Teresa Vega has dedicated over two decades to researching her family history and genealogy. In 2010, she delved deeply into this pursuit, combining traditional genealogy with genetic genealogy research. Through her efforts, Teresa successfully traced several maternal mixed-race lines back to Colonial New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Notably, she uncovered direct ancestral ties to one of the original 11 Angolans arriving in New Amsterdam in 1627, the first Afro-Dutch who arrived in the early 1630s, the first enslaved Malagasy who arrived in the mid-1600s, and the Munsee (Ramapough) Lenape, whose land was colonized by the Dutch, British, German, Scottish, Irish, and Spanish—some of whom are among her ancestors.
Her academic background includes Bachelor’s Degrees in Anthropology and Asian Studies from Bowdoin College. She has also served as an adjunct professor for a time in Cultural Anthropology while pursuing her doctoral program at CUNY Graduate School and University Center. This cultural anthropology expertise has significantly enriched her exploration of ancestral roots.
To share her genealogy research with others, Teresa launched her blog, www.radiantrootsboricuabranches.com. Beyond her blog, she actively contributes to historical societies in the tri-state region, serving on the Board of Trustees at the Rye Historical Society and collaborating with historical societies, including the New York Historical Society, Greenwich Historical Society, Port Chester Historical Society, NJ Historical Society, and Bergen County Historical Society.
She is also a public educator and serves as an advisor to Newark Public History Project, Our Land, Our Stories Collaborative Project, and the Witness Stones Project. Teresa’s dedication to preserving African American/Afro-Indigenous heritage extends to her membership in both the New Jersey and New York Chapters of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAGHS). She is a former YouTube BlackProGen LIVE panelist, lending her expertise to broader discussions on genealogy. Moreover, since 2014, Teresa co-administers FamilyTree DNA’s Malagasy Roots Project in partnership with CeCe Moore from PBS’s Finding Your Roots, further solidifying her position in the field of genetic genealogy.
