Beyoncé
Beyoncé in 2010, photo by kathclick/bigstock.com
Birth Name: Beyoncé Giselle Knowles
Place of Birth: Houston, Harris, Texas, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 4, 1981
Ethnicity:
*father – African-American
*mother – Louisiana Creole, including African, French, Acadian/French-Canadian, as well as distant Irish, Breton, and Belgian Walloon, remote Penobscot First Nations
Beyoncé, also known as Harmonies by The Hive, Queen Bey or Queen B, Third Ward Trill, Sasha Fierce, and Beyoncé Knowles, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, director, and businessperson. She was a member of R&B girl group Destiny’s Child, along with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and also, originally, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson. As a solo artist, she has won the most Grammy Awards of any person, at 32, and has sold over 200 million records worldwide. Often exploring themes of feminism and womanism, her songs include “Crazy in Love,” “Baby Boy,” “Me, Myself and I,” “Check on It,” “Déjà Vu,” “Irreplaceable,” “Beautiful Liar,” “If I Were a Boy,” “Single Ladies,” “Halo,” “Run the World (Girls),” “Drunk in Love,” “Formation,” “Perfect Duet,” “Break My Soul,” “Cuff It,” “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and “II Most Wanted.” Beyoncé has starred in the films Carmen: A Hip Hopera, Austin Powers in Goldmember, The Fighting Temptations, The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls, Cadillac Records, Obsessed (2009), Epic (2013), and Disney’s The Lion King (2019), the latter two in voice role. She co-directed her music films Life Is But a Dream, Lemonade, and Black Is King, which she also co-wrote; and directed and wrote her music films Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.
Beyoncé is the daughter of Tina Knowles (born Célestine Ann Beyoncé), a fashion designer, and Mathew C. Knowles, a businessperson and talent manager. Her sister is singer and actress Solange Knowles. They are the first sisters to have each had No. 1 albums. She is married to rapper and music producer Jay-Z, with whom she has three children, including singer and dancer Blue Ivy Carter. Beyoncé and Jay-Z are in a musical superduo together, The Carters. Beyoncé is a step-sister of actress Bianca Lawson. Her mother is married to Bianca’s father, actor Richard Lawson. Beyoncé founded management company Parkwood Entertainment.
Beyoncé’s father is African-American. Beyoncé’s maternal grandparents were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles, with roots in New Iberia; their ancestry was mostly African and French, including French ancestors who lived in Canada. Through her mother’s line, Beyoncé is a great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Acadian leader Joseph Broussard, who led French-speaking Catholics from Nova Scotia, Canada to Louisiana in 1765. He was among the first 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana that year. She is also a descendant of French military officer Jean-Vincent d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin (born c. 1652 in Escout, France), and of his wife, Marie Mathilde Pidianske/Penobscot (born c. 1658), who was the daughter of Madockawando Abenaki, a chief of the Penobscot (Panawahpskek) people. Through Marie Mathilde, Beyoncé is of 1/1024 Indigenous descent. Beyoncé is also of approximately 1/32 Irish ancestry, and has distant Breton and Belgian Flemish roots on her mother’s side, the latter including her ancestor Albert de Cuir, from Hainaut Province, Wallonia. Her name, Beyoncé, is a tribute to her mother’s family name, Beyincé. Through her Broussard line, she is a third cousin of gospel singer and graphic artist Karen Showell.
Beyoncé has said that she has Nigerian ancestry. She may have discovered this through a DNA test.
Beyoncé’s parents Mathew and Tina, 2007, photo by bigstock.com
Beyoncé’s mother has also been described as having Cherokee and/or Choctaw Native American ancestry. It is not clear if this ancestry has been verified/documented. No Cherokee or Choctaw Native American ancestors appear on publicly available family trees of Beyoncé’s mother. One book biography, Crazy in Love: The Beyoncé Knowles Biography, also refers to Beyoncé’s mother having Spanish, Jewish, Chinese, and Indonesian ancestry. It is also not clear if this is accurate.
Beyoncé does not speak French or Spanish, but she has sung in Spanish before.
A picture of Beyoncé’s maternal grandparents can be seen here.
Beyoncé’s paternal grandfather was Matthew/Mathew Q. Knowles (the son of Taylor Knowles and Girlie/Gurlie/Gerlie Mae Miller). Matthew was born in Alabama. Taylor was the son of James Isaac Knowles and Sarah Elizabeth Dixon. Girlie was the daughter of Prophet Miller and Jane Hall.
Beyoncé’s paternal grandmother is Lou Helen Hogue (the daughter of Davis/Dave Hogue and Hester Moore). Lou was born in Alabama. Davis was the son of Jim Hogue and Rosetta Moore. Hester was the daughter of Pinkney Madison Moore and Arenia Goree.
Beyoncé’s maternal grandfather was Lumis/Lumas Albert Beyincé/Buyincé (the son of Alexandre/Alexon Beyincé/Buyincé and Mary Olevia). Lumis was born in Delcambre, Vermilion, Louisiana.
