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
why the is native american still up here? We got her dna results and it shows no native american.
Shuold there be like a category called Biracial?
I’ve thought about that but it just doesn’t seem to work. It would probably have to be called “directly biracial” to exclude most African-Americans, and then “directly black biracial” within that.
@follers
yes that would be a problem
what about a melungeon category?
Biracial isn’t an ethnicity.
@stuckinfoopid
true that
It has alwais been called mulatto/a. “Biracial” is new stuff.
Mulatto is a slur, my friend. Refers to a mule, which is the unviable offspring of a Horse and a Donkey. The semiotics of that are intentional.
And that still isn’t an ethnicity.
I’ve heard that, but in non English-speaking world, mulatto/a is still a regular word.
My mother once saw Will Smith on TV and called him “mulatto”.
You think the Spanish colonials weren’t racist? Racism is when speak English? Big brain take ya got there.
She’s not biracial. She’s straight up black with two straight up black parents. Black people come in all different shades, eye colors and sizes just like other races.
What does “straight up black” mean? How can you be “straight up black” and have blue eyes with lighter skin? Blue eyes, brown hair and lighter skin are not african traits. She looks creole at most. Even a bit melungeon.
Sure. Plenty of purely Sub-Saharan Africans with blue eyes and brown curly hair everywhere. Please…
Vanessa took that Ancestry test when it first came out back in 2011 when they didn’t have many African samples. She is definitely more than 56% African probably in the low 60’s range. I came out back then 69% African and it increased to 75.5% African.
She could be even less than 56% SSA
Highly doubt that because DNA companies have a European bias. And 23 and me actually wrote about that. The more samples they have from different populations the better the result. Back when she took it they didn’t have many African samples.
She probably has a 23andme account. You could always ask her to log in and ask her what her most recent results are/were. Most likely a pipe dream asking a favor of a celebrity, but you never know, maybe she’d respond.
Wouldn’t a larger sample set of any ethnic group in particular help to define whether or not you fit into that group? If you went into a hypothetical where the sample set was 90% European and 10% other, if your results didn’t resemble the 90%,then you’d either be identified as the other, and/or undetermined.
Idk perhaps it’s not that simple but that’s what would make sense to me at a cursory level. Of course larger data sets would cause increased accuracy to more specific regions, but overall I’m not sure how vastly different the assessment of your geographical origin, in continental terms, would change.
BS. Anything and everything to not be associated with the white ‘ boogeyman’. The woman has a large amount of Caucasian blood in her. Obvious as night and day. A DNA test is not even needed to observe that fact.