Jesmyn Ward’s “Cracking the Code”

From The New Yorker's archive: an essay about exploring family history through genetic testing.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   View in browser | Update your preferences     Annals of Technology Cracking the Code My parents' results gave them the concrete proof of their ancestry that they'd always been denied. Yet I found my own results both surprising and troubling. By Jesmyn Ward The writer Jesmyn Ward is known for her lyrical, expansive narratives about the enigmatic bonds of family and community. The author of six books, Ward has twice received the National Book Award for Fiction, for her novels "Salvage the Bones" (2011) and "Sing, Unburied, Sing" (2017). In 2015, she published "Cracking the Code," a concise New Yorker essay about exploring her family history through genetic testing. Ward orders tests for herself and her parents; the results, when they arrive, are surprising. "It's impossible for most black Americans to construct full family trees," Ward writes. "Official census records, used by so many genealogy enthusiasts to piece together their families' pasts, don't include our non-European ancestors. . . . I always understood my ancestry, like that of so many others in the Gulf Coast, to be a tangle of African slaves, free men of color, French and Spanish immigrants, British colonists, Native Americans." Rather than offering clarity, the tests convey a more complex account of Ward's lineage. Surveying her family tree, with the writer as guide, is comparable to being led through a serpentine maze by an expert landscaper. Ward describes the longing and uncertainty she feels after unfurling the disparate strands of her genetic code. Is this the nucleus of her essential self? Will it offer some sense of resolution, enabling her to forge a new course? The future is still unwritten, yet, for Ward, this genetic revelation offers a different understanding of kinship, stirringly rooted in an intricate, unexpected heritage.   —Erin Overbey, archive editor More from The New Yorker     Books Jesmyn Ward's Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast From 2017: "Sing, Unburied, Sing" is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. By Vinson Cunningham     American Chronicles Did George Washington Have an Enslaved Son? West Ford's descendants want to prove his parentage—and save the freedmen's village he founded. By Jill Abramson You're receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up.   Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our privacy policy    The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products and services that are purchased through links in our newsletters as part of our affiliate partnerships with retailers.    Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.