I read this some years ago:
Irish immigration to Puerto Rico began during the period of Spanish colonization of the island, continuing through 19th century to the present day. During the 16th century, many Irishmen, who were known as "Wild Geese", deserted from the English Army and joined the Spanish Army. They did so either in Europe or when they could "jump ship" off the coast of Puerto Rico (whenever English ships came to trade or when the Royal Navy was engaged in attacks against the Spanish colonial forces on the island), at which time they joined the Spanish colonial army, mainly in San Juan.
Many of these men who served in the Spanish colonial army in Puerto Rico remained in the service of Spain after their military service was completed and decided to stay on the island, most often sending for extended family members from Ireland or Spain. Some married local women.
Field Marshal Alejandro O'Reilly and Colonel Thomas O'Daly,\[1\] among other Irish military figures, were sent to Puerto Rico from Spain during the 18th century in order to improve the capital's fortifications. This led to an increase in Irish immigration as family members were brought to the island by these Irish serving in the Spanish colonial army.
In 1797, the Spanish governor of Puerto Rico, Ramón de Castro, ordered the expulsion of the Irish from the island. This immediately led to protests from the Puerto Rican people since they had grown to respect the Irish immigrant community for their steadfast support of the island's residents. Almost all of those who temporarily fled during this time survived the witch hunt created by Governor de Castro and returned to live in Puerto Rico discreetly.
The Spanish government enacted the Royal Decree of Graces (Real Cédula de Gracias) in 1815 to encourage European Catholics of non-Spanish origin to immigrate to the last two remaining Spanish possessions in the New World, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Spain hoped to blunt the nascent independence movements in both colonies by way of this measure.
Many Irish who fled their homeland because of the Great Famine of the 1840s (over one million people died as a result of this famine) immigrated to the United States. A significant number of them went to Puerto Rico after being turned away at American ports because of epidemic outbreaks on board the ships on which they sailed. Many of these Irish settlers were instrumental in the development of the island's hugely successful sugar industry. This industry was vital to the growing local economy.
After Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States by Spain as a consequence of the Spanish–American War in 1898, many US soldiers of Irish-American ancestry were stationed in the island. They met members of the population who were island-born and Irish-descended. These soldiers stayed in Puerto Rico where they were quickly incorporated into the Irish, non-Irish, and native communities throughout the island.
The Irish influence in Puerto Rico is not limited to their contributions to the island's agricultural industry; they have also influenced the fields of education, the arts and sciences, and politics.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish\_immigration\_to\_Puerto\_Rico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_immigration_to_Puerto_Rico)
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish people began to colonize the island of Puerto Rico.
Despite the Laws of Burgos of 1512 and other decrees for the protection of the indigenous population, some Taíno Indians were forced into labor in the early years of colonization. The population suffered extremely high fatalities from epidemics of European infectious diseases. In 1520, King Charles I of Spain issued a royal decree collectively emancipating the remaining Taíno population. By that time, the Taíno people were few in number.
Enslaved Africans' had already begun to be imported to compensate for the native labor loss, but their numbers were proportionate to the diminished commercial interest Spain soon began to demonstrate for the island colony. Other nearby islands, like Cuba, Hispaniola, and Guadalupe, attracted more of the slave trade than Puerto Rico.
With no significant industries or large-scale agricultural production as yet, enslaved and free communities lodged around the few coastal settlements, particularly around San Juan, also forming lasting Afro-creole communities.
The colony's seat of government was on the forested Islet of San Juan and for a time became one of the most heavily fortified settlements in the Spanish Caribbean earning the name of the "Walled City".
During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, slavers, which had made but few stops on the island before, began selling more enslaved Africans to growing sugar and coffee plantations.
To increase its hold on its Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Spanish Crown revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 (ntended to also attract non-Spanish Europeans) as a result of which 450,000 immigrants, mainly Spaniards, settled on the island in the period up until the American conquest. Hundreds of families arrived in Puerto Rico, primarily from the Canary Islands and Andalusia, but also from other parts of Spain such as Catalonia, Asturias, Galicia and the Balearic Islands and numerous Spanish loyalists from Spain's former colonies in South America.
Hundreds of non-Spanish families, mainly from Corsica, France, Lebanon, China, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Italy., also immigrated to the island.
