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
To clart kent
Relax,no offense taken.However she’s not trying to appease black people.She knows who she is and how she feels.I mean despite the few of you who want or see her as half white,the majority simply see her as a black woman,and she knows this.Now she says she’s African American.Let me breaks this down.America is a melting pot which infuses a lot of different groups,so she not hiding her white half.So when she say AA,she’s saying I’m black and everything else.It doesn’t work in reverse,they don’t say I’m white and everything else.People like that tend to leave the black part out as much as possible and just say white,example(vin diesel,Johnny Depp,Jessica Szohr etc).I mean,she can’t be denying to much,she is marry to a white man
I agree with priscilla. she says she claims herself as AA, but she is half white. She says so herself in a recent artiblce in essence.
I think she is saying she is black, and not bi racial as a way to appease black ppl.
i really DO NOT want to offend anyone with my opinon, its just a thought. please dont attack me for it.
she might not claim her white side but that doesnt change the fact that she is half white,im proud of all my ethnicities or wat ever there called,becuz its wat made me who i am how i look like,how i got my light skin from my german side, and how i got my dark hair from my polynesian side,etc..
What was said a couple of times, if you are mixed with black, it don’t matter, if you try to pull off the mixed card, there are plenty of bi and multi racial people in American that are mixed with black but what America sees you as is BLACK get through your thick skulls no one cares about the fact that you are mixed it is what you closer resemble.
Exactly what u said, people associate their mixed ethnicity to whichever they more resemble. I have friends that are mixed but look more black and call themselves black and also ones that are more white and refer to themselves also as black. It’s not a big deal either way be who you are that’s all that counts.
i’m mixed, and feel what can be more offensive than to not recognize a parents race that’s pumping in my veins. By siding with one race, knowing darn well ur mixed is just wrong. Although I may look more blk than white in the publics eye, I claim the two. ….I’m bi-racial, bi-racial, bi-racial.
I don’t give a fuck she’s pretty and that’s it. Its her business when she only says she’s black. I really don’t give a shit soooooo its not a big deal. U mellow yellow if u don’t like the comments stop comining on the website the only words u can say is bitch and hoe. U like talking shit on comment boards like really ghetto bitch stop making your self look bad go back to school. Yo ashley I agree 100%