Having Native American ancestors or Indigenous American DNA does not make someone a Native American tribal citizen

There are differences between a person’s genetic, political, and cultural identities. Native American tribal members are citizens of their nations. This is a political and cultural identification rather than a genetic identification, similar to being a citizen of any other country. In the United States, there are more than 570 federally recognized tribal nations and over 60 state-recognized tribes. There are also some regionally-recognized tribal communities.

Individual tribal nations determine the criteria for tribal citizenship.

To determine tribal citizenship, tribal nations determine the legitimacy and strength of someone’s family connections. For many tribal nations, this means tracing a person’s lineage back to someone on tribal citizenship rolls from the late 19th to early 20th centuries (like the Dawes Rolls). Sometimes a “percent of blood,” called blood quantum, is also used.

Blood quantum is not how tribal nations have historically determined who is a tribal member. Rather, blood quantum was created and later used by the United States government to dispossess Native American people of their lands and civil liberties. It was not until the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 that the United States began requiring tribal nations to use blood quantum to determine tribal citizenship.

It’s also important to recognize that some people have strong cultural or family connections to a tribe without being a tribal citizen. There are many reasons for this, including issues of parental consent and paper genocide. People in this position may be considered Native American because they have strong cultural and family connections.

Native American ancestors

Claiming to be Native American because of a distant or unverifiable Native American ancestor contradicts a tribal nation’s right to sovereignty. In fact, so many people falsely claim to have a Cherokee great-grandmother that it’s been deemed an anthropological phenomenon.

This doesn’t mean that the presence of Native American ancestors is not an important feature of someone’s family history. However, there’s a crucial difference between the claims “I have Native American lineage” and “I am Native American.”

Indigenous American DNA

Although the criteria may differ between nations, no tribal nation considers Indigenous American DNA to be a legitimate claim to citizenship. In part, this stems from traditional beliefs that kinship networks (family connections)—not ancestral regions or DNA—determine who is Native American.

While Indigenous American DNA cannot be used to determine tribal citizenship, it can be vital in assisting Native American people who were separated from their tribal communities through forced adoption or the residential school system. The Association for American Indian Affairs reports that as many as one-third of all Native American children were separated from their tribal communities between 1941 and 1967. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 attempted to end the forced adoption of Native American children, but they were still separated from their tribal communities even after it was signed into law. Today, Native American children still make up a disproportionate part of the U.S. adoption and foster care system. DNA could help Native Americans affected by adoption or foster care re-establish their family connections. For reasons that include tribal sovereignty, Ancestry does not break down DNA results by tribe, but we do provide an approximate geographical region (Indigenous Americas).

Results are not broken down by tribe

While our reference panel includes a large number of Native Americans, many people carry DNA from multiple Native American tribes as well as non-Indigenous DNA. This can make it difficult to accurately distinguish between different Native American tribes. Also, many Native Americans have some European ancestors. Ancestry selects only the parts of a person’s genome that we identify as being Native American, so we essentially "stitch together" small sections of Indigenous DNA to reconstruct bigger genomes.

Additionally, some Native American communities have limited participation in genetics research. This is due, in large part, to centuries of extractive and exploitative research practices that have rightfully led to distrust among tribal communities. To provide a tribal level of identification, Ancestry would need much more genetic information from these communities. But for reasons relating to tribal sovereignty, it also might not be ideal to break ancestral regions down by tribe.

Why the Indigenous Americas may not appear in your ancestral regions

It’s possible to have Native American ancestors, but not have the Indigenous Americas region in your ancestral regions. This is because there’s a difference between lineage and DNA.

A child receives 50% of each parent’s DNA, but they typically do not receive 50% of each parent’s ancestral regions. This is due to the randomness of genetic inheritance. For example, a parent with half Nigerian and half Indigenous American DNA may pass down more Nigerian DNA to their child (or vice versa). Over generations, the randomness of genetic inheritance results in more DNA being passed down from some regions and others being lost entirely.

To further illustrate, let’s say you have a Native American great-grandmother who has 25% Indigenous American DNA. Although about 12.5% of your DNA comes from your great-grandmother, you might not have inherited her Indigenous DNA. Alternatively, you may have inherited such a small amount that it doesn’t appear in a DNA test.

The AncestryDNA test surveys over 700,000 locations in your DNA, but there is still a chance that we missed evidence of Indigenous American DNA. This is because you may have inherited genetic markers that AncestryDNA does not use to identify Indigenous American ancestral regions. Additionally, some Native American communities are underrepresented in genetics research, largely due to distrust in tribal communities because of centuries of extractive and exploitative research practices.

The presence of Indigenous DNA does not make someone more or less Native American. Tribal citizenship is determined by tribal nations, not by DNA.

Different DNA tests may produce different results

One testing service may show that you have Indigenous American DNA, while another testing service doesn’t.

The AncestryDNA test surveys over 700,000 locations in your DNA, but there is still a chance that we missed evidence of Indigenous American DNA. This is because you may have inherited genetic markers that AncestryDNA does not use to identify Indigenous American ancestral regions. Additionally, some Native American communities are underrepresented in genetics research. This is largely due to tribal communities being rightfully distrustful because of centuries of extractive and exploitative research practices.

The markers AncestryDNA has picked are balanced to help distinguish global populations with as much precision as possible. However, other testing services may use markers that provide a different representation of ancestral regions.

How do I make sure that my DNA isn’t used for research?

You own your genetic information. Ancestry cannot use it for research without your consent. And even if you’ve given Ancestry consent in the past, you can withdraw it at any time.

If you do not consent to having your genetic data used for research, it won't be used for research by our internal science team, and certainly not any external research partners. Non-consented samples may be used by Ancestry science team to improve Ancestry products, but those data are not published.

Ancestry's policy is to not cooperate voluntarily with law enforcement, and requires they follow legal process to access DNA (and other) data. For additional information, please see Ancestry’s Transparency report, Privacy Statement, and Guidelines for Law Enforcement.

Ancestry Transparency Report
Privacy Statement
Ancestry Guide for Law Enforcement

How do I volunteer my genetic data for research purposes?

Ancestry cannot use your DNA for research purposes without your consent.

If you allow Ancestry to use your genetic information, we have a verification process to determine whose DNA we add to the reference panel.* First, Ancestry will ask for your family tree, because we are most interested in people who have a long family history within a particular area or group. A family tree also helps us verify your ancestral regions. If we’re interested in adding your DNA to the reference panel, we then test to ensure that your DNA sample meets our rigorous quality control measures.

Please note that we sometimes remove someone’s genetic information from the reference panel because they are closely related to individuals who we already have. It can interfere with scientific analysis.

For Native American populations, many Native Americans have some European ancestors. Ancestry only selects parts of an individual’s genome that we identify as being Native American, so we essentially "stitch together" small sections of Indigenous DNA to reconstruct bigger genomes.

*Even if you consent to having your data used for research (i.e., part of the Human Diversity Project), it will not necessarily become part of the reference panel. Whether a consented sample is included in the reference panel relies on several quality control factors including sample quality, relatedness to others in the panel, and the impact of the sample on reference panel precision.