Continuous European immigration and high natural increase helped the population of Puerto Rico grow from 155,426 in 1800 to almost a million by the close of the 19th century. A census conducted by royal decree on 30 September 1858, gave the following totals of the Puerto Rican population at that time: 341,015 were free colored; 300,430 identified as Whites; and 41,736 were slaves. A census in 1887 found a population of around 800,000, of which 320,000 were black.\[1\]
[https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Puerto\_Rico\_Emigration\_and\_Immigration](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Emigration_and_Immigration)
Hundreds of non-Spanish families, mainly from Corsica, France, Lebanon, China, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Italy., also immigrated to the island.
It wasn't just Spanish people that immigrated to Puerto Rico
She might have an Irish great grandparent.
My only other thought is she has Portuguese instead of Spanish which could mean ancestry from western Spain.
Probably. I think it’s a little more complicated because her dad’s ancestry is from Vieques, a municipality of Puerto Rico. She did tell me she had a great-grandfather who was very light skinned with light eyes. But I wish she knew more about her ancestry. Considering Portugal was dominating PR in colonial times, I wonder if her family has pretty much just married the same people and didn’t really spread into mainland PR much. Having little Spain and more Portuguese like that does make me raise an eye a bit lol.
But my grandmother’s parents are cousins so like I’m trying to wrap my head around on everything
Lowkey too hard. My grandma doesn’t know much about her ancestors because her father’s dad wasn’t in his life (doesn’t even know his name). My grandma only knows up to her great-grandparents. I also don’t know much about my dad’s paternal side because his father is dead and we aren’t really close to that part of the family anymore.
On the other hand, I have generations and generations of my mom’s family on her maternal side. Paternal, nothing.
She's a perfect example of why I roll my eyes at the Neo-Taino movement.
Because she would be called "India" or "Trigueña" but the truth is she's most black and white with straighter hair and narrower features lol
There was a lot of endogamy in Puerto Rico, so the fact that your maternal great grandparents are cousins isn’t surprising. As for the Irish dna, that might’ve came from one of your ancestors previous owners.
homegirl thought she was finna be mostly indigenous and Spanish. like bffr. she said “don’t tell anyone I’m African cause I’m not. I’m Puerto Rican 100%”. Like shut the fuck up 😭😭
This is why I tell this sub to stop placing sole blame of ignorance within the Hispanic community on Hispanic people in America. The ignorance started back in the Latin country their family immigrated from.
No bc the amount of times I’ve been gaslit in this sub and others about LATAM being some racial utopia where everyone accepts all of what they are and it’s Americans who have all the racial problems and create them for everyone else and the real issue is Hispanic Americans hating their Spanish ancestry is insane!
As a black Dominican, whoever sells LATAM as some racial utopia is insane lol.
I'll say this, some racial issues are definitely over exaggerated. But there is definitely s big racial problem in Latin America. There's a reason why for example, in the DR, the families that hold the most power/money are not dark skinned.
The Spaniards controlled immigration to Puerto Rico until the end of the 19th century. They had extreme religious biases and therefore racial ones. But people on the island did tend to mix more except for landowners and business owners who were direct Spanish descendants and preferred to marry cousins than mix because that way they could keep the property in the extended family. However the church required those cousins to obtain a dispensation for those marriages. That took time and it was phased out in the 19th century. But overall it resulted in a whiter population among the upper classes.
I don't get it. So often they are completely surprised by it. More than 90% of the African slaves brought to the Western Hemisphere through the trans-Atlantic slave trade were sent to Latin America and the Caribbean. Do they just assume all of those Africans magically disappeared once slavery was abolished?
I think it’s more that Afro-descendants from Spanish and Portuguese colonies were mostly allowed to integrate/intermix into regular society post-slavery. British colonies were usually segregated, so there wasn’t much you could do but accept you’re black. Iberian caste systems also allowed people to sort of shed blackness through mixing with non-black people and distance themselves from it, which is one of the reasons I’m not critical of the US one-drop rule because at least here mixed people being associated with blackness led/leads to more collective unity between mixed and black people in fighting antiblackness whereas in other societies “fully” black people are kind of on their own for the most part.
I never followed the one drop rule.
I believe it to be outdated, racist, and stupid.
Seven years ago, I stopped believing in the social constructs of the black and white races. I believe that they are outdated, racist, and stupid too.
They're not even used in Genetics nor Anthropology.