Beyoncé’s maternal grandmother was Agnès/Agnèz DeRouen/Deréon (the daughter of Eugène-Gustave DeRouen/Deréon/Derezen and Odelia/Odilia Broussard). Agnès was born in Louisiana, and was a prominent seamstress. Eugène-Gustave likely was the son of Eloi Jacques DeRouen. Odelia was the daughter of Éloi/Éloy-René Rosemond Broussard, who was white, of French descent, and of Celestine Joséphine Lessee/Lesse/Lesser/Lacy/Lacey/Lessassier, who was black/mixed-race black, and the daughter of a slave mother. Éloi and Joséphine had many children together, and possibly married. A picture of Beyoncé’s great-grandfather Eugène-Gustave can be seen here.
LOS ANGELES – FEB 10: Beyoncé arrives to the Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013 in Hollywood, CA photo by DFree/Bigstock.com
Sources: Genealogies of Beyoncé – http://www.geni.com
https://famouskin.com
Family histories of Beyoncé – https://www.hollywoodancestry.com
https://www.dailymail.co.uk
https://jack.canalplus.com
Family history of Beyoncé, by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak – http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Beyoncé’s paternal grandfather, Matthew/Mathew Q. Knowles, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Beyoncé’s paternal grandmother, Lou Helen Hogue, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Beyoncé’s maternal grandmother, Agnès/Agnèz DeRouen/Deréon, on 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Article about Beyoncé’s maternal great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Broussard – http://www.biographi.ca
molato is mixed isn’t it?
it’s called Mulatto and yes that means that you’re a White and Black person (biracial is another therm for those humans) ;) But she’s not since her mom isn’t White and dad Black… she has White ancestry and N.A. too, but she’s mostly Black (A.A. Dad and I don’t know what her mom is in percentage but she is multiracial)
My father is African American & my mother is French and Native American. Does that make me Creole? Forgive me for not knowing that question.
Someone please answer my question. See my mother and grandparents does speak a type of language that I don`t understand I myself don`t even speak any type of language but English. I`m scared to ask my parents or my grandparents that question because i`m scared that they will think bad about me. You get it? That teenage feeling.
not necessarily. you see creole is a culture. there’s a history of creole people. they’re usually from the south. is like someone being biracial and a jew. that doesn’t necessary make you a jew too because you’re biracial. at least this is how i see it.
She asked this question twice within 3 days. Excuse my grammatical errors Pink from my last post. Instead of thumbing down (since that’s all most people do in this site, which makes the feature pointless), try adding your two cents so we can all learn something new. how about that anonymous losers?
Maybe? How about this-is someone considered mexican if he has a spanish-welsh father and a native american mother from Oregon but he happened to be born in mexico premature during a vacation trip???
ALL of the group Destiny’s Child had nose jobs together! Some like Kelly R. admitted it while others where tight lipped. I am not trying to get at anything but the truth. If you want to see real pictures of Beyonce, look at her earlier Destiny’s Child Pics. She was pretty but she was a little different as in a little darker (hair and skin) and a little more flat chested even before Blue-Ivy. She has been tweeking herself in little ways and has admitted using Powder to lighten her skin when going to Asia because they admire lighter people and she wanted to honor her Asian fans. You can still like Beyonce inspite of what she does to her body but don’t jump on post like her Superhero just because the truth hurts you. She’s obviously ok with the changes she made.
All AA are mixed. There are no PURE-Blood African descendants of slavery in America. Just because they don’t go around bragging about it doesn’t meant it doesn’t exist. Also, the average AA doesn’t using fade cream to lighten their skin and blonde wigs/weaves. The average AA doesn’t have noses, or breast jobs or liposuction.
lmao beyonce did not lighten her skin had a breast job or lipo. I know what you’re trying to get at and you’re contradicting yourself. True AA are mixed, however the percentages are different. Just by looking at solange and beyonce, they both took features from different ancestors.
I semi agree with you. It’s definitely apparent that some AA are mixed but at varying degrees some are clearly more mixed than others OR their multi ethnic heritage is more apparent. I have a hard time looking at a fair skinned person and assuming they must be more mixed than a browner AA because ive seen that contradicted in my own family. How can you have 3 siblings with the SAME parents and 2 come out blue eyed and pale yellow and the other brown with long hair. Clearly they are all mixed with the same things and the same percentage because they have the same parents it’s just that their genes picked different attributes to highlight. Based on examples like this in my family I know a regular looking AA can be just as mixed as more “exotic/mixed” one
The average African American doesn’t post using a Spanish name.
I’m African american and i have blue eyes, long curly/wavy hair, and i am fair skin .my grandfather is creole , creole’s aren’t mixed they are african american with ancestry of french people , i know what you’re going to say ”french people are white” well i don’t know about that because there are these twins that are black and they are french , so creole people are african americans that speak another language which is french . also just because you are lighter skin , long hair or colored eyes doesn’t mean that you have to be mixed. you can be black and white or white and have short hair , and dark skin people are very ignorant so if you don’t believe what i say thats ok because i don’t need anybody to believe what i believe also there is no such thing as a race only human race . duces