Tyra Banks
Banks in 2011, kathclick/bigstock.com
Birth Name: Tyra Lynne Banks
Place of Birth: Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: December 4, 1973
Ethnicity: African-American
Tyra Banks is an American model, television personality, producer, businessperson, actress, author, and singer. She was the host of The Tyra Banks Show from 2005 to 2010, created, and presented, the show America’s Next Top Model, and appeared in the films Coyote Ugly and Halloween: Resurrection, among other works. She is also known as BanX.
Her parents, Caroline (London) and Donald Banks, are both African-American. A picture of Tyra with her parents can be seen here.
Tyra has a son with her former partner, Norwegian photographer Erik Asla.
A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show America’s Next Top Model (2014) stated that Tyra’s genetic ancestry is:
*79% African
*14% British
*6% Native American
One of Tyra’s great-great-grandfathers was named Walter Taylor.
Tyra’s maternal grandfather possibly was Ernest London (the son of Edward London and Ophelia Christopher). Ernest was born in Louisiana. Edward was the son of Charles London and Maria. Ophelia was the daughter of Antoine/Antony Christopher and Susan West Duncan/Champ.
Tyra’s maternal grandmother was Florine B. Coleman (the daughter of Fletcher Coleman and Lucinda/Loucindy Wisner/Hampton). Florine was born in Texas. Fletcher was born in Texas, the son of Ezekle “Zeke”/Ezekiel Coleman and Julia Beasley.
Sources: Genealogical information on Tyra Banks – https://blogs.ancestry.com
I quote Anonymous 2:
“Eye color, hair color and texture, and skin pigmentation all relate to where your ancestors lived in approximatey to the equator.”
I agree with most of your post, except this statement. Eyes color, hair color and texture, and skin pigmentation depend on genes, and the place where you’re living.
Eyes color phenotype depends actually on several genes, not only one, and the phenotype (not genotype) blue eyes appeared at least 1000 years ago, before the phenotype “white skin”, appeared 6000 years ago, so the first person who could have the phenotype “blue eyes” should be a person with the phenotype “brown skin” no??
besides, there are also indian ppl with light eyes, like aishwarya rai, and nobody ask if she has white blood, because she hasn’t. She is south asian point blank. But when a black person have light eyes, ppl just can’t accept there is no white blood inside.
I know it’s very rare, but it does exist !!! and so does the no-kinky hair on a person who come from sub saharian africa !!! My grandma had straight hair, and she was black as ebony !!!
@ Anonymous 2 you have to be the only intelligent person on this site.
To Anonymous 2
Maybe I’m a little sensitive,but are comparing black people to flies?
The people speaking on this website about ethnicity and racial decent are correct. Eye color, hair color and texture, and skin pigmentation all relate to where your ancestors lived in approximatey to the equator. The close to the equator, the darker and coarser the hair, darker eyes, darker skin. Its not about ugly versus pretty. Its just science and the facts. You are not going to find someone who’s genes are all completely from south Africa that has blue or hazel or green eyes. If you do, then somewhere, somehow, there is some European genes in the blood line. Its not to say that’s prettier, its just factual. Brown eyes are the most common eye color in the entire world. Asian, Latino and African peoples commonly have this eye color, unless, there is some European blood. Look at the appearance of people in Ireland, the higher you go from the Equator, the lighter the skin and eyes. You start moving down Europe, people’s skin darkens slightly(example, the French and Italian (Sicilian even more so). You do meet some Northern Italian’s who have light color eyes, but Sicilians have brown eyes. Historically, there was invasion of African into Sicily, which is why some Sicilians have curler hair and do look part black. To me, this is neither good or bad, it just is what it is. Whoever said, just love what you are, is absolutely correct. People paint themselves with broad brushes…”I’m white”, “I”m black”. Hardly no one is purely European or purely African American or whatever the racial heritage. If you go back far enough, there will be a fly in the milk, so to speak. White people have black or American Indian often times in their ancestory. Black people often have white or Indian in their background. Its not surprising, since we are a big melting pot that there was some mix of the races. Get over it and own it. Who gives a shit if Tyra backs has some white in her, if she wants to deny this or anybody else thinks that this discounts African American’s from being beautiful, then they are insecure to begin with.
I stated this above but I’ll answer it to you as you seem level headed: African Americans have a particular situation regarding this issue – lack of records! There is simply no way to know as fact where they are from. A DNA test can be done but it is not the most specific thing. Many African slaves were taken from Africa from different parts of Africa and there is often no records from where just records of where the ships left from. And some ships made stops and some came directly without dropping off the slaves. Some slaves were moved from the Caribbean to America and all sorts of trades were done with them making record keeping really tricky. Also, whtie ancestry often dates back to 200 years for many African Americans so they have noo connection to that ancestry. Also, a lot of blacks passed for white and a lot of whites who had black blood passed and many Africans lived with Native American tribes and vice versa – so many people changed their ethnicity. Basically, black Americans were left with just one option – calling themselves black – that is all they could figure out. Also it was the law – the one drop rule – to be black despite your mix. So, this all to say, blacks often only identify with black because it is the one fact in a reality of fudged records due to slavery. And white people, on the other hand, have a subconscious advantage to simply identify with the white part only. When people were being told to sit on the back of the bus, think aobut it, who would willingly choose that experience if you could pass for something else? Sad state of our American history.
i’m filipina, and since most filipino tan easily… does this mean im black? Or does it mean im a “yellow skin asain”? im 99% sure i was born a white asain baby- but since im so tan, does that mean im black? :) HELP
Well, you should do your DNA. There was DNA test done on a TV show on a man from a South African tribe and he was related to a man in Tibet – their DNA traced to the same ancestor. Filipinos have Spaniard ancestry and the Spaniards were ruled by the Moors and the Moors are from North Africa and North Africa was populated by Africans from the West, etc. So if you go far enough you might have African blood. Most likely you do given the country you are from but you should do a DNA. Who knows you might find something you never expected.