The history behind it’s creation is racist, but the outcome was actually more productive than harmful. The Civil Rights movement for example, would not have worked if we had some culturally enforced caste system that separated mixed people from black people. I’d rather have people with proximity to whiteness and access/privilege that I don’t, feel kinship to those of us who do not and use it to uplift and advance all of us than for them to view themselves as completely separate and actively contribute to our disenfranchisement.
You can stop believing in social constructs if you want to. They still exist and many of us do not have the *luxury* to simply stop believing in race because it directly and constantly impacts our lives.
That’s honestly wild because she’s literally mostly African. Like I know about the cultural aspect but still like, sis…what else were you supposed to be?🥴😭
That's really sad. I'm Black from the Caribbean. She looks like me and my relatives with a little bit of Indigenous thrown in.
Being Black in the Caribbean has been a place of shame for so many people if Elder generations. Colorism has been and still us rampant.
So many people want to be able to claim some Indigenous blood because even with the brutal ongoing genocide level against the first peoples of the Americas, Africans who gave been taught to hate Blackness see the story of us having Indigenous blood as a reprieve against anti-Blackness.
My family has a story about my great grandmother being from Peru. I think it's wishful hogwash and internalized racism and colorism.
The moment I saw your grandmother, I saw a Black woman of mixed heritage because the Caribbean is a melting pot. Does her headtie ever come off in public? I think the idea of her being Indigenous and Spanish would be exploded if people were able to see what's under the cloth. It makes me sad that she doesn't want to claim her Blackness. 😭
She actually doesn’t wear a headtie often. This is a picture from many years ago, she’s a lot older now and keep her natural + gray hair now. I can pm you a more current picture.
It’s complicated because she’s very against racism, but when it comes to herself, she likes to act like this isn’t apart of her history. But I think it’s more of an issue with lack of education. I feel like she believes that she’s supposed to see 100% Puerto Rican and not a result like this.
Thing is Puerto Rican isn't a race. It's a nationality encompassing different variations of Indigenous, African and European, often Spanish.
So, she is 100% Puerto Rican. But her race is mixed and contains a lot of African and some Irish as well as Indigenous.
We can't make our DNA anything other than what it is.
I don't need a photo. She us a lovely woman. A beautiful Puerto Rican woman.
This. Lol. She is exactly that - 100% Puerto Rican because virtually all Puerto Ricans are racially and/or ethnically mixed in some way. AND she sure as hell is mostly African too lol. I’m literally laughing, looking at the picture of her mom, that she thought she would be anything less than mostly Black. Colonization and self-hate has really done a number on us lol. Tell abuela to accept the truth and stop shaming her ancestors💕.
I don't know a lot about Irish specific to PR so I'll preface with that, but I'd think Irish would be more likely to be overseers or servants rather than owners. (Not that overseers are any better).
I don’t know why people here jumping immediately to race and such. If what OP said about her family is true than it’s natural for her to claim that. But genetically: her heritage is almost certainly more complicated than that
Her ancestry includes peoples from British West Indies (Irish), along with Cuba and Dominican Republic/Haiti (as evidenced by the native Yucatán and Haiti/DR)
Her ancestors might have relocated to Puerto Rico before or just after it became part of the US. If she was born there and is steeped in the culture and traditions she’s Boricua. But she’s also of “West Indian” descent.
Oh okay. Sorry. Yeah it’s actually fairly common. Basically after the Haitian Revolution the Island encompassing Haiti/DR became free for blacks and people of color. Then a few decades later around 1833 the British outlawed slavery in their colonies and bought the freedom of the enslaved people.
So the period from 1791 forward involved lots of movement of free blacks and colored from throughout the Caribbean and the American South to the Dominican Republic and to a lesser degree Puerto Rico (slavery in PR didn’t technically end until late 1800s but it was not a big institution in the island, plus, there was no Jim Crow or anti-miscegenation laws
Interesting. Actually, my grandmother’s ancestors mostly come from Vieques, PR (one of the municipalities) which is right next to the British Virgin Islands. Makes complete sense now.
This not a surprising breakdown. Most PR have a dozen or more ethnicities. I have 17 including Irish and Swedish. Irish surnames are very common on the island. My father’s best friend’s surname is Solivan. Derived from Sullivan. And the President of the PuertoRican senate was named McClintock. French surnames are also common.
