When Courtney discovered her motherland, she found where her strength was born.

Can your connection to a place in your history change how you see your future?

As an African American woman, Courtney knew where her story could lead.

But taking an AncestryDNA test helped her go back further than she ever imagined—to the exact regions in Africa her ancestors came from.

Courtney’s AncestryDNA Results

Courtney was surprised by the amount of Irish in her DNA results and intrigued by the specificity and detail in her African ethnicity.

Connecting to a country in Africa gave her a setting to her own story.

She found significant roots in Ghana—and a link to the Akan and the Asante, a matrilineal society of female warriors, led in the late 19th century by Queen Yaa Asantewaa. This remarkable woman fought colonization in her country and is still revered in Ghana today for her contributions.

Discovering this connection validated what she already knew to be true: she comes from a long line of strong women.

Her maternal side—from her mother to her grandmother and back to the wise women leaders in her Ghanaian ancestry—tells a story of resilience and tenacity.

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Courtney’s mother was in the army and her grandmother raised 4 kids on a military base.

Start a tree
and find the strong women in your family line.

The power of this knowledge led Courtney to change the course of her life.

Already working on a novel, she used her AncestryDNA results and her research into the Asante people to reframe her narrative. She’s rewritten her story, exploring the relationship between her and her mother, drawing from the strength her bloodline has given to her.

“It fundamentally changes the way I think about myself…”

- COURTNEY MCKINNEY

Ancestry member since 2010

“It fundamentally changes the way I think about myself…”

- COURTNEY MCKINNEY
Ancestry member since 2010

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