Has she ever heard of Eurasia? Or the USSR? Or the Silk Road? Lol, the ignorance of Americans as it relates to things like history, geography and geopolitics is astoundingly hilarious. Great channel btw.

Your cousin seem disbelief in way she got African ancestors and now she facing her own bias which I don't think she really wants to

Not wanting to talk is usually a sign of not wanting to acknowledge certain things unfortunately.😔

What a refreshing conversation. Kudos to both of you ladies for being brave ❤

I think your grandmother kept her secrets so well because she was taught it could cost her her life. I heard something the other day (because we have friends with mixed kids and grandchildren) from someone in their early 60’s commenting on how far ppl had come. He said that if he had tried to date a black girl in high school his friends would have beat the crap outta him and probably killed her. So if you do the math that was about 45-50 yrs ago , that there were places still very dangerous for black ppl. Even in bigger towns a lot was covered up when it came to racial injustice. So much has changed in the span of your lifetimes, it really is amazing.

I just found this channel, great content!!

My mom had a sister out of the 13 of them only one passed for white when she passed we went to the funeral and people thought we were close friends I left cause I refused to be insulted like that our cousin did not know us so I left

All men are of one blood and one race HUMAN. It's so sad that people feel that they have to hide who they really are.

You're right. Most of us could legitimately write "other" on an application, form, or census. The problem is that, even though what you're saying is and has always been obvious, the idea of putting people into racial or ethnic categories has been vitally important. It defines expectations and offers rationalizations for outcomes. There is no interest in or attention paid to "others."

Fascinating conversation. Let's not say colored though that gives me flashbacks to 1953.

Your cousin is awesome. We need more people like her.

Enjoying the conversation and perspectives.

Wow your cousin is sus. I have second hand embarrassment for you.

“I would love to know her heart” that is why I am interested in my family and lineage at all, that is the essence of my ancestry.

I watched your channel before and I really like it, I just want to make one comment black people have to talk about uncomfortable subjects amongst each other all the time no matter what generation, we have to because we live this 24/7 Plus we have to carry the name of a slave owner all our lives.

Interesting! I love her realness. I'm sure your Grandfather knew. To think about it. She didn't look irish. With him being intelligent and with strong culture.. he prob just loved what he seen in her. Im dating someone who's irish and from the islands. Her great great grandma was tooken away from the islands on a boat to america in the late 1800s to Alabama.

Enjoyed this as I have your others.

I’m an insurance adjuster and handled lots of claims from Louisiana via phone from Indiana. I was so amazed and happy to have so many clients with French last names. I took a little French from 5-8th grade, so it was so fun for me to pronounce their names correctly first try. (I know….squirrel!) Have you ever read the story of the little European white girl that was sold as a slave by her family after they landed In Louisiana? She was labeled as black later to make her more valuable for resale. It was a deeply disturbing story to me - but mostly because it gave a lot of details about the laws in La that kept people and their kids in slavery for years. It is so heartbreaking what people do for financial gain.

Great conversation

I will engage...o want this to be known... You are helping so much with what people need to know!

Some of Russia is in Asia. There are many Asian people in Russia.

Truly fascinating!

Your cousin has a lot of personality.

Watching your videos, I find myself glad that passing wasn’t an option for us. I can’t imagine being separated from my heritage for a lifetime. Changing your history could not have been easy. I don’t judge your ancestors for their decisions because I believe they were made in the hopes of a better future. Although I’m aware that a lot had to do with not wanting to be associated with people of color and their disadvantages.

Though ancestry i found quite a few white passing family members. Many outright denied the truth that yes their grandmother or so was indeed black or mixed and they passed . I found 1 shes my best friend( though she is old enough to be my mother) we have so much alike she is the only one i know that has even my same bloodtype . She wants to meet the family so bad . But i cant lie they ( my mom etc) dnt really see the point of the meeting her because She is a tru hillbilly country gal. I will go see her one day we have been trying to link our family trees but her side keeps destroying any evidence we get together . 😢. So we are kinda outcast on both sides . Her side ( passing ) is highly steeped in their whiteness like for real some was even in the clan ( despite being white passing ) . Many of her siblings dont want me coming to see her 😔 or she me . They lived their lives as white and nothing is gonna change that . Like my family despite knowing their is highly mixed ancestral groups in our bloodline deapite knowing my mothers grandmother was a full indian ( we live as African americans or Black and thats what we are) My mother feels why claim something that wont accept you. To me its like how can i turn my back on my ancestors any of them because they all came together to make who we are. I see my ancestors in my face my siblings faces my childrens faces everyday.