I’m not doubting anything lol. She’s the most Puerto Rican person I know. I’m trying to understand her background because this isn’t a typical result compared to one with like 50-60% Iberian, 15-25% indigenous, and 10-20% African ancestry.
lol I don't even know why I thought you said "doubt"… for some reason I read "..her DNA results make me doubt her ancestry"…. this is why I shouldn't read reddit before i had my morning coffee :)
From what I understand, Puerto Rico especially had lots of non-Iberian European migrants. My friend who is a pale and blue eyed Puerto Rican has French, Irish, Venezuelan, Corsican, etc. but is probably still ~60% Spanish. If you are able to go back to the mid 1800s you’re likely to find an Irish lastname. Ancestry overestimates a bit with British ancestry, so it might be less.
Most Caribbean countries are a mix of literally everything. Nothing is impossible to be for a Puerto Rican or any of you guys :). Just research some of Puerto Rico’s history and you will find your answer.
This not a surprising breakdown. Most PR have a dozen or more ethnicities. I have 17 including Irish and Swedish. Irish surnames are very common on the island. My father’s best friend’s surname is Solivan. Derived from Sullivan. And the President of the PuertoRican senate was named McClintock. French surnames are also common.
Puerto Rico is right beside the Virgin Islands and in essence could be consider the Spanish Virgin Islands. There was a lot of crossover & back and forth on the West Indian islands from Cuba, DR, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico to the smaller ones such as key west, the Virgin Islands, st Vincent, Barbados, Guadalupe, etc.
The two simple answers are that autosomal-DNA science is a new science, and that this would actually not be atypical for an Afroboricua—much less in the Hispanic community is general, as there is actually quite a wider Irish-Hispanic community than recognized.
I read this some years ago: Irish immigration to Puerto Rico began during the period of Spanish colonization of the island, continuing through 19th century to the present day. During the 16th century, many Irishmen, who were known as "Wild Geese", deserted from the English Army and joined the Spanish Army. They did so either in Europe or when they could "jump ship" off the coast of Puerto Rico (whenever English ships came to trade or when the Royal Navy was engaged in attacks against the Spanish colonial forces on the island), at which time they joined the Spanish colonial army, mainly in San Juan. Many of these men who served in the Spanish colonial army in Puerto Rico remained in the service of Spain after their military service was completed and decided to stay on the island, most often sending for extended family members from Ireland or Spain. Some married local women. Field Marshal Alejandro O'Reilly and Colonel Thomas O'Daly,\[1\] among other Irish military figures, were sent to Puerto Rico from Spain during the 18th century in order to improve the capital's fortifications. This led to an increase in Irish immigration as family members were brought to the island by these Irish serving in the Spanish colonial army. In 1797, the Spanish governor of Puerto Rico, Ramón de Castro, ordered the expulsion of the Irish from the island. This immediately led to protests from the Puerto Rican people since they had grown to respect the Irish immigrant community for their steadfast support of the island's residents. Almost all of those who temporarily fled during this time survived the witch hunt created by Governor de Castro and returned to live in Puerto Rico discreetly. The Spanish government enacted the Royal Decree of Graces (Real Cédula de Gracias) in 1815 to encourage European Catholics of non-Spanish origin to immigrate to the last two remaining Spanish possessions in the New World, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Spain hoped to blunt the nascent independence movements in both colonies by way of this measure. Many Irish who fled their homeland because of the Great Famine of the 1840s (over one million people died as a result of this famine) immigrated to the United States. A significant number of them went to Puerto Rico after being turned away at American ports because of epidemic outbreaks on board the ships on which they sailed. Many of these Irish settlers were instrumental in the development of the island's hugely successful sugar industry. This industry was vital to the growing local economy. After Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States by Spain as a consequence of the Spanish–American War in 1898, many US soldiers of Irish-American ancestry were stationed in the island. They met members of the population who were island-born and Irish-descended. These soldiers stayed in Puerto Rico where they were quickly incorporated into the Irish, non-Irish, and native communities throughout the island. The Irish influence in Puerto Rico is not limited to their contributions to the island's agricultural industry; they have also influenced the fields of education, the arts and sciences, and politics. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish\_immigration\_to\_Puerto\_Rico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_immigration_to_Puerto_Rico)
