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
No complete examination of her genealogy after the DNA test Beyonce has done, esp. on any Latino American, Chinese-Indonesian and Native American ancestries. Publicly viewed, not set on private, would be useful to authenticate what her full ethnocultural heritage is. The problem with sites like Ancestry and the like is that anyone can edit without a source to back up the claim. Beyonce is multiracial and we know she is white-black or European-African American. Celebrities who make up false claims or didn’t properly research them isn’t helpful to ethnic groups like Native American tribes and peoples they are claimed would be glad to welcome their cousin into their tribes or at least, acknowledge the celebrity is of their tribal descent.
Beyonce to me is mostly black and has similar genetic ancestry to most black Americans. I don’t know why some people are calling her biracial or mulatto when biracials are people who have two parents of different races. Basically 50/50. Both of her parents are black, unless her mom is biracial herself. I may be wrong though.
Mixed* I meant, since Tina doesn’t have a white parent.
@loverspt Sorry but I don’t view Mulatto people as black nor will I ever. They wouldn’t exist without their white ancestors. They are simply mixed race people. I don’t know why it’s difficult for some people to grasp this. I’m still shocked that people here think Monica Raymund looks like a black woman. Crazy.
Mulatto people endure anti-black racism just as other black people do. They weren’t freed from slavery during European colonization process being the offspring of the rape of black women. Although they’ve been conceived particular privilege in a few given situations in comparison to non-mixed black folks (colorism), there was never any motivation from the ruling class to integrate them socially.
In Brazil, for instance, they were considered the first step to achieve the whitewashing of the non-white population for they could have children only with white people so they no longer exist alongside other African-descending individuals. Whereas I don’t even have to explain much about the US, where the one-drop rule logic is more predominant; even mixed black people were slaves at some point, regardless of how “whiter” they may look.
They’ve been objectified and not seen as human beings that deserve respect as white people. “Mixed” isn’t a race, it’s one characteristic of one’s ethnic background. Mulattoes and Native + white aren’t treated the same. Mulattoes will never be white and it’s not its own independent anf separate thing considering they suffer from the same violent processes most black people are submitted to
Of course they’re not white. They are mixed. I don’t see them as black neither. Just because they face racism doesn’t mean I’m going to see them as black. A lot of mulattos do not claim monoracial black anyway. People get upset when Dominicans don’t identify as black when they are actually mixed.
Then stay in denial and live your own private make-believe reality, I guess. Through the lens of structural racism, society has always treated them as black. Many Mulatto people themselves self-identify as so and highlight the internalized racism of who’s obviously Afro/African-something and actively denies their blackness
Only in America. Many other countries acknowledge us as what we are.
And “mixed” is still not a race on its own… Otherwise, this website would be pretty much pointless and we’d just say 40% of celebrities are mixed and period and call it a day
Most people aren’t biracial. When people refer to mixed people, they’re referring to people with parents of two different races. They’re not talking about people with distant black ancestry, white ancestry, etc.
We’re just biracial. I don’t know why we’re obligated to chose one side just because of some racist one drop rule used in the past or because of our history of oppression. Biracials are still mixed regardless if we were treated similarly to black people.
Whatever 20% of the website then
I am not just biracial. Stop trying to force biracial people into being just a new variety of monoracial. You’re projecting yourself onto people you aren’t qualified to speak for.
Yeah, not just biracial. You’re biracial AND Black and/or Native or whatever
She has some Irish ancestry through her mother.
https://www.irishpost.com/news/beyonce-irish-159300
Eugène-Gustave DeRouen’s mother had Spanish ancestry, according to this: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LJPZ-11C
Yes, she was of Spanish ancestry, before giving birth at nine years old. These familysearch trees are truly atrocious. Out with them.
and does it matter? white people see her as black. she is black. no one think of her as biracial or white. her mom is light skin and her daddy dark skin. periodt.
These ——– —— get really disturbed with themselves when they see a Black woman they find attractive and jump through all kinds of mental hoops to convince themselves it’s OK because she’s, “Not THAT Black.” When it comes to African Americans, they know if they look they’ll likely find something so they feel entitled to push mixed identities on them.
Y’all are weird, especially Charice, who feels the need to post this sh%t on EVERY profile she finds of a black person.
This is a website which discuses and researchs the full ethnic backgrounds of celebrities. If that doesn’t interest you, then just move along. No one is keeping you hear, or interested in why you don’t care about the literal subject matter of this site.
@stuckinfoopid
What you just said would make any sense if it was one of those people who are entirely (or predominantly) black, with some spice of Euro ancestry, but in Beyoncé’s case, she has a substantial amount of Euro ancestry, her dad strikes as black because he is, her mom doesn’t, both her and her daughter could easily pass as Colombian mestizas for instance (Afro&White) with perhaps slightly more black ancestry than anything else.
It might sometimes happen, but I can assure you, more often than not it’s actually black Americans who have an issue accepting someone they identify as black has rather recent European ancestry.
And ultimately there’s no need to “whitewash” anyone, look at Lupita Nyong’o, she’s a black woman and she’s stunning.
NOTREALLY is an outsider to this person’s culture acting as though they are entitled to pass themselves as an authority on and being possessive of the identity of people who have literally nothing to do with them. Apparently Columbians are supposed to look to find their ethnic identity in Americans thousands of miles away who share none of their culture or history. It’s mental illness.
So what?
@charicew
I am not American and I don’t see her as black. I call her mulatta because this is how has alwais been used all over the centuries to call mixed-race people, though now mulatto/a seems not politically correct anymore according to some.
Mulatto people are literally black. Black but mixed, so…
@follers
My bad, not my custom to check dates. Btw also Geni.com lists the same (Spanish) child mom lol: https://www.geni.com/people/Marie-Estelle-DeRouen-Gary/6000000008469584839?through=6000000008469604842
So, though they may have messed up the dates, a Spanish connection is not unlikely since Spanish families are documented as living in the area. The essay below suggest “Eugène’s parents are still unknown, but he almost certainly is a son of Éloi Derouen and one of his many slaves”.
Also Célestine Joséphine Lesse/Lacy/Lacey, “who was black” (…), was actually the daughter of Joseph Lacey, a white American merchant living in the area, and of Rosalie Jean-Louis, a slave. She is either described as Creole or mulâtresse slave. As Élisabeth Green.
The story is also reported by Daily Mail and other websites: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6040983/Beyonces-family-tree-reveals-great-great-great-grandmother-slave-married-owner.html
https://www.mylhcv.com/beyonce-knowles-breaking-boundaries/4/