Americans seek their African roots
In 2005 Oprah Winfrey underwent DNA testing in an effort to determine the genetic make-up of her body's cells.
The popular American talk show host wanted to know where her ancestors, taken as slaves to the United States, had come from.
Famous genes
Since then thousands of other African Americans have followed suit, many of them household names in the US.
Comedian Chris Rock discovered that he was descended from the Udeme people of northern Cameroon.
LeVar Burton, an actor who played the slave Kunta Kinte in the TV drama Roots, linked himself up genetically with the Hausa in Nigeria.
Civil rights leader Andrew Young traced his lineage to the Mende people of Sierra Leone and is also believed to be a distant relative of one of the leaders of the 1839 Amistad slave ship mutiny.
DNA testing has also resulted in some African Americans being bestowed with honorary African titles.
The Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker, who portrayed the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, was made an honorary chief of Igboland in south-eastern Nigeria.
He was given the title of Nwannedinambar of Nkwerre which means "brother in a foreign land", during a visit to Nigeria in April.
Getting results
There are more than two dozen genealogy organisations in the US selling genetic ancestry tests but African Ancestry is the only black-owned firm.
It is also the first to cater specifically to African Americans. Of the half a million Americans who have purchased DNA tests, around 35,000 of them are African American.
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The popular American talk show host wanted to know where her ancestors, taken as slaves to the United States, had come from.
Famous genes
Since then thousands of other African Americans have followed suit, many of them household names in the US.
Comedian Chris Rock discovered that he was descended from the Udeme people of northern Cameroon.
LeVar Burton, an actor who played the slave Kunta Kinte in the TV drama Roots, linked himself up genetically with the Hausa in Nigeria.
Civil rights leader Andrew Young traced his lineage to the Mende people of Sierra Leone and is also believed to be a distant relative of one of the leaders of the 1839 Amistad slave ship mutiny.
DNA testing has also resulted in some African Americans being bestowed with honorary African titles.
The Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker, who portrayed the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, was made an honorary chief of Igboland in south-eastern Nigeria.
He was given the title of Nwannedinambar of Nkwerre which means "brother in a foreign land", during a visit to Nigeria in April.
Getting results
There are more than two dozen genealogy organisations in the US selling genetic ancestry tests but African Ancestry is the only black-owned firm.
It is also the first to cater specifically to African Americans. Of the half a million Americans who have purchased DNA tests, around 35,000 of them are African American.