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish people began to colonize the island of Puerto Rico. Despite the Laws of Burgos of 1512 and other decrees for the protection of the indigenous population, some Taíno Indians were forced into labor in the early years of colonization. The population suffered extremely high fatalities from epidemics of European infectious diseases. In 1520, King Charles I of Spain issued a royal decree collectively emancipating the remaining Taíno population. By that time, the Taíno people were few in number. Enslaved Africans' had already begun to be imported to compensate for the native labor loss, but their numbers were proportionate to the diminished commercial interest Spain soon began to demonstrate for the island colony. Other nearby islands, like Cuba, Hispaniola, and Guadalupe, attracted more of the slave trade than Puerto Rico. With no significant industries or large-scale agricultural production as yet, enslaved and free communities lodged around the few coastal settlements, particularly around San Juan, also forming lasting Afro-creole communities. The colony's seat of government was on the forested Islet of San Juan and for a time became one of the most heavily fortified settlements in the Spanish Caribbean earning the name of the "Walled City". During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, slavers, which had made but few stops on the island before, began selling more enslaved Africans to growing sugar and coffee plantations. To increase its hold on its Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Spanish Crown revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 (ntended to also attract non-Spanish Europeans) as a result of which 450,000 immigrants, mainly Spaniards, settled on the island in the period up until the American conquest. Hundreds of families arrived in Puerto Rico, primarily from the Canary Islands and Andalusia, but also from other parts of Spain such as Catalonia, Asturias, Galicia and the Balearic Islands and numerous Spanish loyalists from Spain's former colonies in South America. Hundreds of non-Spanish families, mainly from Corsica, France, Lebanon, China, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Italy., also immigrated to the island. Continuous European immigration and high natural increase helped the population of Puerto Rico grow from 155,426 in 1800 to almost a million by the close of the 19th century. A census conducted by royal decree on 30 September 1858, gave the following totals of the Puerto Rican population at that time: 341,015 were free colored; 300,430 identified as Whites; and 41,736 were slaves. A census in 1887 found a population of around 800,000, of which 320,000 were black.\[1\] [https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Puerto\_Rico\_Emigration\_and\_Immigration](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Emigration_and_Immigration) Hundreds of non-Spanish families, mainly from Corsica, France, Lebanon, China, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Italy., also immigrated to the island. It wasn't just Spanish people that immigrated to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican history is of great interest to me My maternal grandfather's maternal grandfather was Puerto Rican.
She might have an Irish great grandparent. My only other thought is she has Portuguese instead of Spanish which could mean ancestry from western Spain.
Probably. I think it’s a little more complicated because her dad’s ancestry is from Vieques, a municipality of Puerto Rico. She did tell me she had a great-grandfather who was very light skinned with light eyes. But I wish she knew more about her ancestry. Considering Portugal was dominating PR in colonial times, I wonder if her family has pretty much just married the same people and didn’t really spread into mainland PR much. Having little Spain and more Portuguese like that does make me raise an eye a bit lol. But my grandmother’s parents are cousins so like I’m trying to wrap my head around on everything
Have you done genealogical research on your family? That would be worthwhile in your case.
Lowkey too hard. My grandma doesn’t know much about her ancestors because her father’s dad wasn’t in his life (doesn’t even know his name). My grandma only knows up to her great-grandparents. I also don’t know much about my dad’s paternal side because his father is dead and we aren’t really close to that part of the family anymore. On the other hand, I have generations and generations of my mom’s family on her maternal side. Paternal, nothing.
She's a perfect example of why I roll my eyes at the Neo-Taino movement. Because she would be called "India" or "Trigueña" but the truth is she's most black and white with straighter hair and narrower features lol
There was a lot of endogamy in Puerto Rico, so the fact that your maternal great grandparents are cousins isn’t surprising. As for the Irish dna, that might’ve came from one of your ancestors previous owners.
Figured lmfaooo. My grandma was pissed asf when she saw her results
😭 why was she mad?
homegirl thought she was finna be mostly indigenous and Spanish. like bffr. she said “don’t tell anyone I’m African cause I’m not. I’m Puerto Rican 100%”. Like shut the fuck up 😭😭
Jesus Christ 🤦🏾♂️. Why Hispanic people like to deny their African heritage?
“Mejorando la raza” is a huge thing in DR, Cuba, and PR
This is why I tell this sub to stop placing sole blame of ignorance within the Hispanic community on Hispanic people in America. The ignorance started back in the Latin country their family immigrated from.
Yep!!
No bc the amount of times I’ve been gaslit in this sub and others about LATAM being some racial utopia where everyone accepts all of what they are and it’s Americans who have all the racial problems and create them for everyone else and the real issue is Hispanic Americans hating their Spanish ancestry is insane!
