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
“Light-colored eyes are a European trait.”
It is a M U T A T I O N. Albinos have light colored eyes and light skin and light hair, but it is not because they are European. There are many conditions that cause someone to lose melanin, not have melanin or just to have very little melanin in their eyes/skin. It’s just like the African American baby with blue eyes…he has a mutation that caused such a thing to occur.
“1. Caucasian relatives in your past
2. A rare disease that makes a person an albino only in their eyes
3. A new mutation
4. Waardenburg syndrome (A common way to end up with two different colored eyes.)”
These are all reasons as to why someone would have lighter eyes. It’s likely that Tyra has a European ancestor, due to her being African American. However, this does not go for everyone and it does not mean that they are all of European descent. You peons need to get that into your heads.
albinos do not have blue eyes–they have pink or red eyes. Blue eyes are recessive in order for a child to get blue eyes, BOTH parents must carry that trait. This means when a white person goes with someone black as night and the child has any color eyes EXCEPt brown–then no matter how dark the mate–there is also European ancestry in that black persons line. For a recessive trait to EVER show up, the woman must carry the trait and so must the man–then the child usually has a 25% chance of getting that recessive gene.
If both parents already have nonbrown eyes–that eye color lottery goes up to a 50-50 chance. This is genetics and many of you spouting it obviously did not take it in school or forgot it. (I am a microbiologist)
Why is it such a shocker to see African people with light eyes? Light eyes are mutations and it does not mean that everyone with light eyes is European.
the reason is light eyes are dominant now in the white race. blue eyes are not a mutation, they were a mutation when they FIRST appeared thousands of years ago–they are not a mutation once their presence is est in the gene pool–then they are just a recessive trait–and since the original mutation came from blacks–YES it is possible for a black person to produce a blonde, blue or green eyed child with no contribution from a white person.
Blue eyes did not start with white people nor did white skin–it first was a mutation among blacks and blacks still possess the pheno type to produce this –though you would be hard pressed to convince whites of this now that they realize that when they make babies they are light–so now–in their minds all light babies or babies with light eyes must be biracial because they cannot progress beyond their late contribution and most have NO CLUE about genetics
to anonymous 2: i understnd your comment, but i want to add something: the ppl like pygmees ho live in the forest have generally a lighter complexion due to their place of living. They are less exposed to the sunlight so they need less melanin than the ones who live in dry and shiny countries like senegal, mali or chad for instance.
And when i was talking aboit charlize theron i was talking about the country she comes from, and not her enthnicity.
To Anonymous 2
You chose a bad phrase,which made it look like you were calling black people flies.Now I said maybe I was being a little sensitive
It is true that rarely a native (I mean peoples whose ancestors lived in South Africa for a thousands of years or more, not a Charlize Theron, who’s family migrated down into Africa over the last 200 or so years), may have blue eyes. But, this would be rare. Commonly, due to natural selection, brown skin and coarse, curly hair and BROWN eyes would have suited a human being over time who lived in hot, arid environment. This is because there is more melanin in browner skin (I’m talking untanned skin). They are more equipped for the conditions. Their hair would protect their scalp from 100+ heat every day. Blue eyes started as a mutation, but, as people migrated to other parts of the world (we all know life started in Africa) lighter skin and the mutation of lighter eyes worked for them, it allows the little bit of sun they would get farther from the equator to have more of an effect, like producing Vitamin D. In Africa, they would get too much sun and so more melanin would protect their eyes and skin. I have no idea what the individual is talking about with a comparison from people to flies. I said nothing that would even elude to that, so whatever… I don’t know a lot about phenotypes and genotypes, but I do know my history. What people have to remember is that for thousands of years other societies have been invading, warring, and unfortunately raping and sexually intermingling with other societies. Spanish conquistadors invaded South America. Their blood is mixed with European blood. Asian people are mixed with Russian people. They now believe that Native Americans came over from Mongolia and Russian areas and intermingled with South American peoples which is why they have a combined Latino/Asian look. The pioneers of what is now the U.S. were hardly the first people to enslave another people. That doesn’t make it right, but its true. Its just that this is one of the latest historical examples. But, go read some real history books (unaltered and without “context” provided). People of Europe were enslaved to other Europeans in the same way African Americans were treated here. Slavery in some forms still exists today in places like North Korea and even worse. I’m way off track now, sorry got off on a tangent.