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
relax people, relax
MSM this is for you:
How dare you blame kamari for keeping racism and inequality alive!
With slavery came racism and inequality don’t get it twisted. White families that benefited from slavery and from segregation and other atrocities against people of color still benefit to this day, because they own the big houses, and go on extravagant vacations and even visit Africa and say oh my god, it was so wonderful and interesting. And inside wonder why these Africans can’t get it together, that is probably your thinking too MSM.
But everything can be traced back to history to who STOLE it, not had it but stole our resources and our people and now declare that all the hate is gone now and we want diversity! Damn your diversity! Your ancestors started the race issue and continues to this day with environmental segregation, globalization, owning rain forests in Africa, patenting seeds! and many, many, many more atrocities. Nothing has changed, just the way one can mask it is different. as you said so yourself: ignorance is bliss, and you’re so ignorant, you’re spewing up everything every ignorant person would say who didn’t read.
Did you even go to college? Learn some his story.
even if you’re dark skin there could be mixed races in your blood in america, my mother’s greatgrandfather is full blooded native american my father’s greatgrandmother was the daughther of a white man, but both my parents are brown skinned i came out light skinned both my sisters on each side came out darkskinned, so it doesn’t matter what your complextion is, but in america if you have 2% or more you are considered black, but two dark skinned people can have a lightskin child and two lightskin people can have a darkskin child, i’ve seen mixed race couples (black and white) have a child that looked black and a child that looks white, and i’ve seen a white couple that had a child that looked black, so it all comes down to the genes, but with all this debate about what race someone is crazy, do you all think god cares about what race someone is?
I love Paula Patton! She’s so beautiful and if she wants to self identify as black then who are we to argue with her. Keep doing you Paula:)
@ Katherine Ok you said “Even when you can’t see the white in a black person its often there, so its ridiculous when people argue that a “light-skinned” black person is just African American or pure black.”
I see where you are coming from on the pure black part(b/c there’s pretty much no such this as a pure black through slavery and the mixing)but not calling her African American is pushing it. So basically if no African American is pure black and yet you say that light skin’s aren’t pure black either. Then damn wouldn’t we still just be African American NOT PURE BLACKS?. You have me confusing myself. lol basically you should have just said NOT PURE BLACK and left African American out of it.
This message is primarily for Kamari and others that may agree with his statement. I just would like to take the time to say that ignorance is bliss. We as a people, both black and white, as well as every other ethnicity in our country and around the world will never move foward with the kind of racism and ignorance you’ve shown. What happened in the past with slavery is disgusting and should never be forgotten. Also I realize that the harms its done cannot be reversed, and its clear that post colonialism ruined many vibrant cultures. That is not today though…racism and inequality still exists because of people like you. We can never move foward as a race with a mindset like the one you keep. Theres no difference between what you’re saying as a black man and a kkk member ranting about interacial relations. I hope that maybe one day with knowledge and acceptance people like you will see there is only one TRUE race… which is the human race.