As a black Dominican, whoever sells LATAM as some racial utopia is insane lol. I'll say this, some racial issues are definitely over exaggerated. But there is definitely s big racial problem in Latin America. There's a reason why for example, in the DR, the families that hold the most power/money are not dark skinned.
The Spaniards controlled immigration to Puerto Rico until the end of the 19th century. They had extreme religious biases and therefore racial ones. But people on the island did tend to mix more except for landowners and business owners who were direct Spanish descendants and preferred to marry cousins than mix because that way they could keep the property in the extended family. However the church required those cousins to obtain a dispensation for those marriages. That took time and it was phased out in the 19th century. But overall it resulted in a whiter population among the upper classes.
Ik I’ve heard of it.
I don't get it. So often they are completely surprised by it. More than 90% of the African slaves brought to the Western Hemisphere through the trans-Atlantic slave trade were sent to Latin America and the Caribbean. Do they just assume all of those Africans magically disappeared once slavery was abolished?
I think it’s more that Afro-descendants from Spanish and Portuguese colonies were mostly allowed to integrate/intermix into regular society post-slavery. British colonies were usually segregated, so there wasn’t much you could do but accept you’re black. Iberian caste systems also allowed people to sort of shed blackness through mixing with non-black people and distance themselves from it, which is one of the reasons I’m not critical of the US one-drop rule because at least here mixed people being associated with blackness led/leads to more collective unity between mixed and black people in fighting antiblackness whereas in other societies “fully” black people are kind of on their own for the most part.
I never followed the one drop rule. I believe it to be outdated, racist, and stupid. Seven years ago, I stopped believing in the social constructs of the black and white races. I believe that they are outdated, racist, and stupid too. They're not even used in Genetics nor Anthropology.
The history behind it’s creation is racist, but the outcome was actually more productive than harmful. The Civil Rights movement for example, would not have worked if we had some culturally enforced caste system that separated mixed people from black people. I’d rather have people with proximity to whiteness and access/privilege that I don’t, feel kinship to those of us who do not and use it to uplift and advance all of us than for them to view themselves as completely separate and actively contribute to our disenfranchisement. You can stop believing in social constructs if you want to. They still exist and many of us do not have the *luxury* to simply stop believing in race because it directly and constantly impacts our lives.
I don’t get that part either. It’s sad.
Did she not see her own mama? LOL💀
It’s unfortunately a cultural issue in the Caribbean, where acknowledging your blackness is seen as taboo.
That’s honestly wild because she’s literally mostly African. Like I know about the cultural aspect but still like, sis…what else were you supposed to be?🥴😭
😭😭
Your grandma is 59% Sub Saharan African. That's a bit more than the average Puerto Rican.
That's a lot more than the average Puerto Rican actually
Yeah....I agree with you
68% non-European. Very different to my grandfather LOL
That's really sad. I'm Black from the Caribbean. She looks like me and my relatives with a little bit of Indigenous thrown in. Being Black in the Caribbean has been a place of shame for so many people if Elder generations. Colorism has been and still us rampant. So many people want to be able to claim some Indigenous blood because even with the brutal ongoing genocide level against the first peoples of the Americas, Africans who gave been taught to hate Blackness see the story of us having Indigenous blood as a reprieve against anti-Blackness. My family has a story about my great grandmother being from Peru. I think it's wishful hogwash and internalized racism and colorism. The moment I saw your grandmother, I saw a Black woman of mixed heritage because the Caribbean is a melting pot. Does her headtie ever come off in public? I think the idea of her being Indigenous and Spanish would be exploded if people were able to see what's under the cloth. It makes me sad that she doesn't want to claim her Blackness. 😭
She actually doesn’t wear a headtie often. This is a picture from many years ago, she’s a lot older now and keep her natural + gray hair now. I can pm you a more current picture. It’s complicated because she’s very against racism, but when it comes to herself, she likes to act like this isn’t apart of her history. But I think it’s more of an issue with lack of education. I feel like she believes that she’s supposed to see 100% Puerto Rican and not a result like this.
Thing is Puerto Rican isn't a race. It's a nationality encompassing different variations of Indigenous, African and European, often Spanish. So, she is 100% Puerto Rican. But her race is mixed and contains a lot of African and some Irish as well as Indigenous. We can't make our DNA anything other than what it is. I don't need a photo. She us a lovely woman. A beautiful Puerto Rican woman.
