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Quote Originally Posted by creagdhubh View Post
.......... but Mr. Jackson isn't Scottish, of Scottish descent, of Highland heritage,....

I wouldn't be betting any folding money on that assertion. The matriarch of the Jackson brood was born in Barbour County, Alabama; home of former Governor George Wallace's family. Historically, many black Americans were natural relatives of the white families whose names they shared. There are thousands of black Americans bearing Scottish names. Surely you remember Louis Armstrong?

DISCLAIMER: ONLY FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES...NO CONTROVERSY INTENDED.

Most often, however, African-Americans who lived as slaves were given the surname of their master (regardless of the master's cultural or ethnic background--not all slave owners were white, not all slaves were black). It was a way of marking those whom they deemed to be property. Often slave masters did procreate with their slaves (though NOT the majority of the time). U.S. President Thomas Jefferson had illegitimate children with one of his female African-American slaves. They inherited their red hair from their father and a medium complexion from their mother's and father's complexion.


There was a movement in the US among some Black Americans to abandon names of European origin in favour of adopting names of African origin and in some cases Muslim names among Muslim converts who were at the far end of the spectrum. The reasoning there was to abandon Western influence as much as possible.