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
Only African American? Really bro? African American is an ethnicity not a race… African Americans are called this because they get the majority of their ancestral roots from Africa. You know where Tyra Banks gets the majority of her ancestral roots from? Ding ding!!! You guessed it…Africa. Now it doesn’t mean she’s full blooded Black African but, most African Americans aren’t.
@Zatm81 Just because you are 80% African and 20% European doesn’t mean you are African American. So no, having 100 African ancestors and 1 European ancestor doesn’t mean you are more African and you come from more African people if they identify with their European roots.
I thought she was biracial.
She’s not biracial. Unless she has a White parent and Black parent, she ain’t biracial. But y’all could keep dreaming though.
she can’t be fully black because she has hazel eyes so she must have some European in her trust me, the majority of black Americans aren’t fully black because there was a time called slavery and there were many rapes made in that time period. Plus pure black people don’t have hazel eyes they have dark brown eyes. you don’t need to have a white parent to be biracial that’s just dumb to think that.
@M you thought Wrong
She had a DNA test done
she’s mixed race
i think 15% British and 5%native American
and 80% black
I’m not sure if that is accurate
i can’t remember the numbers
but i remember she was tri racial
@thomas1987 ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE MIXED. She is still overwhelmingly African
@thomas1987 if you consider that mixed race then ALL black people are not black, they are mixed then. Because millions of blacks in the Carribean and Americas have these same DNA percentages. White and Indian Dna from slavery.
Then midori I think that you answer your self…. Yes midori it dosen’t care you’re afrocentric mind… America is a mixed continent…. With diversity, and that’s cool… And the many of people aren’t full black or full Caucasian…. They are mixed… I think that if you want to feel proud about you’re roots, feel proud of all you’re roots then not just one…. If you don’t you are hypocrite… You are full black or mixed or yellow or Caucasian. You can be dark skinned and mixed, but you are mixed after all…, and you have to feel proud of all you’re roots not just one.
Cuz if you are dark skin and mixed and you claim just de black part you are denying all the mixed thing on you, then you are a self hater too. If you love you’re self you have to be proud of all.
@arjanguelsk , if you are in majority one race, then you are that race in my opinion. Why mention the 50 other things you were mixed with 200 years ago. I dont think its denying, its being socially sensible. Its not like Asians or whites will say she or he is one of us because he is 15 percent Japanese or 10 percent Irish.
i respect your opinion, but i can’t agree with you… I think that if you are multirracial or biracial you have to feel proud of all.. For me is more loyal and socially sensible, becouse you are loving all the thinks inside of you, what makes you who you are.
@arjanguelsk, racism against blacks is dominant in society, and those other races that a majority black person is mixed with, will surely NOT CARE abut your 10% Asian, they will label you BLACK. I do not say deny it, but MOST of the world is mixed. I do not consider Tyra Banks mixed race, she is an African American with two black parents.
15% white is NOT much at all
I find it funny that an African American who is 80% Sub-Suaharan has to identify as mixed when the other White celebrities on this site with Native blood don’t have to lol.
Most African Americans and black Carribeans fall into the 80% black subsaharan pile due to slavery. We are blacks.
But pretty and rich black women cannot just be black they have to be mixed which shows you just how jealous and insecure the world is.
@zatm81, if someone who is 80% African and 20% European identifies as mixed then they are not African-American so why call them that?
80% black and 20% other is not considered mixed to me. She is in majority black like every other black person, whom no one is 100% anything or African.
@midori29 If she is 80% African and 20% European and she identifies with her European ancestry then the 20% European is what she is genetically over the 80%African. So she wouldn’t be African-American, she would be European-American.
And that one person with the original mutation lived in the Black Sea area. A european/ caucasian region. No person with blue eyes is 100% black unless they have it as a result of a disease. Even african albinos are part dutch because that mutation was brought to africa by a caucasian man with the mutation. I don’t know why anyone is in denial when the scientific facts are all there. lol.
http://www.occupycorporatism.com/blue-eyes-originated-10000-years-ago-in-the-black-sea-region/
African Americans are part white. It’s that simple. There is only one blue eyed mutations in humans. It came from a single human. My mother is blacker than Tyra and still 15% white. My nana is slightly paler than me and 20% white, but has blacker features than Tyra. I’m 55% white. I’ve known people who were 50/50 and darker than Tyra. She’s definitely got mixed heritage. I’d love to see a test of her done by 23and Me. lol. Her features are far from the african american norm. She must have a decent amount of white in her. No one is saying she’s more or less pretty for being part white. She simply is.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130170343.htm
@wolfcat I dont know where you get your data in blacks not being able to have blue and greene eyes But is FALSE. Just because non black scientists have researched and said no that does not mean its accurate. All people even whites originated in Africa .
@wolfcat The percentage and degrees of admixture in someone has very little to do with their skin tone. Whether light or dark skin tone has been proven to be the least accurate determination of admixture percentages. Obviously you have said you are 50 /50 mixed and you are taking a non black perspective on admixture as if youre clueless. Maybe you did not grow up around many black people.
@wolfcat87, African Americans are very very little white, the average 15% which is NOT high at all.
@wolfcat87, the percentage of WHITE in African Americans only averages 15% THAT IS VERY VERY LITTLE.
@Wolfcat87 you are confused as to how diverse African black features are. Google north west subsaharan African there is a massive variation of black features. Often many biracials have no clue as thier black parent neglects to teach them about Africa. Or they dont want to face that even though they are biracial that they still look black.
Biracial people never look black. Americans just have no idea what a full black person looks like and the biracials pretending to be monoracial black have confused people.
Quote(Biracial people never look black. )
Actually many do
Quote( Americans just have no idea what a full black person looks like )
No I just think you have your own idea about what a black person should or could look like, and you refuse to accept other peoples opinion
You’re an idiot. White people have a set phenotype, Asian people have set phenotype so how are black people any different? You’re thinking is contaminated by white purity and the racist one drop rule. You’re probably one if those idiots that thought that Rachel Dolezeal was black. Humans are animals. According to region, physical adaptations occured and were set.