Aisha Tyler

photo by Prphotos

Birth Name: Aisha N. Tyler

Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, United States

Date of Birth: September 18, 1970

Ethnicity: African-American, distant Malagasy, English, Scottish, and Irish

Aisha Tyler is an American actress, comedian, director, and talk show host. She is known for her roles on the series Friends, Criminal Minds, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and in the films Death Sentence and Friendsgiving, among many other works.

Aisha is the daughter of Robin, a teacher, and James Tyler, a photographer. The family briefly lived in Ethiopia, and on an ashram in Oakland, California.

Aisha’s maternal grandfather was Eugene Chandler Gregory (the son of Thomas Montgomery Gregory and Hugh Ella “Huella” Hancock). Eugene was born in Washington, D.C. Thomas graduated from Harvard in 1910, as one of the few black students. He was a dramatist, educator, activist, and social philosopher, who founded The Howard Players, an African-American theatre troupe. Thomas was the son of James Monroe Gregory, a Professor of Latin and Dean at Howard University, and advocate of black education, whose grandparents were free blacks; and of Fannie Emma Hagan. Aisha’s great-grandmother Hugh was the daughter of Hugh Berry Hancock and Susie E. James.

Aisha’s great-great-grandmother Fannie Hagan’s mother, Margaret A. Mahammitt, was said to be the daughter of Jeremiah/Ali Mahomet, from Madagascar.

Aisha’s maternal grandmother was Elaine J. Graham (the daughter of Henry Douglas Graham and Janet Carrol McPhearson). Elaine was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

Aisha’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? (2016) uncovered that her great-great-grandfather Hugh Hancock, who was mixed race, was the son of John Hancock, a Democratic Party politician and judge, who was a member of the Texas House of Representatives (1860-1861), and a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas, from March 4, 1871 to March 3, 1877, and again, from March 4, 1883 to March 3, 1885. John was white, and had English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. Hugh was incorrectly suggested in the press as being the son of U.S. General and 1880 Democratic presidential nominee Winfield Scott Hancock, during the election.

Sources: Genealogies of Aisha Tyler (focusing on her mother’s side) – http://www.geni.com
http://www.wikitree.com

Genealogy of Aisha’s maternal great-grandparents, Thomas Montgomery Gregory and Hugh Ella “Huella” (Hancock) Gregory – http://www.findagrave.com

Information about Aisha’s maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Montgomery Gregory – http://www.aaregistry.org

Information about Aisha’s Gregory family – http://www.pbs.org

Information about Aisha’s Malagasy ancestry – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com