Monica
Birth Name: Monica Denise Arnold
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Date of Birth: October 24, 1980
Ethnicity: African-American, possibly other
Monica is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur. She starred in a reality show on BET called All Eyes on Me, the same title as her 2002 album. Monica’s stepfather is a cousin of singer Ludacris.
She is the daughter of Marilyn Best and M. C. Arnold. She has said that her paternal grandfather was of Irish and Black ancestry, and that her paternal grandmother was “entirely Indian.” A picture of Monica with her father can be seen here.
Monica is married to NBA player Shannon Brown. She has two children with her former fiancé, rapper Rodney “Rocko” Hill; and a daughter with Shannon.
Monica’s paternal grandfather is named M. C. Arnold (the son of Julia Mae Stokes).
Monica’s paternal grandmother is Maude R. Thomas (the daughter of Arthur Thomas and Clorena M. Johnson).
M.C. Arnold in the 1930 census. Julia Mae is his mother, surname Stokes. Newnan, CowetaCount, GA:
Tom Arnall 40 Head
Julia Arnall 27 Wife
Paul Arnall 12 Son
M C Arnall 10 Son
Thomas Arnall 7 Son
I was thinking her father was probably just a multigenerationally mixed African-American and didn’t have any recent Irish or Native American ancestors. Thanks for proving me right. Cool find.
Cool.
Monica roots are from Newnan, Coweta County, GA, and Union City, South Carolina. Her European is hard to trace, unless her family kept very good records. Her dad is multigenerational mixed. I do have records of his family being listed as mulattos.
Has anyone found out about the “possibly other” part? Or is she just African American?
She says she is a quarter Indian and an 1/8th Irish.
She’s multigenerationally mixed through her dad, mom may be a tad bit. All of our European Ancestry outside of slavery, can be a mystery. Many black step fathers raised their mixed race step kids.