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
She’s stupid. How is that offensive. Is she ashamed of her white ancestry or something? And that’s the way the world sees her? Yea, that’s the way the racist one drop rule will see her. She’s a complete idiot. bi-racial is term to describe people made up two “races”. Maybe she should spend more time learning things instead of applying make-up and crap to her face.
It’s true…the world sees a black woman instead of seeing her as a white woman or a “biracial” woman. It’s the truth; it’s not a bad thing. I know how Chelsea Handler was saying something like “Yeah you could pass for a lot of things,like Hawaiian” and Paula always answered “Maybe, but I’m black and I identify myself as black”.
I admire Paula’s position on this issue. It does seem that the “bi-racial” distinction is more a way to further segment the African-American community. It appears that most Americans don’t seem to either know or acknowledge that most people identified as “Black” or “African American” in this country are, in fact, of multi-ethnic ancestry, with Caucasian being the most prevalent. In other words, most African Americans in this country are “mixed”. Identifying oneself as African American isn’t a denial of one’s other ethnicities. It is an affirmation of the part of one’s ancestry that has to fight the hardest for it’s rightful place in a country that has treated them as “less than” for far too long.
She is speaking the truth. She is also a very beautiful actress and I hope to see her in future movies. Nothing but the best to her and others who aren’t ashamed to admit who and what they are.
Reading some of this comments I’m worry about my son future, he is mixracial/bi-racial (Polish and African/American). I simply don’t want for my son to worry about which group he belongs; how many % of which race is in him, that crazy. At age 6 he call himself brown and happy.