I notice this has NEVER been addressed in this series...interesting...
shareI'm sure it'll happen. People used to go out of their way hide this so it's going to be harder to find. Too bad they don't do DNA on this show.
shareClearly theres alot of white celebrities who dont want that sort of thing brought up lest they be blackballed or lose their status and fame...and thats just the ones that are obviously of mixed heritage(gives Vin Diesel the side-eye).
'When there's no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.'
Clearly theres alot of white celebrities who dont want that sort of thing brought up lest they be blackballed or lose their status and fame...and thats just the ones that are obviously of mixed heritage(gives Vin Diesel the side-eye).
You're on the internet. Do your own damn research.
'When there's no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.'
Its customary for the person who makes a claim to show the proof. You made the claim, show us some examples.
shareYou are the one making unfounded claims that celebrities are lying about their DNA, so prove it. This isn't the 50's where they'd get black listed, for being mixed race.
Vin Diesel has been very open about being mixed race. He never met his bio dad, and his mother has only said his father was of mix race. Vin Diesel was raised by an African American stepfather, so I doubt he'd be embarrassed to admit his father was African American if he knew.
You're on the internet. Do your own damn research.
So their supposed to drag some poor devil out of the audience and confront him or her with evidence of black ancestry?. I don't think that would go over that well.
Seriously Vin Diesel did a short film entitled "Multi-Facial" about a biracial actor having problems getting good parts. It was not the sort of film someone hiding their background would make.
A few years ago NPR did a program about singer, dancer, female band leader Ina Ray Hutton and her half sister singer June Hutton. According to Chicago census records both were listed as "Negro" and "mulatto". Apparently their mother had them change their names, dye their hair and pass for white which they did for the rest of their lives.
When June's daughter, now in her fifties, was asked about it her only regret was that she didn't always know about her background. She felt it would have been cool to be part of the black experience.
TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.
Andrew, I'm shocked you're admitting this since you seem to enjoy claiming I'm wrong all the time. The melungeons recently were found through DNA that they are mostly of black and white extractions--specifically the offspring of female white indentured servants with black men!Most have very little Native Ameican strands. This includes the so-called Lumbee Indians who are not a recognized Native American tribe anywhere accept North Carolina...so much for that Ava Gardner, Elvis, Tom Hanks, Heather Locklear Humphrey Bogart, George Clooney, Fiona Apple, Steve Martin,Lauren Bacall and countless others!! Yes--I STILL think Brit Eckland is black!
shareI think there are many white americans with black ancestry. They either don't know or won't admit it.
shareI've also heard the closer you live to the South Eastern United States the more common this is.
Years ago I saw a family on The Oprah Winfrey show. A daughter had written about her mixed heritage family and that some had passed for white. She wrote a book called The Sweeter The Juice. I think it's out of print. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and need to read it again. The author found family that had no idea they had black relatives. The author's mother's sister (and other family) had left, passing for white in the early 1900's. It's a fascinating read focusing on the mother's life and family.
The trouble with this type of thinking is that "blacks" have bought into the racism that was created by "whites". One drop of "black" blood and you are all "black". This is in conflict with the generations of real experience where people have been brought up otherwise. You speak of "outing". Is it "outing" when a "black" person finds a "white" ancestor? Does that then make a person who thinks of themselves as "black" suddenly turn into a "white" person?
DNA, genealogy, and family history are most interesting but they do not trump self identity and life experience. Unfortunately, so many people are hung up on blood quantums, as was so clearly demonstrated several years ago in the PBS program 'Jefferson's Blood'.
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"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!"
Maximus Decimus Meridius
You're on the internet. Do your own damn research.
I agree it's less likely nowadays. It was more common decades ago. Carol Channing was one of Hollywood celebrities who avoided acknowledging their families' non-white backgrounds. At least until she revealed it in her memoir (Just Lucky I Guess) in 2002.
Merle Oberon is another, but she went to her grave without acknowledge anything but her 'official' biography. I must admit that I adored David Niven until he partly admitted - in one of his autobiographies - that he ended his relationship with Oberson after finding out she was half-Indian (or in his word, 'oriental'), but insisted the main reason was his unfaithfulness.
@itsEddie,
Unfortunately you are correct in that even in the 21st century there is an astigmatism associated with being called "African American". There are lots of proof of studies that are done whereby children think African American dolls are ugly, African American women are the ugliest, African Americans are lazy, ignorant, uneducated, etc. Look at how many commenters attack Barrack and Michelle Obama's looks, and call African Americans monkeys.
How many times have African Americans in HOLLYWOOD stated that there is a "black out" and they are no longer able to find meaningful roles because of the color of their skin.
We don't know that if "white" celebrities started to admit being part African American there wouldn't be repercussions. It really is nobody's business and unfortunately in this case considering the maltreatment of many African American celebrities I'd say it is understandable.
Some biracial celebs:
Wentworth Miller
Jennifer Biels
Rashida Jones
Soledad O'Brien
Maya Rudolph
Hasn't seemed to hurt them much. :\
--
"You can tell a lot about a person from reading his biography."
What century are you living in?
shareI consider myself white and did a DNA test and discovered I am 1.1% west African. I was surprised and excited to find that out. But I was also a disappointed because likely there is no way for me to discover about those ancestors because there is very little records before the civil war about blacks. IMO that is why they don't mention it on the show. Because even if they discover they are part black there are no records to tell a story about that ancestor. On the show unless you are related to someone famous they focus on someone who lived in the mid to late 1800s or even later. But I am proud of all my ancestry and I saw a documentary that in civil war times if you were 1/64th black you were legally black. So I guess I am legally black.
shareI must correct your math and your race. LOL For simplicity lets drop the .1% and say that you are 1% west African. That would make you 1/100th which is far less than the required 1/64th. Sorry, you're still white. LOL
shareThat's within the margin of error, you could very well likely not have any West African ancestry at all.
sharePerhaps that will happen when it's no longer a stigma and not referred to as "outing". Another century from now, ya think?
_______________________________________
"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!"
Maximus Decimus Meridius
[deleted]
I know they haven't done it on this show, but on the version on PBS I remember they'd often connect black actors & celebrities to other famous white relatives, although they'd often make that connection because of the fact that most African Americans in the US have at least one white ancestor somewhere in the family tree.
shareWatch Dr. Gates' "Finding Your Roots" on PBS. Super-Interesting! He profiles people of ALL races - Latino, Asian, African-American, European descent, etc. Most blacks have a percentage of European blood - from as little as 10% to over 60% due to plantation owners impregnating their slaves. The other way around? Not as common. I remember one episode when Billie Jean King's DNA was revealed she was upset that it was so BORING. She was hoping for some exotic hidden secret. That's how I would feel!
Dr. Gates is over 50% white (can't remember exactly) and finally got a DNA match with some people in Virginia (W. VA?) and there is a community of mixed race people that settled there during the Civil War and is still thriving. And they have family reunions to this day. All related - and different shades, from lily white to dark skinned. Dr. Gates seemed genuinely happy to be there and connect with is "white side".
This was clearly a white guilt thread. It's old and not troll hungry.
shareNow we have the Affleck email scandal relating to his not wanting PBS to show his ancestors owned slaves. At least Bill Paxton took it in stride. Ugh.
shareThere are books on well to do African American families that owned slaves and not always to shelter them. I remember one book that had a letter from Ralph Ellison, the author of "The Invisible Man." He grew up in a town of free blacks in Oklahoma Territory. He discovered as an adult that his black ancestors in South Carolina owned other blacks as slaves and said he was greatly surprised by it.
"Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South" by Michael P. Johnson and James L, Roark.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else