The creativity of author, designer, broadcaster Ben Arogundade
Celebrity Ancestry: Beyonce’s Heritage: Is She Black, White, Mixed, Biracial, Native American, Other? 100,000 Google Her Ethnicity, Nationality, Parents Race & Family Background
WHAT ETHNICITY IS BEYONCE? Is she black, white, biracial? Her ethnic background seems hard to place for many fans, who turn to Google for answers about her ancestry and her parents racial background and origins. By Ben Arogundade. Mar.20.2021.
ETHNICITY AMBIGUOUS: Beyoncé Knowles epitomises America's racial melting pot. The singer's light skin and straight hair mean that many fans are unsure whether she is black, white or of so-called mixed race. Questions about her heritage and nationality are played out online, where there are thousands of monthly searches about her ethnic background. 2,000 Internet users per month ask, “Is Beyoncé black?”
HER HAIR IS BLONDE and straight, and her skin is light, but yet tanned. Is she black, white, bi-racial or Other? And what nationality is she? African American, Native American, Puerto Rican, Jamaican? These are just some of the wide variety of questions people around the world ponder as they gaze at the cross-racial enigma that is Beyoncé Knowles’ beauty.
HERITAGE - BLACK, WHITE, MIXED?
This curiosity is played out on the Internet, where thousands of fans Google questions about the singer's race, ethnicity and nationality. For example, according to the tech giant's stats, 2,000 Internet users per month ask, “Is Beyoncé black?” Another 1,000 per month ask, “Is Beyoncé full black?” The total number of search queries about the singer's heritage and background add up to over 100,000 per year.
BEYONCE’S ETHNICITY AND NATIONALITY
The singing star and wife of rapper Jay-Z is not the only recording artist whose multi-ethnicity is the subject of hot curiosity from fans. 1,300 online fans per month also ask Google, “Is Rihanna black?”, while a staggering 5,400 ask, “Is Mariah Carey black?”
So, what exactly is Beyoncé’s ethnicity and racial background? She was born in Houston, Texas on September 4, 1981. Her father Mathew Knowles — a music business executive — is of African American descent, while her mother Tina — a costume designer and hair stylist — is of so-called Créole heritage (a French term for a person of Afro-European ancestry). More specifically, she is a Louisiana Créole — a mix of African, Native American and French. (The region was a French colony from 1682 to 1763, and from 1800 to 1803).
BLACK BACKGROUND
Given these facts, Beyoncé, like most African Americans, self-identifies as “black”. This has much to do with the old traditions of the country’s one-drop rule — a system of post-slavery laws, now abolished, which pronounced all citizens with any degree of African heritage as legally “black”, regardless of their appearance.
Today, Beyoncé’s complex ethnic and racial heritage epitomises America’s collective biology, formulated over centuries by the endless couplings of contrasting immigrants and settlers. Ultimately, she is more American than African American.
RACE CROSSOVER
Beyoncé herself has been keen to define her success in more singular, non-racial terms. “I have kind of broken barriers, and I don’t think people think about my race,” she told Piers Morgan in a televised interview on June 27, 2011. “I think they look at me as an entertainer and a musician, and I am very happy that that is changing, because that is how I look at people…it’s not about colour and race.”
Beyoncé's ability to appeal aesthetically to all audiences has been a key factor, both within her success and that of a generation of African American performers. “Beyoncé has become a crossover sex symbol a la Halle Berry, a black girl who's not so overwhelmingly Nubian that white people don't appreciate her beauty,” noted the writer Touré in Rolling Stone.
BLACK LIGHT
Beyoncé fans are as obsessed with her shape-shifting hair and beauty choices as they are with her music. “What color is Beyoncé's hair?” is one of Google's most popular searches for the music celebrity. But while the singer and actress's success may be viewed non-racially by some, many of these beauty preferences certainly have not been. She has come under fire from haters and traditionalists within the black and African American communities for having blonde hair and light skin. A recent article in British newspaper the Daily Mail carried the heading, “Why Beyoncé Is Betraying All Black And Asian Women”. The piece went on to criticise the singing star for veering away from traditional black hair and beauty values, and therefore, in their view, setting a bad example for young women of colour everywhere.
ABOUT ME
I am a London-based author, journalist and broadcaster. The aesthetics of black celebrities feature in my book, ‘Black Beauty’, released in 2000 (now sold out). Discover more about me and my work at Ben Arogundade bio.
