1o Celebs you didn't know were black

Suggest ^ | Aug. 19, 2014

[lulu16]

Did you know that these pop stars had black heritage?

Pete Wentz musician

Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars)

Wentworth Miller actor

Nicole Richie fashion designer

Slash musician

Rashida Jones actress

Adriana Lima model

Maya Rudolph

Carol Channing

Mariah Carey singer

[Albion Wilde]

I always heard whispers about Dinah Shore.

No, Dinah Shore's parents were Jewish. They were shopkeepers in Tennessee, where Dinah was born and raised.

[Tijeras_Slim]

My name was taken from me...

Try VendomeX

[Albion Wilde]

see post 121.

[Albion Wilde]

I don’t spend enough time in my dentist office reading People magazine either.

I've always referred to it as "Peephole."

[Albion Wilde]

Such a poignant scene.

I know, right? Here's Navin with the family:

[Albion Wilde]

And let's not forget Earl Pllcher, brilliantly written and played by Robert Duvall:

"Earl" is in the center, back row.

[Albion Wilde]

Maya Rudolph was Smokin' in Idiocracy.

Maya more resembles her Jewish father, Richard Rudolph, than her mom, Minnie Riperton, who looks mixed as well.

[dfwgator]

What a great voice Minnie had. Tragic to die so young like that.

[Albion Wilde]

Since we're on the topic, here are a few historic persons of mixed race and distinguished accomplishment:

Alexandre Dumas, the famed French novelist and author of Three Musketeers

Booker T. Washington, born a slave and rose to become an educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States

Patrick Francis Healy, born in slavery, 29th President of Georgetown University, known for expanding the school following the American Civil War.

[dfwgator]

There was a classic Peanuts cartoon with Schroeder at his piano with Lucy.

Lucy tells Schroeder that some scholars think that Beethoven was black.

To which Schroeder replied, “You mean all this time, I’ve been playing SOUL music?”

[daler]

The last thing you want to hear while trapped in an elevator:

"Could you sing us another one, Miss Channing?"

[Albion Wilde]

I wish I was raised on your soul food.

It's not there any more, but anyone who lived in Philly in the 60s-70s-80s may remember the famed Bea Bea's Lawnside BBQ on South Street. Carolina barbecue arrived in Philadelphia via Lawnside, NJ, which had been a stop on the Underground Railroad. Great soul food and plenty of it.

[Albion Wilde]

We can’t all be black. Who’s going to pay for our grievances?

I'm English and Irish. So I sent myself a check to cover the 800 years of persecution.

[morphing libertarian]

Lol

My mom was English and Irish. Always fought with herself

[Albion Wilde]

Babe Ruth's parents were German immigrants, so it is unlikely. Probably just his appearance, which to me looks more like fetal alcohol syndrome than mixed-race.

The other person from that era of Swiss and German heritage who was thought to have some black ancestry was J. Edgar Hoover; however this theory was disputed in the Washington Post:

Obviously there was a lot of racial hysteria due to the class divide as much as any other thing in the pre-Civil Rights era.

[Albion Wilde]

Many Africans don’t think much of Americans. I had a friend who was from French Guinea. She thought American blacks were backwards and ignorant, and wouldn’t have anything to do with them.

My Kenyan neighbors say the same. "They won't work!"

[Albion Wilde]

Some FReepers may be too young to know who Dinah Shore was and that she also had black ancestry.

Is that a rumor, or do you have some kind of a link? She was Jewish.

[dfwgator]

I wonder how Dinah would have felt today about the lesbos taking over her golf tournament?

[Albion Wilde]

I loved Carol Channing's performances, quriky though she was. I saw her live in Hello Dolly. Then I went to see the black version on stage too, with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway -- outstanding as well!

[Albion Wilde]

I know, right? Our extended family dinners usually ended in tears...