This is another NYTN hit. We need to have your cousin back again. 😂

No way that's crazy. They took it down? Because they don't want the truths to come out. Keep doing your part and we gonna keep doing ours by filling in the info you don't really know. 👌 😊

Another great one! I want to say you and your family are welcome to our community. I am not even all black like most ppl. It doesn't matter what ppl think, it only matters what you think or know what and who you are. ❤

One thing about the black community if you accept it, you will be embraced and treated like family. I’m half Filipino and half lndigenous American(black) and my “black” family is overwhelmingly more accepting than my Filipino side(from America) which is weird because my “on the island” Filipino family bloodline is SUPER accepting of me.

I love this. Do you ladies have a podcast? I love the way you incorporate your faith in your conversation. We are all one. I, too, used to feel like I could not ask questions, but the Lord changed me. Blessings to you both.

Wonderful conversation!!! Cuzzin is totally on point…love her Biblical worldview!!!🙌🏼

She was simply in search of acceptance and a BETTER life!

The prejudice in your cousin is too deep, which is strange because she mentioned “the journalist yet she let someone influx’s her how she views people in the south. I feel like she does this for all. Also Irish were never slaves, they signed a 4 year contract to work the land and at the end of the contract they would get land. Yes they don’t have many rights but that’s not slavery, blacks were slaves for life n their children too. In the case of the Irish if they would they get married n have kids, they were not obliged to full fill the contract. I don’t know why the USA education system don’t teach n gets deep into slavery because I’m not from the US, I’m from Mexico and I know more about slaves in the USA than the great majority of U.S.Amercans, n when I heard an Irish-American claiming they had been the original slaves in “America” I had to do a research because I had not ever heard it, n at first I thought my Mexican school system has failed me but no.

One of my grandfather's grandmothers was Irish. He loved his Irish grandmother. He was a sharecropper as a child in Delaware who lost one of his legs while working on an ice truck (early trucks were driven by chain) off the land. Lot of Irish in African American heritage.

My grandmother's sister, born in Quebec, married a lovely, charming man named Louis -- from Louisiana. He simply adored his wife and their six children. I loved my great Uncle Louis!! (Pronounced Lu-ee.) He always had some gold foil-covered chocolate coins in his pocket to give to children. After he died his family found his Louisiana birth certificate and Louis was listed as "Negro". Thing is, even if Louis was only 1/8th Black, he was still listed as Black... Wouldn't it be great if we didn't put people into "categories".

Good evening from Copperhill Tn.

I’m a mulatto who has been living in Monroe , La and I was always told by the Holy Spirit that I’m Irish. I am actually kind to you , your mother and your grandmother through her Bother Psoper Conway in Donaldsonville , La. I saw you on KZfaq when all of you found out and was angry that she was passing as white . They did what they were told to say all of you… I’m 24 percent Nigerian, through my Irish & Asian, Magnolia…etc.

To me the older generation wasnt so closed mouth and in fact were more direct. The reason i think was because being a breed in my grandfathers words was not something to be proud of. In my wifes family her grandmother was raped her mother being that baby. Being native the police were of no help and im not even sure they reported it. The south was different then,people in general were poorer and if you weren't the right name,skin tone you maybe bringing something you didnt want down upon your entire family. If they could pass off as white life was easier it opened doors otherwise closed. Uncomfortable truths but that was reality then. Easy to judge them not knowing what they faced,had to endure. The 70s was everybody love everybody and was by contrast easier to stand up .

Geneticists now say that every human being you encounter, any place on the planet , is your cousin up to the 30th degree . Every one is your cousin , treat your family better !

I think one of the topic should be the Black community separated by colorism and class. There are varies communities within the black community. Lighter-skinned black communities and the classism which which allowed higher economic standing.

I am African American, and I am exceedingly proud of my heritage. I grew up during the 50s and 60s in the South. I remember when I was a little girl that there was a picture of a white woman on the wall in one of the rooms in our house. I used to look at up at that picture and ask myself, "Why is that white woman's picture on our wall?" It was only as an adult that I learned that all those years, I was looking at a photo of my paternal grandmother. I never met her, because my father was older - in his 60s - when I was born. Through family research, I learned that my paternal grandmother was born during enslavement, but she and her family were not enslaved. I also learned that my grandmother had three brothers, all of whom passed as whites after the Civil War ended. On the other hand, my grandmother - their sister - married my paternal grandfather, who was formerly enslaved. After learning all this, I initially looked down on my three grand uncles. I thought, "Why weren't you proud of who you were like your sister obviously was?" But as I have thought about all of this over the years, I have come to think that life for my grand uncles must have been very difficult even as freed black men. I can imagine that while they may have experienced some level of privilege compared to other blacks, they probably also experienced discrimination that they would not have faced as whites. (I know of a mixed race man who was lynched in our county back then!) The choice my grand uncles ultimately made meant they were forever separated from their sister and the rest of their family. It must have been a hard decision - one that they should not have had to make. That's because you're right. As I have often pointed out in these comments, it's all based on a big lie.

