Paula Patton
Patton in 2011, photo by s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Paula Maxine Patton
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: December 5, 1975
Ethnicity:
*father – African-American
*mother – German, English, smaller amount of Dutch
Paula Patton is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films Hitch, Idlewild, Déjà Vu (2006), Jumping the Broom, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, 2 Guns, Warcraft, and Sacrifice (2019).
Her father, Charles Patton, is black. Her mother, Joyce (Van Raden), who is white, has German, English, and at least 1/16th Dutch, ancestry. Paula has identified herself as Black. She has stated:
I find it [the term “biracial”] offensive. It’s a way for people to separate themselves from African-Americans… a way of saying ‘I’m better than that.’ I’m black because that’s the way the world sees me. People aren’t calling Barack Obama biracial. Most people think there’s a black president.
Paula has a son with her former husband, singer and songwriter Robin Thicke.
Paula’s maternal grandfather was Benjamin Alexander Van Raden, Jr. (the son of Benjamin Van Raden and Grace Read Alexander). Paula’s grandfather Benjamin was born in New York. Paula’s great-grandfather Benjamin was born in Nebraska, the son of Carl Edward Holeman Van Raden, whose father was Dutch and whose mother was German, and of Louisa Bergman, whose parents were German. Paula’s great-grandmother Grace was born in New York, and had English ancestry. Grace was the daughter of Robert Read Alexander and Laura Davis, who were from Massachusetts.
Sources: Genealogy of Paula’s maternal grandfather, Benjamin Alexander Van Raden, Jr. – https://www.wikitree.com
Obituary of Paula’s maternal grandfather, Benjamin Alexander Van Raden, Jr. – http://www.legacy.com
Marriage record of Paula’s maternal great-grandparents, Benjamin Van Raden and Grace Read Alexander – https://familysearch.org
Paula’s maternal great-grandfather, Benjamin Van Raden, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Paula’s maternal great-grandmother, Grace Read Alexander, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Paula’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Carl Edward Holeman Van Raden and Louisa Bergman, on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
The American Constitution states if you are 1/16 of any blood other than white.”YOU ARE NOT WHITE” I am a civil rights lawyer from the 60s and all those race demostrations.You young people should be argueing about is why only red bones,male or female get all the work and why white men only marry those same red women.the race definition is settled by Law,but hiring all those women based on color is wrong,same stuff from cotton club,don’t hire the dark skin ones.Learn your histoy young black and white adults,you guys change this system.Just look at your movies,TV shows.Thats what simon was telling Jennifer Hudson,you don’t have the look,American Idol have a few token people of color so you cannot say they discriminate.Hell every person in the world knows African-Americans are the greatest thing to ever happen in music period.
Hey I said the same thing the one drop rule does not apply after your 1/16 black but know one on here believed me, I remember learning this a long time ago when I was in elementary school I ve been studying race and culture for a long time.
I understand what she is trying to say! alot of people try to stray away from being called black like it is a bad thing…. for instance hispanics, some of them look black but they dont want to be called black because it is a ” bad” thing to be in society. when most hispanics has african and native decent. but by both cultures being looked at as bad they dont identify themselves as multiracial!
Isn’t that what she’s doing now? Not indentifying as multiracial? She said herself she only considers herself black when she is indeed half white and equal parts of both. I’m sure there are some people who are part black who don’t like that side, but being mixe and saying you are bi-racial has never meant hating or thinking you are better than of one of your side. It states true fact, you have multipale races in you. I think it’s very silly for people to make their own definitions of things.
She ID the way she feels and is comfortable with.We don’t know why her percentages are,your making assumptions.Identifying as black doesn’t mean your denying your other part.It’s always the black people you guys do this with.White people run around all their live part black,but only Identifying as white;no one says a thing.As a matter of fact,when people do find out they are part a white person has black blood.They yell it’s bullshit,and say your just trying to turn everyone black;don’t see you saying anything about that.You have people in Latin America who are obviously black,and those who are part black,but will look you right in the face and say their not;no one says a thing.However this woman ID’s and black and all hell breaks lose
Fixed mistake-what her percentages are
lol, I really don’t understand her. She “identifies” with being only black yet she is equal parts. Why doesn’t she just stick with the actual facts and stop playing pretend? By her saying that and what she said about being bi-racial, it seems like she is being prejudice against white people. No one ever said being bi-racial means saying your better than this or that. And bi-racial doesn’t ONLY mean half black and half white. Geesh. That really ticks me off. There is nothing wrong with being black, white, Asian, or friggin polka dotted. But when you are mixed and start picking sides it really just comes off as ignorant to me.
Honestly not trying to be offensive to anyone. And IS free to identify with whatever she wants but I just think it’s stupud to ignore facts.
actually i thought she was italian. and saying youre black and not bi-racial makes it seem as though you are too good to claim your whiteness… but whatev im proud of everything i am so doesnt affect me haha
@step
That’s all B-Sh*T,the majority of the black people walking around are bi or tri-racial.Also until a short time ago and pretty much now,the avg white person could care less if you claimed that part of your heritage or not.Also until not that long ago,you didn’t have a choice,but to claim just the black part.You notice you don’t see a flood of white people running to claim their black heritage.However if you want claim that part,that’s all well and good.But don’t hate on the black part like it’s cancer
huh? i dont get what youre saying. i mean i am on this website because i had only seen a few pictures of her, so i literally thought she was white. then i heard some people calling her black, and i was like what? so for her to get butt hurt over people calling her biracial because she believes people only see her as “black” is odd. im just clarifying, im not one of those people. shes clearly biracial. my mom is blonde and she looks more like my mom than she does …well pretty much any black person, and shes certainly about 20 shades lighter than i am, and few people even consider me black, so im just curious as to where she grew up…
my point was just that she comes across as self-hating. but then again, my fiance is nigerian so most of the black people im around on a day to day basis look absolutely nothing like her, and i guess maybe my own personal view of racial differences is skewed. she looks black in this photo though.
Ok you answered my question on your second comment.However she can’t be to self-hating if she married to a white man
That’s True!
@ step
How many black people have you actually seen,to make a comment like that.I’m just asking because maybe you have a different view on what a black person looks like.To me it pretty clear that she was at least half black.
The one thing we have to rememmber is nothing on the outside matters we are all one in the same the color of her skin or ethnicity shouldnt be this big of an issue.