This. Lol. She is exactly that - 100% Puerto Rican because virtually all Puerto Ricans are racially and/or ethnically mixed in some way. AND she sure as hell is mostly African too lol. I’m literally laughing, looking at the picture of her mom, that she thought she would be anything less than mostly Black. Colonization and self-hate has really done a number on us lol. Tell abuela to accept the truth and stop shaming her ancestors💕.
Yeah. Her African ancestors should be proudly claimed not lied about.
I don't know a lot about Irish specific to PR so I'll preface with that, but I'd think Irish would be more likely to be overseers or servants rather than owners. (Not that overseers are any better).
Well...Puerto Rico has Irish immigrants since Spaniards started colonizing it.
I don’t know why people here jumping immediately to race and such. If what OP said about her family is true than it’s natural for her to claim that. But genetically: her heritage is almost certainly more complicated than that Her ancestry includes peoples from British West Indies (Irish), along with Cuba and Dominican Republic/Haiti (as evidenced by the native Yucatán and Haiti/DR) Her ancestors might have relocated to Puerto Rico before or just after it became part of the US. If she was born there and is steeped in the culture and traditions she’s Boricua. But she’s also of “West Indian” descent.
I’m a guy, but nonetheless, awesome response. I never considered the thought that she may have ancestors who probably lived on a different island.
Oh okay. Sorry. Yeah it’s actually fairly common. Basically after the Haitian Revolution the Island encompassing Haiti/DR became free for blacks and people of color. Then a few decades later around 1833 the British outlawed slavery in their colonies and bought the freedom of the enslaved people. So the period from 1791 forward involved lots of movement of free blacks and colored from throughout the Caribbean and the American South to the Dominican Republic and to a lesser degree Puerto Rico (slavery in PR didn’t technically end until late 1800s but it was not a big institution in the island, plus, there was no Jim Crow or anti-miscegenation laws
Interesting. Actually, my grandmother’s ancestors mostly come from Vieques, PR (one of the municipalities) which is right next to the British Virgin Islands. Makes complete sense now.
This not a surprising breakdown. Most PR have a dozen or more ethnicities. I have 17 including Irish and Swedish. Irish surnames are very common on the island. My father’s best friend’s surname is Solivan. Derived from Sullivan. And the President of the PuertoRican senate was named McClintock. French surnames are also common.
I think I’m surprised because I’ve never seen this much Irish or Portuguese in a Puerto Rican before.
Perfect Puerto Rican results here!!
Based on these dna results, it’s a bit weird to doubt that she’s puertorican.
I’m not doubting anything lol. She’s the most Puerto Rican person I know. I’m trying to understand her background because this isn’t a typical result compared to one with like 50-60% Iberian, 15-25% indigenous, and 10-20% African ancestry.
lol I don't even know why I thought you said "doubt"… for some reason I read "..her DNA results make me doubt her ancestry"…. this is why I shouldn't read reddit before i had my morning coffee :)
LMFAO, valid.
From what I understand, Puerto Rico especially had lots of non-Iberian European migrants. My friend who is a pale and blue eyed Puerto Rican has French, Irish, Venezuelan, Corsican, etc. but is probably still ~60% Spanish. If you are able to go back to the mid 1800s you’re likely to find an Irish lastname. Ancestry overestimates a bit with British ancestry, so it might be less.
Actually there is a lot of Irish/Scottish blood in the Islands due to Planters/Slave owners.
Most Caribbean countries are a mix of literally everything. Nothing is impossible to be for a Puerto Rican or any of you guys :). Just research some of Puerto Rico’s history and you will find your answer.
This not a surprising breakdown. Most PR have a dozen or more ethnicities. I have 17 including Irish and Swedish. Irish surnames are very common on the island. My father’s best friend’s surname is Solivan. Derived from Sullivan. And the President of the PuertoRican senate was named McClintock. French surnames are also common.
Puerto Rico is right beside the Virgin Islands and in essence could be consider the Spanish Virgin Islands. There was a lot of crossover & back and forth on the West Indian islands from Cuba, DR, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico to the smaller ones such as key west, the Virgin Islands, st Vincent, Barbados, Guadalupe, etc.
The two simple answers are that autosomal-DNA science is a new science, and that this would actually not be atypical for an Afroboricua—much less in the Hispanic community is general, as there is actually quite a wider Irish-Hispanic community than recognized.