You're right we are so blended but why are anglos so racist more so than any other culture in history.

I love love your cousin’s position on discussing the uncomfortable truths, and how these actually illustrate redemption. Thank you for this.

Three of my maternal grandfather’s siblings passé blanco . Two grand uncles and one grand aunt. I’m sure that there was more these 3 I know of.

This is great. I did a DNA test. Found a whole branch of my tree. Found out Im a quarter Africana. And some in the family didnt like the truth. My half Africana Aunt whose father, my grandfather, goes back to having genetic slave ancestry....forbid me to ever tell her children.

Yeah, people were defensive back then. My mother's aunts and uncles all acted strange and would never talk about their history and did not seem to trust anyone. I think it had something to do with surviving the great depression; or the prejudices of the Irish, or the prejudices everyone seemed to have on each other.

No one buries things concerning the family "for thousands of years" (as mentioned by the cousin), simply because there would be millions of ancestors in such a large time frame. Therefore, memory cannot just be passed on. Memory is lost because already in a few hundred years the family tree fans out and becomes huge

I was just riveted listening to two educated intelligent American women just exchange their thoughts on such an interesting topic. That was Fun!

The cousins need to continually stress that she’s not woke really makes her words less palatable. People say woke as an insult. Those people don’t know what the word means. It means that a person has empathy and compassion for those different from themselves and act on that knowledge.

Your cousin is a snob. The south had government help for people down on their luck. Some people were snobs in the other direction down south than your cousin and believed it was lazy people who get food stamps. My father's family would not take government help. they would rather starve than be "lazy and low class." So yes, some people lived in shacks because they were too proud to accept help, but the help was there. My Mississippi grandmother was widowed in 1935 with 10 children. My grandfather died of lung cancer at 40. Now they did not have dirt floors and tar paper, but they did live in a house with no running water and an outhouse, and the house may have needed a coat of paint, the only heat source a fireplace, things like that. My dad and his older brothers all quit school and went to work. He was only 14 and he later joined the CCC's in the late 30's. they were not too proud for him to do that build roads because it was government help, but he worked for it. None of my older uncles married until almost 30 as they supported the family until all the kids were grown. One of my uncles died in WWII and my grandmother got a pension from the government after that.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw your grandma. She looks so much like my auntie from my mom's side of my family. She passed as white as well.

Iam pleased my ancestors survived all the horrible events . Through love they endured to allow me to live here 76 years 2024

I like Alicia's perspective as both a Christian and a journalist. She seems all in for the Lord and for truth.

Im a BW, and I lock the door when BM as well. Statistically speaking as a BW, they are most likely to injure me than anybody. Has less to do with racism; amd more to do with statistical facts, and what I've seen , and endured my entire life! We need to get real about these things.

This was ridiculous. Lived 61 years in Louisiana and never encountered a hillbilly family. Aldo, what’s the issue with “woke?” It simply means to be alert regarding issues of justice in order to oppose injustice. Odd the way it was brought up out of the blue, as though there’s an inherent anti-black bias.

6:53 Past generations have a different attitude to privacy. The Internet and KZfaq is open about everything. Most older people will not tell you their "heart" and why should they? Why is there an entitlement to know another human being totally? BTW I have a 23 and Me waiting for me to do. Wanna check my dad's heritage (dwl). We live in interesting times........

Every American is biased. Especially those who were born and raised here. We've all been socialized/brainwashed by media to view whites and non-whites differently. TV and movies lean heavily on stereotypes to tell their stories instead of developing the personalities of individual characters. It's easier and takes much less time to use stereotypes. As a black woman I used to lock my doors when I saw a black man walking by. But, then I realized that there are crazies of all colors and genders. So, I started locking my car doors when ANYBODY I didn't know was walking by. The real issue is not knowing people who are different from us. After finding out that you grew up loving your Black grandmother you now see Black people differently. Because you found out that she was Black and you're Black too. Even though you don't identify as such and nobody would label as such. It's easy to pre-judge people before you get to know them. But once you have a deeper connection with them and see them as real/complex human beings, like your grandma, it's a whole different story. Like you said, nothing is black and white.

I’m from almost canida north and moved to florida- it is much better down here. At least for my family, but that’s the thing. Every family is different and every county is different too.

We were more colored than we thought. Were all a human family, I was raised to identify as Irish. If they knew how black she was, it’s interesting how Europeans like to switch in and out of being white when it benefits them.

It’s harder to see the black genes in Alicia, but that’s the beauty of families you come in all shapes and colors. (I’d like to see her with a tan).