The Halsted Trust is to part-fund a free new resource from The Mixed Museum that will demystify key concepts in DNA testing and genetic genealogy for the general public. Created in partnership with the museum’s Scientist in Residence Dr Sophie Kay, the online toolkit – which is also supported by ‘Places of Science’ funds from the Royal Society – will draw on insights from our ‘brown babies’ group to produce explanatory videos by Dr Kay.
A £2,000 grant from the trust will support an educational project to produce short videos which demystify and explain key concepts in DNA and genetic genealogy for the general public, and will work alongside existing ‘Places of Science’ project funds from the Royal Society. The resulting ‘video shorts’ will form part of a free, publicly accessible resource, showing how to interpret and use DNA test results effectively and accurately.
At the heart of the project is the museum’s ongoing collaboration with a group of ‘brown babies’ – a term coined by the African American press in the 1940s to describe the children born to Black GIs and white British women, during the mid-20th century period when US soldiers were stationed in various UK locations.
As a result of anti-miscegenation laws in parts of the USA at the time, which prohibited interracial marriage, most of the children grew up separated from their Black GI fathers, many in institutional care. Now in later life, they and their families are using direct-to-consumer DNA testing to trace their African American fathers or grandfathers and connect with family.
