Reed Kennedy, 38 Fort Greene, Brooklyn

What he says: Kennedy’s family has lived in northwest Alabama for generations. His mother, the family genealogist, has traced the bloodline back to currentday Ghana.

The descendant of slaves, Kennedy has some European heritage because one of his ancestors, whose surname was Summerhill, was a slave owner who had children with a former slave after the Civil War.

What his genes say: Kennedy is 77 percent African, 19 percent European and 4 percent Asian. Both his maternal and paternal DNA originated from West Africa, matching his mother’s research that the family came from the Gold Coast.

Part of his DNA matches someone from Sweden and the UK. He most likely inherited this ancestry from someone with Swedish ancestry who migrated to America.

“It’s a small world,” Kennedy said. “We’re all related in some way, shape or form if you pull [the DNA] out far enough.”

He knew he’d have some Caucasian blood, but didn’t know much else. The genetic link to the UK could reflect on his white ancestor, Summerhill, whose property in Alabama is still in Kennedy’s family.

He said the DNA test “clarified certain things.”

“A lot of my understanding came from the oral history of my family, which in many ways could be hearsay,” Kennedy said. “It was nice to get scientific confirmation of that oral history.”

The Asian portion of his genes, however, is a mystery.

Eskin said it could actually be a trace of Native American DNA, since Native Americans also intermarried with African Americans during the colonial era.

Or it could be a fluke in the analysis.

“Africa itself has a bigger genetic diversity than anywhere else in the world,” Eskin said. “It’s possible that he has some African segments that are distant from anything in our database, but might match Asian DNA a little bit more.”