Vanessa L. Williams
Williams in 2011, kathclick/bigstock.com
Birth Name: Vanessa Lynn Williams
Place of Birth: Tarrytown, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: March 18, 1963
Ethnicity: African-American, along with some English and Welsh
Vanessa L. Williams is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, model, and television personality. She was the first African-American to win the Miss America Pageant, in 1983. Her roles include the films Eraser, Soul Food, Hoodlum, Dance with Me, Light It Up, Shaft (2000), Batman: Hush, and Bad Hair, and the series Ugly Betty.
Vanessa is the daughter of Helen L. (Tinch) and Milton Augustine Williams, Jr. Her parents were both black. Her brother is actor and comedian Chris Williams. Vanessa grew up in the mainly white middle-class suburb of Millwood, New York. Vanessa is married to businessperson Jim Skrip. She has three children, including dancer and singer Jillian Hervey, with her former husband, public relations specialist Ramon Hervey II; and a daughter with her former husband, Canadian basketball player and actor Rick Fox.
An AncestryDNA test taken by Vanessa stated that her genetic ancestry is:
*56% African
——–*23% Ghana
——–*15% Cameroon/Congo
——–*7% Togo
——–*6% Benin
——–*5% Senegal
*44% European
——–*17% British Isles
——–*12% Finnish/Ural/Volga
——–*11% Southern European
——–*4% Spain/Portugal
In an interview, a journalist stated that Vanessa’s mixed heritage includes African-American, Welsh, and Native American. No Native American markers appear on her DNA test. Vanessa appeared on the program Who Do You Think You Are? (2011), where she discovered that her great-great-grandfather, David Carll, was a “mulatto” (mixed race) man who avoided slavery and married a white woman (her great-great-grandmother).
Vanessa’s ancestry is at least 1/32nd English. One of her maternal great-great-great-grandfathers, George Appleford, was born in Surrey, England, in 1802.
Vanessa’s paternal grandfather was Milton Augustine/Abner Williams (the son of John Hill Williams and Mary L. Fields). Milton was born in Tennessee. John was the son of George Williams and Mollie/Molly Turner. Mary L. was the daughter of William A. Fields and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Fields.
Vanessa’s paternal grandmother was Iris Agnes Carl/Carll (the daughter of Frank S. Carl/Carll and Imogene Jackson). Iris was born in New York. Frank was the son of David Carll and Mary Louisa Appleford, who was white, and whose own father was English. Imogene was the daughter of Henry Titus Jackson and Emiline/Emmaline G. Russell.
Vanessa’s maternal grandfather was Edward James Tinch (the son of John Wilbur Tinch and Helen Elizabeth Fitzgerald). Edward was born in New Jersey. John was the son of John Tinch. Helen was the daughter of William Fitzgerald and Margaret.
Vanessa’s maternal grandmother was Doris Catherine Griffen/Griffin (the daughter of Moses George Wilson and Elvira Viola Johnson). Doris was born in New York. Moses George was the son of George Wilson and Frances Duson. Elvira was the daughter of Waldo/Walter Johnson and Fannie/Fanny Cavel/Calvin.
Regarding her DNA test, Vanessa has said:
Now, I can’t wait to go to Ghana and Cameroon and Togo and Senegal — it’s a great opportunity to see why the customs resonate with you. I love to travel and I love to explore, and I have to admit that I was always jealous of people who knew their cultural background. Both my family and myself came out with light eyes, so obviously there is a recessive gene here. Not knowing what that was just made me very curious.
Sources: Genealogy of Vanessa L. Williams – http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Vanessa’s father (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.findagrave.com
Vanessa’s paternal grandmother, Iris Agnes Carl/Carll, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Ethnicity aside, the best thing about this interview to me is when Joy asks if she faces racism at work, and she can’t think of a normal work environment where that would happen because her entire career has been in entertainment. So cool. She is the best!
So the best part of the interview was when racial discrimination was needlessly drawn into discussion?
The controlled media fishes for racism, and get the blood boiling between the races with their insinuations and bating. Race only becomes relevant when someone isn’t identifiably Caucasian, when it’s assumed they had a hard time with racist whites.
Everyone knows blacks can be very racist, and also that whites are actually mostly kind and tolerant, and the media knows we know these things – so it perverts the state of affairs by CREATING racial hatred and divide. Why? because divided we’re weak and easily milked and controlled.
To Jeff
Your words(blacks can be very racist),well if that’s not the pot calling the kettle.Who started all the racist stuff in this country?Your words(whites are actually mostly kind and tolerant),to who?You use the word(tolerant),like your putting up with someone,because you have to.Now I don’t know you,but what your writing is not showing your best side.Also the media is more in favor of you,not black.Your words(because divided we’re weak and easily milked and controlled.)This is the one statement you said I agree with
why do you assume that whites are mostly kind and tolerant–neither history or many people (of all races) personal experiences bear this out–and I agree ALL races can be intolerant and racist–usually when minorities are racist it can be traced back to bad experiences but often, when a white person is racist–they have never met or interacted with the race they dislike–they just dislike on principal.
