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Radiant Roots, Boricua Branches

Musings on My Tri-racial Black and Puerto Rican Ancestry.

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About Me

BlueSky: @rrbbgenealogy.bsky.social
Instagram: @rrbbgenealogy

I have been researching my family history/genealogy for almost 20 years. However, it wasn’t until 2010 that I began to research my family history in depth using a combination of traditional genealogy as well as genetic genealogy. I have been able to trace several of my maternal mixed-race lines back to colonial New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia. The ethnic admixture of these lines is a mix of West African, Malagasy, Native American and European people and represent some of the earliest settlers in this country along with Native Americans who have always been here. It has always been my goal to document my family history the way it was experienced by my ancestors. My research specialties include both African-American and Puerto Rican Genealogy in general, Slavery and Free Blacks in the Northeast, the Afro-Dutch Cultural Legacy in NY and NJ, the NY-Madagascar Slave Trade in the Late 1600-Early 1700s, the Historical Importance of Native and African American Burial Grounds, the maritime trade (1627-1900 )as it relates to Indigenous and African people, as well as Genetic Genealogy.

I have Bachelors Degrees in Anthropology and Asian Studies from Bowdoin College and previously worked as an adjunct professor in Cultural Anthropology while attending CUNY Graduate School and University Center’s doctoral program in Anthropology. My background in cultural anthropology has helped me research my ancestral roots. I started my blog to share my genealogy research on both my maternal mixed race African-American side as well as my Puerto Rican paternal side.

I am a proud member of the New Jersey, New York, and New England Chapters of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAGHS) and a former BlackProGen LIVE! panelist. I am also the co-administrator of FamilyTree DNA’s Malagasy Roots Project along with CeCe Moore of PBS’s Finding Your Roots since 2014. I am currently writing a book, The DNA Trail from Madagascar to the Americas, based on more than a decade’s worth of research. My book will detail the benefits of using genetic genealogy, along with traditional genealogy, to uncover hidden histories of our ancestors.

For almost thirty years, I have given talks at public libraries in the Greater NY/NJ/CT area, as well as local genealogy groups, and have worked with past and present Rutgers University professors (i.e., Professor Emeritus Junius Wilson, now City of Newark Historian, professor Anita Bakshi, and Professor Jack Tchen). In addition, I work with multiple public history projects like The Witness Stones Project (https://witnessstonesproject.org/), Finding Ceremony (https://findingceremony.com/), Our Land, Our Stories (https://our-land-our-stories.libraries.rutgers.edu/) and The Public History Project (https://www.publichistoryproject.org/).

In April 2024, I was inducted into the Manhattan Chapter if DAR based on my 5X great-grandfather, Black Patriot Samuel Freeman, service in the American Revolution. He was one of many ancestors, including another Black Loyalist 5X great-grandfather Anthony Piggott, who also fought for freedom, justice, equality and humanity for all. In 2026, I will also be publishing my book, Our Indigenous, African, and Afro-Indigenous Revolutionary War Ancestors to commemorate both the 250th anniversary of The United States of America and the 400th anniversary of our continued survival and resistance to settler colonialism.

Copyright Information

© Teresa Vega and Radiant Roots, Boricua Branches, 2013. None of the written content from this blog may be used or duplicated without written permission from rrbbgenealogy@gmail.com unless restricted to brief excerpts and links and provided that full and clear credit is given to Teresa Vega and Radiant Roots, Boricua Branches, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

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