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07/27/2004:

"Andrew Young traces his genetic ties back to West Africa"

Using DNA, the 72-year-old civil rights leader was able to trace his maternal lineage to present-day Sierra Leone and the Mende ethnic group.

The tests were conducted by Washington, D.C.-based African Ancestry Inc., which has one of the most extensive indigenous African lineage databases in the world. "I have been going to Africa now for 30 years and almost every year, several times a year," Young said. "I guess I never really wanted to know where in Africa I was from because I would decide I was from anywhere I happened to be."

Young traced his ancestry through his mother, Daisy Fuller Young, a former teacher. After uncovering his ties to Sierra Leone, Young said he perused the Internet to find more information about the west African nation.

Full Article : roanoke.com