Kobe Bryant
Bryant in 2006, photo by s_bukley/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Kobe Bean Bryant
Date of Birth: August 23, 1978
Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date of Death: January 26, 2020
Place of Death: Calabasas, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: African-American, as well as one sixteenth Guyanese
Kobe Bryant was an American professional basketball player and businessperson. He entered the National Basketball Association (NBA) from high school, and played his entire 20-season professional career in the league with the Los Angeles Lakers. He won five NBA championships, and was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, 2008 NBA MVP, and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. He was 6′6″.
He was the son of Pamela (Cox) and Joe Bryant (Joseph Washington Bryant), a professional basketball player and coach. His parents are both African-American. His parents picked the name Kobe after they saw a type of beef, called Kobe beef, on a restaurant menu. Kobe is a port city in the Kansai area of Japan, famous for its tender fatty marbled beef. However, he had no Japanese heritage. His middle name, Bean, was from his father’s nickname, “Jellybean.”
Kobe (/ˈkoʊbiː/ KOH-bee), who was fluent in Spanish and Italian, lived in Italy as a young child, in Reggio Calabria, Pistoia, and Reggio Emilia, as his father played professional basketball in Italy.
Kobe was married to Vanessa Laine Bryant, until his death, with whom he had four children. Vanessa is of Mexican descent. Their daughter Gianna, also a basketball player, died with him in a helicopter crash in 2020.
His uncle, Chubby Cox (John Arthur Cox III), and cousin, John Cox (John Arthur Cox IV), are both professional basketball players. His second cousin was professional basketball player Cedric Ceballos.
Kobe’s paternal grandfather is Joseph Washington Bryant (the son of Joseph Bryant and Georgia Bentley). Kobe’s grandfather Joseph was born in Georgia.
Kobe’s paternal grandmother is named Georgia Marie.
Kobe’s maternal grandfather was John Arthur Cox II (the son of John Arthur Cox and Dorothy Roxanna Ridley). Kobe’s grandfather John was born in Pennsylvania. Kobe’s great-grandfather John was the son of Richard/Peter Grosvenor Cox, who was born in then-British Guiana, now Guyana, and of Rosa/Rose/Rosaline Catherine Colbert/Corbet, who was born in Pennsylvania. Dorothy was the daughter of Robert Ridley and Texanna Freeman.
Kobe’s maternal grandmother is Mildred Williams (the daughter of Coleman Williams and Florence Rodgers). Coleman was the son of John H. “Johnnie” Williams and Fannie Kitchens.
Sources: Genealogies of Kobe Bryant – https://www.geni.com
https://www.wikitree.com
Kobe’s maternal grandfather, John Arthur Cox II, on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of Kobe’s maternal grandfather, John Arthur Cox II – http://www.legacy.com
Kobe’s paternal great-grandfather, John Arthur Cox, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Kobe is a ball hog, thats why him and shaq didnt get along that good..
he hellllla RAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUPER BEYOND GREATNESS!!!! THE CLOSEST THING TO M.JORDAN!!! =)
greatest of all time? could be but Jordan has two more championships i think…
My father loved this guy,but he ball hogs to much for me.Guess what I put ball hog in google,and a picture of Kobe came up,LOL
I Don’t Think He Ball Hogs! I Think His Teamates Just Give Him The Ball, Since He Is The Person That Can Make Them Win A Game.. Lol!
Jordan has only one more championship. but then again Bill Russell has 5 more than Jordan. and Jordan even called Bill Russell the greatest of all time
https://hardwoodhoudini.com/2017/08/02/michael-jordan-confirms-bill-russell-is-the-real-goat/
Well it’s sad but true that many African Americans aren’t sure what part of Africa they came from because of slavary. It would be very difficult to trace back where someone originates from when they were taken from the homeland so long ago. They also do not carry their original last names (African names) so do not judge when you see someone is “African America”n, they all stand together in knowing they are African people even if they are not sure exactly from where.
That would be impossible to find out for many African Americans without a DNA test.
@ethnic
That probably wouldn’t help either. From what I’ve seen, a lot of AA’s are upset. The DNA results show sometimes as many as 15 or more different locations(the avg I’ve seen is 4 locations). Also sometimes a certain group is on different sides of the continent(like the Hausa)
“African American” is not an ethnicity. It’s just VAGUE, just like saying a white American’s ethnicity is “European American”. Africa is a continent consisted of many countries, with many ethnicities. He is black, but which black ethnicity? Kenyan, Nigerian, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Haitian, Jamaican, etc? What is he?
Haitian and Jamaican originates from west Africa and hes defnitly not from Ethiopia east Africa.Very few were taken from Mozambique, the only East African country from where Africans were taken to the West.
East Africa is very close to the Arabian peninsula,so it was easy to take very few slaves from there.
What about Malagasy, slaves were taken from there
@ ANNE
Sayin your “African American” is an ethnicity. It’s (Traditions , history, types of foods, etc) .It’s no different than saying you’re (Puerto Rican, Mexican etc). You have all types of people in those countries, all mixed in together(saying their one ). AA’s come from many different place in Africa, and we are all over here mixed in together
African American is an ethnicity. Specifically black and mixed race americans with a history in America. They had slaves ancestry in the US and went through the Jim Crow Era and other American events