Some blacks look like Vanessa. I have them in my family. Many blacks are mixed due to slavery. We come in various shades. The only reason people want to downplay Vanessa’s blackness is because she’s beautiful and highly successful. She can’t be black with beauty like that, is what you mean to say. But she identifies as black and talks about the black experience here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwQM00vw4rY&sns=em
She was called an N word she says in this interview, not a derogatory term for Welsh or Native American. She was the first black Miss America.
We’ll see details on “Who Do You Think You Are?” on NBC (2/4/11), but she is like many blacks with many mixtures. The ONLY time, and I see this a lot. The ONLY time when the public picks apart a black person’s heritage is when that person identifies as black, like Vanessa does, and they cannot link that much beauty, success and poise with “black.” So she MUST be something other. Well, so are MANY MANY blacks you see on TV. Chilli of TLC, the girl who played Will Smith’s cousin in Fresh Prince, etc. But they are DARK SKINNED, and not as successful as Vanessa, so there’s no one debating their blackness. Colorism is so alive and well in 2011.
But Chilli isn’t full black, so…
To Melanie
In all fairness,how many of us black people over here are full black
But In Melanie’s Defense Chilli Is Half Black! That’s What She Meant. She Didn’t Mean That She Is Full Black With Admixture!
@TOTAL23, exactly thank youu(:
makes no difference to me;
vanessa(and suzette charles) changed history in the 80’s as
miss america.
this race thing shouldn’t matter. who doesn’t have something
in their ancestrial background.
vanessa changed history as miss america. she should be proud
of all of her heritag whatever they may be.
she will always be miss america to me.
SHE IS MIXED WITH WHITE
Both of her parents are biracial so technically percentage wise Vanessa is biracial too just like Zoe Kratvitz
Vanessa has stated before that she has “two white grandparents and two black grandparents”
Many blacks are mixed with white. And?
@Janice. IDK where you live but here in Texas most blacks aren’t mixed, and there is A LOT of blacks here.
To Melanie
Oh so your from Texas.No offense,but how do you know they’re not.I have alot of family down there,both light and dark skin(almost as black as my hair).Now looking at them,you wouldn’t believe their mixture
@fuzzybear, because mostly all of my friends are black and have 2 black parents. You seem to have a comment for everything, no offense. I ùnderstand Blacks are mixed but who really cares how many things you’re mixed with, it’s not like people wear t-shirts saying I’m mixed with this this & this. Also, it’s not really that common here in the DFW area for a person to be black & white.
To Melanie
Your words(You seem to have a comment for everything)Now why would I take that the wrong way.You have to give me a break babygirl,I can’t help that I think alot.However I thought this site was more than just learn about Celebs ethnicity.I thought we were supposed to learn more about each other.To get rid of all these preconceived notions everyone seem to have.Like yourself when you said you weren’t white.Most Italians I’ve talked to would go Ballistic if i said they weren’t white.So I thought I would teach you a little about black people you might not be used to .Anyhow since I seem to be to be pushing you in the wrong direction,which was not my intent.I’m refrain myself from saying anything on any future comments you have,we all good
Oh no it’s okay, what I meant was like you seem very opiniated about this type of things. Well, I’m originally from New York and if you were to call an Italian white you’d deff be having some problems. I’ll admit, by RACE I’m white by ETHNICITY I’m Italian. That’s like a Mexican saying they’re Latino, they are but they don’t classify themselves as it in person. For some reason when people ask an Italian what ethnicity they are, and they say they’re Italian the other person doesn’t go “oh so you’re white.” If you’ve ever heard someone talk Spanish and Italian, you’d know they’re almost the same language. But you’re right, I’m Sicilian I’m not one of those Northern Italians who can pass for a white blonde blue eyed girl.
Mexicans do not classify themselves as Latino they classify themselves as Hispanic–Latino usually indicates a possible African connection too.
YOUR COMMENT show your ignorance about genetics–2 black parents with what ancestry? You cannot tell by looking, your genes have to be typed to tell. Could you tell Michelle Obama was not all black just by looking? How about bill cosby–Both my parents, and grandparents were stone cold black–but my momma was “high yella’ (what we call those light skinned ones) but her daddy had blue eyes–but he was medium brown–but HIS daddy–was black.
Now take me–I could have been the momma of one of your friends–or maybe one of my sisters could be–they all live in Austin. My sister is the color of a hershey bar now I am too–so you’d think her daughter was black because my sister and her hubby are both dark–but our great grandpa on my momma’s side was WHITE. not half white, or a mix–he was a walking around, white man–with blue eyes–not passing–he was dutch and english. but you would never know to look at us–and my hair came from my cherokee great grandma–but you’d never know my ancestry just to see me.
whoops–my momma’s daddy was black but his daddy was white, not black
Why all of a sudden do whites want to claim the mixed people when they spent the pass 400 plus years denying any sex was going on and enforcing laws that prevented blacks from claiming any race EXCEPT black–what brought the change of face? all those white mommas who hate the thought of their kids never getting to be anything but black? But when the mommas were all black–it was white women who forced the laws about racial purity to be passed in the first place. SO WHAT CHANGED NOW TO MAKE WHITES ADMIT THEIR DABBLING IN BLACK STUFF?
I always thought that she was mixed with something else,too.
Who isn’t?