Oprah Winfrey rather stunned a South African audience by claiming that she was Zulu:
Oprah Winfrey, the American chat show host, startled a South African
audience and baffled historians by claiming to be of Zulu ancestry.
As one commentator put it:
Local historians, however, were disinclined to believe
her claim, as there are few records of the Zulus having any connection
to the African slave trade. "If there were Zulu people taken as slaves
they would have been taken eastwards by Arab traders or Portuguese to
their South American colonies," said one.
"Those who ended up in North America, say in Mississippi where Miss Winfrey comes from, were mostly of West African origin."
I guess it is theoretically possible but my sketchy knowledge of the history of the area and period would make me doubt it. The sort of timescale we might be talking about, say 1600 to 1800, the Zulus were highly expansionary themselves, being more likely to be conquerors than conquered. I havea feeling this more about gaining viewers in Soth Africa than anything else.
Of course, those with greater knowledge please do correct me.
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